 Good morning, Anson Tabots with the Agency of Agriculture and Food and Markets. Thank you for coming today. We want to thank all our partners here, of course the governor, his leadership through this, Senator Welch, his team. We also want to thank the Mazas for showing us the damage that they've incurred. We also have some dairy farmers within the region also have sustained a lot of crop damage. Right now it's all about trying to recover and get back to normalcy. And we want to thank a lot of our partners from USDA here as well. University of Vermont has been a wonderful partner with us and we thank, whether it's the president being here, whether it's Mike Shirling helping us out at the center in Berlin, also U of M Extension, Roy and his team, Heather, all of them. So there's a number of partners that are going to help our farm community get back to normal. But right now I want to turn it over to the governor. Well thank you all very much and you know when I go through some of the fields and see what Paul and his family have experienced here, I have my small business hat on and I can see the devastation, the frustration as well. I mean you have berries still on the vine and you have apples still there on the trees but they can't be utilized. And this is going to be a long, long term recovery for them and for many parts of the state with different experiences. But this isn't short term. This can be fixed in a year. It's going to be multiple years of hard work and trying to recover. So we're here to find out what we can do together with our federal partners, state partners and everyone else coming to the aid of their fellow Vermonters. So again, thank you for the tour and the many other farmers here as well that have experienced somewhat the same thing. And again, this is going to be a long road to recovery. Senator Welch. I want to thank Paul, you and your daughter for showing us your farm. And it's pretty heartbreaking. You know this has been a successful farm that is a major part of the community. Paul has been farming since he was 11 and that's what he loves to do. And in this community, everybody loves to come down here and pick berries. It's part of that ecosystem we have here in Vermont where a lot of the folks who live in the area but don't have the capacity to work as hard as this guy works and his daughter, they like to come and pick those berries. And it's pretty devastating to see the damage that that flood did. And here we are on this magnificent summer day and it was only days ago that there was 20 feet of water where we're standing. The road back is incredibly challenging and you know I just want to acknowledge Paul to you and your family how sad we all are that this happened. Our goal, the federal delegation, Senator Sanders and Congresswoman and Ballant will be to do the best we can and work every day to try to get financial aid because that's what our farmers need and our small businesses need. They really alone is not going to do it when they have debt already if they're going to get back in business and there's got to be disaster relief that does provide cash and that's a project that's that but that's what we're working on because that's what we're hearing people really need. And I see the Conan farm you had some damage there as well and you know that iconic dairy farm right there at the exit 11 on the interstate. This is the heart of Vermont and these are the folks who are behind it. So we'll work with the governor and we'll work with the federal delegation to do everything we can. The one thing I do want to say Paul you push back you push back on me a little bit because you told me you don't want to do books. You want to be on the track. No, anything to go through Katie because she's she's a lot better than me. We're asking frustrated but what we need Katie you tell your father. Yes, that's right. We need documentation of what the losses are on this farm on the Conan farm on every farm because that's the raw information that Senator Sanders and Congresswoman Ballant and I need to make the case when there is going to be a disaster relief bill on the floor. So that's a chore and if you're accustomed to being out in the field picking the berries and doing the work that is incredibly hard to do. We do need Katie. We do need the Conan farm to be providing us the documentation so that we can try to provide some help. But thank you so much for all you've done all these years. I hope when this goes out this doesn't hurt my business. Don't make it worse because I do have seven fields. We have probably one third of our produce left, which I do want to sell on my stands and it will be good. This is kind of a catch 22. Can I put it in order? You know what I mean? I have to the flood it's she went on Facebook and she's done a lot of great things on Facebook. So I think my daughter for that people thought we're out but we had. We have a lot more ground like the corn's coming from the fade farm. The blueberries have come cold Chester. We try not to put our eggs all in one basket smart. You know, I just want to also on behalf of UVM, so many of our employees are students and all were affected by the floods. And it's been so uneven across the state as you all know. We just walked down to the river and it's so quiet and seems so peaceful and it wasn't recently. Paul showed us the level to which the water rose and it's just hard to believe that we would all be underwater. We were here sometime back. So just want to I'm here to pledge UVM support. Mike Shirling and others are helping with the emergency operations. Our extension team is all over the state and we've got a drone team here that today's willing to and and and prepared to do a before and after and do some of the documentation for Paul and his family to see where the damage was. So we are here for the long run to a part of the state. We're the state's flagship and we will do all we can to help out. So thank you for bringing us here and Paul. Thank you. You have a strong support and we really feel badly for what you and your family are going through. Thank you. Hey, we'll open up to a few questions if you have any. We're confident we will receive some help. Is it going to be enough to satisfy every need? No. No, we're going to have to dig deep. We're going to have to be creative. We're going to have to reach into every pot in order to get through this. So the federal government has been extremely responsive and have been very, very helpful to us. And we expect they will do more. Our congressional delegation has done a lot already and will do more in the coming months. But again, I have to reiterate this isn't going to be enough for everyone because when you think about the devastation I've seen over the last week, whether it's personal homes, whether it's other businesses. It's just not enough resources to do that, to accomplish that. So again, I think Paul made a good point as well. It is a catch 22 in some respects. We want people to know that we've been hurt, but we're not down. We still have produce to sell. They have produce to sell one third of their crop is still available. It's the same with tourism. We went through this with Irene. The message was we're impacted. Many of our roads were closed. Many of our villages and towns were devastated. But we want to also say we're open for business. Many of the parts of the state weren't affected. So we need people to continue to come Vermont. That will help us as much as anything. Buy our products, visit us, come tour here. So that's the message we need to continue to deliver. But as well, understanding the impact that Vermonters have faced and are facing. Right. Well, we've got to get a number. How much damage was done right here on the Mazza farm? How much damage was done on the Cone and Farm? Our vegetable growers, how much revenue did they lose because they lost their crop? That makes it concrete. So we're talking specifically and not generally. And that's essential. So getting that information is important. And I've heard you, Governor, talking about homeowners who think they can fix it themselves. It's still important for them to let us know because then the county designation can change. So it's a real chore on top of everything else you're doing to have to deal with this detail. But it's important. And I think you said it well. If it's not important to you, it helps others who need that support. I expect that we are going to need another supplemental appropriation. And it's not just because of what happened here in Vermont. I mean, obviously we need it. But the storms, the wild weather, the heat, the fires all throughout the country are resulting in a level of demand on FEMA that we haven't seen in the past. So that's bad news and good news. It's bad news that there's wild weather events that are affecting so many people in our country. It's good news in the sense that it creates some bipartisan support to provide help all around the country. I think it would unless we waived that, yeah. Well, I feel pretty good in the Senate because there have been so many Republican senators who've approached me and Senator Sanders offering help, whatever I can do. And it includes very conservative folks, Senator Grassley from Iowa, Senator Kennedy from Louisiana. So they get it because these weather events, Louisiana, for instance, is no stranger to incredible weather events. So I have some confidence on the basis of my discussions with Republican colleagues that this is in a special category of a natural event. Governor, my question for you is, would actions make life easier for those who have it? Well, as you know, we're still trying to develop a plan for the 20 million that we were able to scrape together as bridge funding, so to speak, to give some businesses throughout the state some cash. Now, I'm not saying they're going to be included, but obviously we're going to look at every business in Vermont and try to give them whatever help we can to keep them going. So stay tuned. I mean, this isn't over. We're going to do, again, everything we can to help for monitors to get through this. What businesses and individuals are like? So just to introduce myself, I'm the head of FSA in Vermont right now for my SINs, but our staff are working full-time and they will answer any questions that a producer puts to them. And I'd like to emphasize what Senator Welch said. We need to report our crop livestock field losses to FSA. We, in our secretarial designation, hinges to a degree on a 30% loss definition. And yet I'd also like to emphasize, and I have a sheet here, we have many programs that do not depend on a secretarial designation. We can make them effective now, as does NRCS. But anybody who calls our staff, they are absolutely dedicated to walking them through the process and helping them get whatever information is required to make sure that they are fully, the programs are fully available to them to the extent that they are. The extension folks in Roy Backford's here, I think, his team's all over the state, helping both with trying to assess the damage to provide support for where to go from here and with the reporting and with education after. So there's a lot, as Governor Scott and Peter Welch of Senator Welch have said, there's a long recovery ahead of us. There's many, many aspects to it. And the extension team and all of the university will be at the table to help as far as long as it takes. But Eric said they're trying to do something now. You are trying to do something now. Well, this is Michelle from my office. We're hearing that. And there's practical challenges. So the three federal offices are going to work together to do anything we can to facilitate getting that information that we need in Washington. You know, this one of the hassles that is, in a way, overwhelming. I mean, you see Paul and all of us who walked around. It's astonishing the amount of work and effort that goes into making this place Mazda's Farm. It takes constant attention, incredible willingness to work, and hard work. And then this catastrophe happens. And the amount of work that faces Paul and Katie and the family to get this back operational, and just to keep those one third of crops that are still good is enormous. But on top of that, we really do need the information. So we'll do all we can to make it easy. And then hope that Katie will persuade her father to sign off when she does the work, OK? On top of the list. All right, thanks. Take one more question. Paul needs to get back to work. Anderson? Final question. Well, we've got lots of layers, as we talked about here. So I think we've got some immediate needs that we need to figure out. You know, I think this week a lot of work is being done just about cleanup and assessing the damage. A lot of our farmers now are able to get behind the computer and start reporting in. That's going to happen. And then we've got some discussions about, you know, viability going forward. The resources they're going to need to get to the next step. And then, you know, our dairy farmers are faced with some issues about feed. So a lot of discussions are going on, are we going to have enough feed locally to help because of the corn crop, bad weather for hay. So that will begin. And then we've got to think about a situation with Paul about next year. What does he want to do? What resources can make him available to continue to do what he wants to do for the next planting season? So it's all stages. It may be one week, three weeks, three months, a year. And it's going to take all the resources from Congress, the state, our partners at the University of Vermont in the Extension Service, and then private donations. That's another aspect that's really helping now. Vermonters are stepping up. People around the country are contributing. And those funds are reaching farmers now, which is really important. Some bridge loans, some bridge, actually bridge cash, which is really important. So lots of stages. But as the governor has mentioned, it's going to be a long haul. But we're all in it to get to a better place. Thank Hades graduating next year from UVM with a food science degree. So she'll be back full time here. Thank you all very much. Thank you.