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Every year, America loses 1.2 million acres of farmland - an area twice the size of Rhode Island - much of it our best and most productive farmland near where most Americans live. In Connecticut and across the nation, American Farmland Trust is a vital link between farmers, conservationists and policymakers, working to protect the best farmland, direct growth away from agricultural resources, provide healthy local food to all citizens, and help communities sustain local farms and farming.
What's New
Farmland Advisors Spring into Action in the Northeast
 American
Farmland Trust and Land for Good’s Farmland
Advisors program is educating agriculture service providers to help the next generation
of farmers access land and help farm families facilitate the transfer to
the next generation. Farmland Advisors started in February with a webinar for
the program’s 80
participants, from New York and New England. The program is funded by a grant from the Northeast SARE Professional Development Program
and support from a Farm Credit
Northeast AgEnhancment grant. Participants represent land trusts,
beginning farmer organizations, extension offices, lending institutions and
local and state agencies.
Updated Guide Helps Connecticut Communities Plan for Agriculture
 Across Connecticut, local officials are increasingly cognizant of the economic, social, and environmental contributions that farms, farmers and farmland provide to their communities. To help municipal governments find ways to support and grow agriculture at the local level, American Farmland Trust (AFT) and the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM) have updated the very successful joint publication: Planning for Agriculture: A Guide For Connecticut Municipalities. “Virtually every local municipal board makes decisions that impact local farms,” says Cris Coffin, AFT’s New England Director. “This publication will help guide local officials in making decisions that not only sustain local farms, but help them grow and create new enterprises and steward their farmland for future generations.”
Farmland Protection Retreat
Focuses on New England Opportunities & Challenges
 A recent
retreat organized by American Farmland Trust brought together more than 50 of
the region’s leading farmland protection practitioners, including state agency
staff, USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) State Conservationists and
program managers, and land trust representatives, to brainstorm farmland protection
challenges and strategies and discuss the federal Farm and Ranch Lands
Protection Program (FRPP). Joining the group were New Hampshire Commissioner of
Agriculture Lorraine Merrill, Connecticut Commissioner of Agriculture Steve
Reviczky, and three guests from the national USDA-NRCS office, including
Richard Sims, NRCS Regional Conservationist for the Northeast, and Jeremy
Stone, the national FRPP program manager. Cris Coffin, American Farmland Trust
New England Director, notes that AFT is working to make this retreat an annual
event. “This kind of regional shoptalk is invaluable both in helping to
strengthen relationships and in advancing farmland protection innovations around
the region,” remarks Coffin.
 The Working Lands Alliance, a project of American Farmland Trust, is pleased to announce open
nominations for the 2012
Farmland Preservation Pathfinder Awards. Established in 2003, these
prestigious awards are designed to recognize individuals and groups that have
significantly advanced farmland preservation through leadership, advocacy,
planning and education. For the last
nine years, winners of the award have been chosen because they are champions
for farmland protection. Award winners have represented individuals who have
logged countless hours in the name of preserving Connecticut’s most valuable
and vulnerable resource—its farmland.
Farmland Advisors Training Program Now
Accepting Applications in Northeast
 The transfer
of farms to a new generation is one of the biggest challenges facing agriculture
in New York and New England. Farmland Advisors is a training program to help agriculture and
conservation professionals become an effective resource in helping farmers and
farmland owners as they seek access to land and navigate the complexity of farm
transfers. “Participants will learn about everything from farm succession
planning to farm linking, lease options and land conservation as a farm
transfer strategy,” said Diane Held, Senior New York Field Manager for
American Farmland Trust. “Land access and availability are increasingly
impacting farms and food systems in the region,” added New England Director Cris
Coffin, “Working with professionals across the Northeast will help to meet
these challenges at the state level.” Applications
are now being accepted. The deadline to apply is October 31.
 As
agriculture continues to grow and diversify in Connecticut, local officials are
seeking information on how to address livestock in their communities. American
Farmland Trust recently teamed up with Eastern
Connecticut Resource Conservation and Development Area, Inc. and the
University of Connecticut Cooperative Extension System to produce a new guide
to help municipalities. The guide, Guidance
and Recommendations For Connecticut Municipal Zoning Regulations and Ordinances
For Livestock, funded by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service in
Connecticut, aims to educate municipal officials about zoning options for
livestock and provides sources of expertise and assistance. The document can be viewed or downloaded at: www.farmland.org/newengland/.
Regional Project Seeks to Foster
Supportive Public Policy Environment
 A
vibrant and viable food system in New England requires a supportive public
policy environment. For this reason,
American Farmland Trust is teaming up with the Conservation Law Foundation and
the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group to identify the policy
levers that will support improved farm profitability, expanded food production
and the agricultural infrastructure needed to improve regional food
resiliency. Drawing upon expertise and
experience of leaders and practitioners across New England, this two-year project will focus on federal, state and regional policy arenas, analyzing policy
barriers and gaps in five key areas and recommending where change is most
needed, at what level and scale, and what kinds of advocacy might be most
effective.
Nutmegger Cheese and Wine
Festival, September 23
 This weekend,
join the Working Lands Alliance,
a project of American Farmland Trust, for its first Nutmegger Cheese and Wine
Festival, a fundraiser to help protect Connecticut's farmland and to support
childhood education. The event will take place at the height of the harvest
season to highlight some of Connecticut's artisanal products, including cheese,
wine, ice cream, and bread. "The Nutmegger Cheese and Wine Festival is a
triple win. It showcases the best of Connecticut cheese, dairy and wine, it
benefits the ongoing efforts of Working Lands Alliance to protect our state's
farmland, and it will help fund the Valley Initiative to Advance Health &
Learning in Schools - a unique five school district partnership to improve
nutrition and physical activity for kids," said Connecticut Governor
Dannel P. Malloy, who will be attending the event. "Set at Jones Family's
Pumpkinseed Hill, one of Connecticut's beautiful and most productive farms,
this is a truly extraordinary event." We hope you can join us!
 Building on work done
through the New England Commission on Land Conservation and its Farm and Food
Security Initiative, American Farmland Trust is bringing together farmland
experts from around New England to explore ways in which the region might work
collaboratively to keep farmland in farming. The six New England state “Chief
Agricultural Officers” and the six state USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Offices are key partners in
this effort, as is Land For Good. The
project will include a “shop talk” for farmland protection practitioners and a
convening for farm and conservation stakeholders, federal and state agencies,
and public and private funders. Cris
Coffin, New England Director at American Farmland Trust, believes that regional
collaboration is critical to retaining and growing the region’s farmland base. “Every
state in the region is in some stage of farm and food system planning and, not
surprisingly, land access and availability are emerging as key and common needs,” says Coffin. “We will be better able to tackle these challenges at the
state level if we learn and work together as a region.”ew Project Aims to Keep New England's Farmland in Farming
 During the Revolutionary War, Connecticut was deemed the “Provision State” because even as the third smallest state, Connecticut supplied more food for Washington’s army than any other. In alignment with Governor Malloy’s announcement of the state’s new Still Revolutionary! tourism campaign, the Working Lands Alliance (WLA) held our annual Ice Cream Breakfast, a reminder that Connecticut Agriculture is also Still Revolutionary! WLA’s Ice Cream Breakfast welcomed words from Governor Malloy and Commissioner of Agriculture Steven Reviczky. Also in attendance were Lieutenant Governor Wyman, Commissioner Catherine Smith of the Department of Economic and Community Development, University of Connecticut College of Agriculture Dean, Gregory Weidemann, and Dr. Louis Magnarelli of the Agricultural Experiment Station. Refreshments were provided by the Farmers Cow, Tulmeadow Farms, Arethusa Dairy, and University of Connecticut Dairy. “We were so grateful to have the support of all who attended the event and contributed to its success,” said Leah Mayor, Working Lands Alliance Project Director and New England Project Manager at American Farmland Trust.
 Do you own farm or forest land in Connecticut? Have you planned for its future—whether or when to protect it, how to treat it in your estate planning, whether or how to rent it, how to manage it for farming or forestry?
Whether you are just beginning the planning process or developing questions with planning that is already underway, the Planning Your Land’s Future: An Introductory Workshop for Landowners can help you understand your options and make informed choices. Speakers will discuss and answer questions about estate planning and land transfer, land protection options and techniques, land rental and leasing, and production and financial management through crop insurance and other tools.
Two sessions of the workshop will be held: May 31 and June 1, 6 to 8:30 pm. Register now.
 The Northeast is home to nearly 64 million people, with a population density five times the national average. According to a just-released Farm Bill Agenda for the Northeast [PDF], this urban influence has made federal conservation programs critically important in the region. The agenda includes four major priorities for the Conservation Title of the Farm Bill, including adequate conservation technical assistance; continued robust, mandatory funding for conservation programs focused on working farms and forests; appropriate conservation program flexibility to address state and local resource concerns and priorities; and continued funding for on-farm energy efficiency and renewable energy production. American Farmland Trust collaborated with the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (NESAWG) and other state and regional farm, food and conservation organizations on developing the Agenda’s conservation priorities.
 On May 22, American Farmland Trust joined state, town and community representatives at the construction site of the winning farmers market for the Great Barn Giveaway contest. Last summer, American Farmland Trust staff sat on a panel of judges to select three market finalists to be voted on by the public to receive a post and beam barn from Yankee Post & Beam®. Yankee Post & Beam, based in Claremont, NH, specializes in barn style design and construction. Leah Mayor, Working Lands Alliance Director and New England Project Manager at American Farmland Trust, stood with the winner, The Coventry Regional Farmers' Market, on the grounds of the Nathan Hale Homestead for the barn raising. “The celebration around the construction of the new barn demonstrates the promise of expanding the market, and, in turn, of sharing more Connecticut grown products,” says Mayor.
Kip Kolesinskas, Steering Committee member of the Working Lands Alliance, a project of American Farmland Trust, recently testified at the Connecticut State Capitol in support of a bill regarding the state’s Open Space Plan. The bill would require a regular update of the plan, identify lands owned and managed by the state that would be valuable for conservation, and make recommendation to develop a registry to accurately keep track of preserved lands. As Kolesinkskas, who also serves as a consultant to American Farmland Trust, noted: “A statewide registry of protected lands would be useful for monitoring easements on protected farmland as well as setting and implementing municipal open space and farmland preservation goals. Knowing what lands that are critical to protect, or develop is essential to smart growth, natural resource protection, climate change adaptation, food security, and economic development. It will ensure that public and private investments are used effectively and efficiently.”
As Congress begins the farm bill reauthorization process, we’re partnering with other New England organizations to help demonstrate how this bill affects food, the environment and communities in the region. At the recent Let’s Talk about Food event at the Boston Museum of Science, we discussed the importance of farm bill conservation programs to New England’s environment, economy, communities and public health. We also took part in Farm Fresh RI’s Local Food Forum, where we were honored to join Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-ME), one of four House Agriculture Committee members from New England, who talked about her Local Farm, Food and Jobs Act. This legislation, introduced jointly with Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and sponsored by Senators Leahy (D-VT), Sanders (I-VT) and Shaheen (D-NH), would improve federal farm policy and programs that support local and regional food systems.
Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy and Commissioner of Agriculture Steven Reviczky recently joined a meeting of the Working Lands Alliance steering committee. The governor reiterated his commitment to farmland protection and talked about the potential of the newly enacted Farmland Restoration Program to bring farmland back into production and help grow the agricultural economy. The governor also shared his hopes for the reinvigorated Governor’s Council on Agricultural Development. “It is gratifying to see Governor Malloy and the legislature not only attentive to farmland protection but also to ways of utilizing the productivity of these lands,” explained Terry Jones, WLA Chairman. “We are really filling the toolbox with the tools we need.”
Connecticut was coined the “Provision State” by George Washington for the role its productive farms played in feeding the troops for the American Revolution. Now, with the resurgence of agriculture in the state, demand for farmland is growing and the Connecticut Department of Agriculture is launching a new Farmland Restoration Program to help farmers and landowners restore private, state, municipal and land trust lands back into sustainable agricultural production. Up to $20,000 per project will be available to implement restoration and conservation practices. Details are available at the Connecticut Department of Agriculture’s website or by calling (860) 713-2511.
The recently reestablished Governor’s Council for Agricultural Development met for the first time on January 5 in Hartford, reminding us all that it is an exciting time for Connecticut farms. The committee, reestablished in part after advocacy efforts by the Working Lands Alliance, a project of American Farmland Trust, is charged with finding ways to meet local demand for Connecticut-grown agricultural products. “This is a tremendous opportunity to grow agriculture in our state,” remarked Agriculture Commissioner Steven Reviczky addressing Governor Malloy, Senator John Kissel, committee members, and members of the Connecticut Food Farms and Jobs Working Group. We’re proud to have members of our Working Lands Alliance steering committee serve on the governor’s council and contribute to
recommendations from the working group.
Farmland ConneCTions: A Guide for Land Leasing
Access to land can be a major obstacle to young and veteran farmers alike. Leasing farmland from towns, institutions and land trusts provides an opportunity for beginning and expanding farmers to embark on new farm ventures or grow their farm businesses. Whether five acres or 100 acres, leased land can help keep farms thriving while creating jobs and providing local food. To help landowners and land seekers think through farm leasing and develop successful lease arrangements, we developed a new guide along with the University of Connecticut called Farmland ConneCTions: Leasing Farmland in Connecticut [PDF]. Two upcoming webinars on the guide will cover tenure options, practical and legal considerations in drafting a lease, community farms and risk management options.
Learn more about the guide!
More About Our Work in Connecticut
A pivotal part of our advocacy work in Connecticut is performed by the Working Lands Alliance (WLA). Established in 2000, WLA is a statewide coalition of farmers, conservationists, anti-hunger groups and municipal leaders working together to increase the state’s commitment to farmland preservation. WLA’s efforts focus on strengthening the state’s commitment to Connecticut’s Farmland Preservation Program and other new agriculture viability programs.
Another year has come to pass and with it a list of successes—and challenges—impacting farms and food across New England. 2011 was marked by unusual weather, underscoring the need for effective policies and programs to keep farms thriving despite the inherent risks and to help support strong local food systems.
This year, we worked with a wide variety of partners throughout New England to promote the critical importance of farms and farmland to New England’s economy, environment, public health, community character and livability. Here are a few highlights from our work across the region. Read more about our accomplishments from the past year in New England and see a snapshot of what lies ahead.
The last of the acclaimed Dinners at the Farm were held over three beautiful nights at Old Maids Farm in South Glastonbury, CT. Working Lands Alliance—a project of American Farmland Trust—was one of only four organizations selected as a beneficiary. At the same time, Good Tastes Kitchen of Newburyport hosted a farm-to-table event at Cider Hill Farm, in Amesbury, MA. Chefs at both events delighted guests with a feast of locally grown products sourced from the host farms and other local producers. The hugely popular dinners are intended to generate awareness of the vitality of the local farming community and the delicious food it provides.
American Farmland Trust and Connecticut Conference of Municipalities are currently providing technical assistance to help communities plan for agriculture. Six municipalities—Coventry, Durham, Eastford, North Stonington, Preston and Woodbridge—were selected to receive technical assistance to implement one of the strategies discussed in the new Planning for Agriculture: A Guide for Connecticut Municipalities. The towns are focusing on strategies such as: initiating an Agricultural Commission; reviewing farm tax reduction options; encouraging buy local opportunities; including agriculture in town conservation and development plans; and developing right-to-farm ordinances.
Finally, a website to help you find locally grown food and farm products in Connecticut. Visit BuyCTGrown.com to search for local products, sign up for in-season alerts for you favorite fruits and vegetables, reminders about upcoming food and farm events, or delectable seasonal recipes from Connecticut chefs and more. The 2009 membership enrollment packet is now available for farms and other businesses.
Contact Us
New England Field Office
Leah Mayor
Working Lands Alliance Project Director &
New England Project Manager
lmayor@farmland.org
(860) 683-4230
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On-Farm Dinners in Connecticut and Massachusetts Celebrate Local Food 
