Title 06, Agriculture

§ 3133. Administration; rules The Secretary shall administer this chapter and shall adopt and from time to time revise rules to affect its purpose. The rules shall conform substantially with those promulgated by the Secretary of Agriculture of the United States under the federal …

§ 3134. Penalty A person who violates section 3132 of this title shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be fined upon conviction not more than $1,000.00 for the first violation, not more than $5,000.00 for the second violation, and not more than $10,000.00 per violation for t…

§ 3301. Legislative findings Meat, meat food products, poultry, and poultry products are an important source of the State’s total supply of food. They are consumed throughout the State. It is essential to the public interest that the health and welfare of consumers be protected b…

§ 3302. Definitions As used in this chapter: (1) “Adulterated” shall apply to any livestock product or poultry product under one or more of the following circumstances: (A) If it contains any poisonous or harmful substance that may render it injurious to health. The product shall…

§ 3303. Purposes It is the objective of this chapter to provide for meat and poultry products inspection programs that will impose and enforce requirements with respect to intrastate operations and commerce that are at least equal to those imposed and enforced under the Federal M…

§ 3304. Powers of the Secretary In order to accomplish the objectives stated in section 3303 of this title, the Secretary shall: (1) by rules require ante mortem and post mortem inspections, quarantine, segregation, and reinspections with respect to the slaughter of livestock and…

§ 3305. Additional powers of the Secretary In order to accomplish the objectives stated in section 3303 of this title, the Secretary may: (1) Remove inspectors from any establishment that fails to destroy condemned products as required under subdivision 3304(2) of this title. (2)…

§ 3306. Licensing (a) No person shall engage in intrastate commerce in the business of buying, selling, preparing, processing, packing, storing, transporting, or otherwise handling meat, meat food products, or poultry products, unless that person holds a valid license issued unde…

§ 3307. Periodic review of noninspected licensed establishments (a) The Secretary may cause establishments that are required to be licensed under section 3306 of this title, but exempt from inspection under subdivision 3305(13) of this title, to be periodically reviewed by inspec…

§ 3308. Prohibited acts in general (a) No person shall, with respect to any livestock or poultry or any livestock products or poultry products: (1) slaughter any livestock or poultry or prepare any products that are capable of use as human food, at any establishment preparing the…

§ 3309. Additional prohibited acts; official devices, marks, and certificates (a) No brand manufacturer, printer, or other person shall cast, print, lithograph, or otherwise make any device containing any official mark or simulation, or any label bearing any mark or simulation, o…

§ 3310. Additional prohibited acts: labeling; denaturing; dealing in dead, dying, disabled, and diseased animals; licensing (a) No person shall sell, transport, offer for sale or transportation, or receive for transportation, in intrastate commerce, any carcasses of horses, mules…

§ 3311. Specific offenses; penalties (a) Any person that gives, pays, or offers, directly or indirectly, any money or other thing of value to any officer or employee of this State authorized to perform any duties prescribed by this chapter or rules adopted under this chapter, wit…

§ 3311a. Livestock; inspection; licensing; personal slaughter; itinerant slaughter (a) As used in this section: (1) “Assist in the slaughter of livestock” means the act of slaughtering or butchering an animal and shall not mean the farmer’s provision of a site on the farm for sla…

§ 3312. Inspection; exceptions (a) Not intended for human food. Inspection shall not be provided under this chapter at any establishment for the slaughter of livestock or poultry or the preparation of any livestock products or poultry products that are not intended for use as hum…

§ 3313. Inspection and seal (a) No inspection of products placed in any container at any official establishment shall be deemed to be complete until the products are sealed or enclosed under the supervision of an inspector. (b) For purposes of any inspection of products required …

§ 3314. Detention When any livestock product or poultry product or any product exempted from the definition of a livestock product and from the definition of a poultry product, or any dead, dying, disabled, or diseased livestock or poultry, is found by any authorized representati…

§ 3315. Forfeiture (a) Any livestock product or poultry product of any dead, dying, disabled, or diseased livestock or poultry that is being transported in intrastate commerce, or is otherwise subject to this chapter, or is held for sale in this State after transportation, and th…

§ 3316. Appeal and jurisdiction (a) Any order issued under subdivision 3304(3) of this title; subdivision 3305(1), (2), or (3) of this title; subsection 3306(e) of this title; or a decision issued by the Secretary under subsection 3306(c) of this title shall be final unless appea…

§ 3317. Penalties; generally (a) Any person who violates any provision of this chapter, or the rules adopted under this chapter, for which no other criminal penalty is provided by this chapter shall upon conviction be subject to imprisonment for not more than one year or a fine o…

§ 3318. Investigation; record keeping (a) The Secretary shall also have power: (1) To gather and compile information and to investigate the organization, business, conduct, practices, and management of any person engaged in intrastate commerce and the relationship to other person…

§ 3319. Skilled meat cutter training The Secretary shall issue a request for proposals to develop a curriculum and provide classroom and on-the-job training for the occupation of skilled meat cutter. (Added 2011, No. 52, § 41, eff. May 27, 2011.)

§ 4021. Definitions As used in this chapter: (1) “Secretary” means the Secretary of Agriculture, Food and Markets or his or her designee. (2) “Agency” means the Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets. (3) “Nursery” means all lands, premises, and buildings on or in which nursery …

§ 4022. Secretary of Agriculture, Food and Markets as enforcing official The Secretary shall enforce the provisions of this chapter and perform such duties as may be required by the federal plant pest quarantine statutes. The Secretary may employ such assistance as necessary for …

§ 4023. Nursery inspection; fees (a) The Secretary, as he or she deems necessary, may inspect nursery stock in the possession of a nursery grower or nursery dealer licensed under section 4024 of this title or any place within the State where nursery stock is grown, collected, sto…

§ 4024. Nursery license (a) No person shall operate as a nursery grower or nursery dealer in the State without first obtaining a nursery license from the Secretary. A nursery grower or nursery dealer shall apply annually for a nursery license on a form provided by the Secretary. …

§ 4025. Shipments by nursery dealers to be accompanied by inspection certificates Whenever a nursery dealer or nursery grower licensed under this chapter ships or delivers any nursery stock grown within this State, he or she shall include with each shipment a copy of the inspecti…

§ 4026. Foreign nursery stock; certificate of inspection; transportation; penalty Nursery stock transported into this State for sale, distribution, or installation shall be accompanied by a valid certificate of inspection, or a reasonable facsimile, or other certification accepte…

§ 4027. Diseased or infested stock; stop-sale; destruction (a) Only sound, healthy nursery stock that will maintain its vigor shall be offered for sale. Offering for sale stock that is diseased or infested with injurious pests is a violation of this chapter. Whenever the Secretar…

§ 4028. Access to records; nursery stock A nursery dealer or nursery grower engaged in the sale, distribution, or installation of nursery stock shall: (1) provide access for inspection by the Secretary of all nursery stock; (2) follow appropriate practices so that an adequate ins…

§ 4029. Rules; distribution; penalties (a) The Secretary shall adopt rules as prescribed by 3 V.S.A. chapter 25 as he or she deems necessary to carry out the provisions of this chapter. The rules shall be printed by the State and distributed by the Secretary. (b) A person who vio…

§ 4030. Special conditions; certification (a) The Secretary is authorized to establish conditions and rules under which certain plants may be grown and certified free from virus, fungi, bacteria, or any infesting organism considered detrimental to the plant. (b) The Secretary is …

§ 4031. Plants taken from the wild (a) The Secretary may adopt procedural rules pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act as set forth in 3 V.S.A. chapter 25, for the collection, sale, or distribution of plants taken from the wild, on the list of Convention on International Tr…

§ 4032. Cooperation with other government agencies The Secretary may enter into agreements or programs with other government agencies to allow movement of nursery stock or to implement federal or State quarantines as the Secretary deems necessary or are required under federal or …

§ 4602. Good Agricultural Practices Grant Program (a) A Good Agricultural Practices Grant Program (GAP) is established in the Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets for the purpose of providing matching grant funds to agricultural producers whose markets require them to obtain o…

§ 4603. Legislative findings The General Assembly finds: (1) The report issued by the Council on the Future of Vermont indicates that over 97 percent of Vermonters polled endorsed the value of the “working landscape” as key to our future. (2) Vermont’s unique agricultural and for…

§ 4604. Legislative intent It is the intent of the General Assembly in adopting this subchapter to create a working lands enterprise board to administer a fund and develop policy recommendations to: (1) Stimulate a concerted economic development effort on behalf of Vermont’s agri…

§ 4605. Vermont Working Lands Enterprise Fund There is created a special fund in the State Treasury to be known as the “Vermont Working Lands Enterprise Fund.” Notwithstanding any contrary provisions of 32 V.S.A. chapter 7, subchapter 5: (1) The Fund shall be administered and the…

§ 4606. Vermont Working Lands Enterprise Board (a) Creation. There is created a Vermont Working Lands Enterprise Board, which for administrative purposes shall be attached to the Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets. (b) Organization of Board. The Board shall be composed of: (…

§ 4607. Powers and duties of the Vermont Working Lands Enterprise Board (a) Duties. The Vermont Working Lands Enterprise Board is charged with: (1) optimizing the agricultural and forest use of Vermont lands and other agricultural resources; (2) expanding existing markets and ide…

§ 4621. Domestic Export Program (a) The Secretary of Agriculture, Food and Markets, in collaboration with the Agency of Commerce and Community Development and the Chief Marketing Officer, shall have the authority to create a Domestic Export Program, the purpose of which may inclu…

§ 4631. Vermonters Feeding Vermonters Grant Program (a) As used in this section, “local food” has the same meaning as “local” in 9 V.S.A. § 2465a(b). (b) There is created in the Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets the Vermonters Feeding Vermonters Grant Program to provide gra…

§ 4641. Definitions As used in this subchapter: (1) “Eligible weather condition” means any of the following weather conditions that are found to be closely correlated with agricultural or forest operation income losses: (A) high winds; (B) excessive moisture, intense precipitatio…

§ 4642. Farm and Forestry Operations Security Special Fund (a) There is established the Farm and Forestry Operations Security Special Fund to be administered by the Secretary of Agriculture, Food and Markets and that shall be managed in accordance with 32 V.S.A. chapter 7, subcha…

§ 4643. Farm and Forestry Operations Security Special Fund; payments (a) The Secretary, after consultation with the Review Board, shall award payments from the Farm and Forestry Operations Security Special Fund to persons owning farms and forestry operations that have incurred fi…

§ 4644. Farm and Forestry Operations Security Special Fund Review Board (a) Creation. There is created the Farm and Forestry Operations Security Special Fund Review Board, which for administrative purposes shall be attached to the Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets. (b) Orga…