Press Releases

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• 9/26/2019 SIXTH CONNECTICUT HORSE FOUND POSITIVE FOR EASTERN EQUINE ENCEPHALITIS VIRUS

• 9/15/2020 Bite Into Fall with Connecticut Grown Apples

  (HARTFORD, CT) – You might not be able to bob for apples this fall, but you can visit an orchard to pick your own apples. Connecticut is home to more than 65 orchards with more than 60 apple varieties suitable for snacking, salads, sauces, desserts, and more.

• 9/15/2020 Celebrate Fall Harvest Season

  Shop for Connecticut Grown Products

• 9/15/2020 Stanley Boniewski Farm of Middletown Is Protected and Ready for a New Owner

  [HARTFORD, CT] - Connecticut Farmland Trust (CFT) and Connecticut Department of Agriculture (CT DoAg) are pleased to announce the preservation of Stanley Boniewski Farm in Middletown. This 41-acre farm was protected in concert by the Town of Middletown, USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS), CT DoAg, and CFT.

• 9/15/2020 Thirteenth Generation Dairy Farm in Voluntown Begins Journey to Preservation

  [HARTFORD, CT] - Connecticut Farmland Trust (CFT), in cooperation with the Connecticut Department of Agriculture (CT DoAg), is pleased to announce completion of the first phase of a multi-year project to preserve Gallup Farm, a 500-acre dairy in Voluntown. The large property is being protected in a joint effort by partners USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Services (USDA-NRCS), CT DoAg and CFT. The first portion of the farm to be protected encompasses 116 acres. ​

• 3/31/2020 COVID-19 Guidance for Horseback Riding Schools Stables and Boarding Stables

  HARTFORD, CT – In addition to implementing the Stay Home, Stay Safe protocols effective on March 23, 2020 at 8:00 p.m. through April 22, 2020; Governor Lamont’s Executive Order 7H required the Department of Economic and Community Development to provide a guidance document to determine essential businesses.

• 4/9/2020 Connecticut's dairy farm families provide support to ensure access to milk and dairy products in Connecticut

  (HARTFORD, CT) – Lt. Governor Susan Bysiewicz and Department of Agriculture Commissioner Bryan P. Hurlburt today joined Jason Jakubowski, President and CEO of Foodshare, and Paul Shipman, spokesperson of Connecticut Food Bank, to present a donation totaling $40,000 on behalf of Connecticut’s dairy farm families to ensure that milk and dairy products are available to food insecure households. In addition to the financial support, Dairy Farmers of America, Guida’s Dairy, and Cabot Creamery Cooperative have committed to donating dairy products to be distributed through Connecticut’s food bank networks.

• 6/16/2020 Beloved Watertown Farm is Protected Forever

  The Connecticut Department of Agriculture (CT DoAg) in coordination with Connecticut Farmland Trust (CFT) is pleased to announce the preservation of Gustafson Farm in Watertown. The farm has been a popular destination for area families since 1907. The preservation of Gustafson Farm was a complex feat of partnership and teamwork involving USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Housatonic Valley Association, CT DoAg and CFT, in the farm’s preservation. For many families, the idea of conserving their land is like a seed – it takes many years to mature. For the Gustafson family, the seed was planted over a decade ago by the past generation of Gustafsons, who knew their 301-acre orchard and beef farm was something special that they wanted to preserve. That seed has finally come to fruition with the work of their descendants: cousins Katie Barnosky, Frank Gustafson, III, and Kristie Weidemier.

• 3/4/2020 Connecticut's Green Industry Is Growing

  (HARTFORD, CT) – Last month members of the green industry, comprised of wholesale and retail nursery, greenhouse, turfgrass and sod producers; landscape architecture, design, construction, and maintenance firms; and distributors of lawn and garden products at wholesale and retail, gathered in the Legislative Office Building to announce the findings of the report by UConn’s College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources Zwick Center for Food and Resource Policy, Economic Impacts of the Connecticut Green Industry in 2017.

• 1/8/2021 Farmland Preservation Program Reaches Milestone

  State of Connecticut Purchased Development Rights to more than 1,000 Acres in 2020

• 8/19/2020 Connecticut Dairy Producers Urged to Enroll in Coronavirus Food Assistance Program

  (HARTFORD, CT) – The Connecticut Department of Agriculture (CT DoAg) is urging dairy producers to apply for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) to provide vital financial assistance to absorb sales losses and increased marketing costs associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. As of Monday, August 17, 2020, Connecticut dairy producers have received $5.9 million in payments, accounting for 86% of payments made to Connecticut.

• 11/2/2020 Farmers' Market Nutrition Program Extended Until November 23 in Connecticut

  Continued access to fresh fruits and vegetables for WIC and Seniors at Connecticut farmers’ markets

• 3/11/2020 Legislative Update March 11 2020

  It has now been one month since opening day and the legislative process is moving full steam ahead. Over the last several weeks, committees have passed their raised bill deadlines and have begun soliciting public input on a variety of important pieces of legislation. In the short period following a public hearing, a bill can be amended – clarifying data, amending sections, and responding to testimony that was submitted to the committee.

• 2/19/2020 Connecticut Representatives Vote to Pass Farm Workforce Modernization Act

  On December 11, 2019, Connecticut’s representatives to the U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass the Farm Workforce Modernization Act (H.R. 5038), a bipartisan bill that seeks to address the growing labor crisis in the agriculture industry by creating a new pathway to legal status for undocumented citizens working in the U.S. agriculture industry.

• 5/29/2020 Connecticut Department of Agriculture Awards Farm Transition Grants

  HARTFORD, CT – Agriculture Commissioner Bryan P. Hurlburt announces that the Connecticut Department of Agriculture has awarded 16 grants totaling $547,784.41 to strengthen the economic viability of Connecticut farmers and agricultural cooperatives seeking to expand, diversify, and improve their existing operation.