Vermont Pay for Performance Program Technical Assistance to Producers

The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets is seeking proposals for technical assistance services to support the Vermont Pay for Performance (VPFP) Program. The program aims to compensate farmers for voluntary and verified phosphorus loss levels and conservation practices employed in agricultural crop fields. The selected contractor will provide technical assistance to producers enrolled in the VPFP Program, including data entry, alternative management planning, and verification. The contract period is expected to be up to three years, with the possibility of extension. • The VPFP Program will use an innovative ‘pay for performance’ approach to compensate farmers for phosphorus loss levels and conservation practices. • The program will build on the existing agricultural water quality clean-up framework and accelerate the pace of implementation and clean water work. • The selected contractor will work one-on-one with individual farms to collect, enter, and update whole-farm management data in the Farm Phosphorus Reduction Planner program (FarmPREP). • The contractor will provide guidance to each farm on potential improvements to farm management that would result in additional reductions in phosphorus losses. • The contractor will verify that the data entered in FarmPREP accurately represents each enrolled farm’s management across the whole farm.