[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 191 (Monday, November 1, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S7537]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       REMEMBERING DEXTER RANDALL

 Mr. SANDERS. Madam President, I rise today to honor the memory 
of Dexter Randall of Newport Center, VT. In Dexter's passing, Vermont 
and the Nation has lost a great champion for farmers.
  Dexter was born in Lyndon, VT, in 1945 but spent most of his life 
with his family on their farm in Troy, VT. On September 3, 1971, he 
married Alice Gilman, who we sadly lost a year ago, on June 2, 2020. 
Along with their five children--Lisa, Justin, Jordan, Irene, and 
Jason--Randall and Alice ran their small organic dairy farm for 37 
years before Justin and Irene took over operations.
  While Dexter was first and foremost a farmer, he was also a public 
servant. In the Northeast Kingdom, an area of the State often known for 
more conservative points of view, Dexter charted a unique political 
path, serving as a Progressive State representative with a strong 
independent streak. Dexter felt that his political philosophy was not 
all that different from that of his father, who had been a Republican, 
but that the Vermont Republican Party of earlier generations had 
undergone significant change. During his time in and out of the Vermont 
Statehouse, he was an unwavering voice for farmers and small family 
farms, fighting for fair milk prices and to safeguard Vermont's 
agricultural heritage.
  Both in elected office and during his 30 years on the board of Rural 
Vermont, Dexter showed a fearlessness in advocating for bold policy 
change. He understood that in order to save family farms and ensure the 
future of agriculture in Vermont, we needed to fundamentally rethink 
agricultural policy and fight against corporation consolidation. He was 
at the center of some of the biggest agricultural debates of his time, 
including the creation of the New England Dairy Compact and fighting to 
protect farmers from the corporate greed of companies producing 
genetically modified organism--GMO--seeds. Dexter's work was not 
limited to Vermont. In 2006, he traveled to Mali to learn how U.S. 
policies impact Africa's agricultural sector. On this and many other 
topics, Dexter demonstrated an ability to translate complex policy 
issues into plain language, making it easy for his constituents to 
understand and relate to.
  Caring for the land was at the heart of Dexter's work. Despite 
farming being more than a full-time job, he was active with the 
Missisquoi Basin Association, the American Devon Cattle Association, 
the Orleans County Natural Resources Conservation District, and the 
Vermont Center for Sustainable Agriculture. At a time when agriculture 
and environmental protection were often pitted against one another, 
Dexter showed that farmers can and often are strong conservationists 
and excellent stewards of the land.
  When I first met Dexter 35 years ago, his reputation as a fearless 
champion for rural Vermonters and farmers preceded him. Some probably 
would have considered us to be unlikely friends; he was a dairy farmer 
in a remote part of the State, and I was the first Independent mayor of 
the State's biggest city of Burlington. Those people, of course, were 
wrong. It was 1986, milk prices were low, and both Dexter and I 
understood that farmers were suffering. To raise spirits and money, 
Rural Vermont held a fundraiser near Dexter and Alice's farm. For my 
part, I drove the 2 hours to the Northeast Kingdom because not only did 
I understand the importance of the issue, I was impressed by the 
grassroots advocacy of Dexter, Alice, and the organizers. From that day 
on, Dexter and I enjoyed a long friendship that included a pig roast on 
his farm each year. At the heart, these events were very much about 
good food, comradery, bringing people together, and appreciating the 
pastoral landscape of Vermont. These events were also where good, old-
fashioned democracy took place. People could talk about the issues that 
were important to them and feel like politicians were actually 
listening. I learned a great deal at these events about the struggles 
of working people, especially in rural Vermont, and for that, I am 
eternally grateful to Dexter.
  I was sad not to be able to join Dexter on the farm this year, and I 
will miss traveling there and seeing Dexter each year, but I am 
thankful for our many years of friendship. To my mind, Dexter 
represented the best of Vermont; he was not only deeply engaged in the 
issues, but he also genuinely cared about the wellbeing of his friends, 
family, neighbors, fellow farmers, and his rural constituents. He 
believed everyone deserves a fair shot, and he tirelessly advocated for 
Vermonters at every opportunity he could, whether by supporting 
universal healthcare or milk prices that enabled farmers to keep the 
lights on and live in dignity.
  Ultimately, Dexter brought his ethos about farming--that ``if you 
take care of the land it will take care of you, so you can leave it a 
little bit better than you found it''--to his community and his State. 
Vermont is indeed a better place, and Vermonters are better off, thanks 
to Dexter Randall.

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