Dec, 22, 2023, Danbury News Times: New Milford Couple opens Agrotourism barn for their farm to promote, preserve town’s rural roots
Dec, 22, 2023, Danbury News Times: New Milford Couple opens Agrotourism barn for their farm to promote, preserve town’s rural roots
Biden-Harris Administration Makes Available Historic $3 Billion for Climate-Smart Practices on Agricultural Lands Through Investing in America Agenda
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is making more than $3 billion in funding available for agricultural producers and forest landowners nationwide to participate in voluntary conservation programs and adopt climate-smart practices in Fiscal Year 2024 as part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda. The announcement comes as the Biden-Harris Administration hosts the first-ever White House Climate Resilience Summit
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These funds are provided by President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act – the largest climate and conservation investment in history. This law invests an additional $19.5 billion for USDA’s popular conservation programs. These programs also advance the President’s Justice40 Initiative, which aims to ensure 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain climate, clean energy, and other federal investments reach disadvantaged communities that have been marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution. On the heels of last week’s announcement that USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) saw record producer interest in these resources in fiscal year 2023, the agency is now accepting applications from producers interested in this additional conservation assistance for fiscal year 2024.
These additional investments are estimated to help hundreds of thousands of farmers and ranchers apply conservation to millions of acres of land. These funds provide direct climate mitigation benefits, advance a host of other environmental co-benefits, and expand access to financial and technical assistance for producers to advance conservation on their farm, ranch or forest land through practices like cover cropping, conservation tillage, wetland restoration, prescribed grazing, nutrient management, tree planting and more.
USDA is opening up the application period for FY2024 conservation assistance giving producers the opportunity to apply for this historic funding. However, in the event of a lapse in government funding, technical assistance, one-on-one help in answering questions, and other support for producers in navigating the application process would not be immediately available until the funding lapse ends. In the event of a funding lapse, NRCS would notify producers when staff are available to assist.
Learn more by clicking here.
New Milford’s Sullivan Farm proposes agri-education campus (newstimes.com) September 18, 2023
May, 2023: Kimberly Farm to open Ice Cream shop
Across the street from their existing farmstand in New Milford on Route 109, their new Ice Cream shop is set to open very soon.
Read about it here
2023 CT Grown Free Downloadable Report Available
A guide to Connecticut’s food, farms and families, Connecticut Grown is published in partnership with the Connecticut Department of Agriculture and features stories about the state’s aquaculture, agribusiness, tourism, food safety and local products.
Click here to download
UConn DARE Zwick Center 2023 Farm to School Report available
Farm to school (FTS) programs across the State of Connecticut connect schools with fresh, local food producers. Using local procurement, school gardens, and education, these programs benefit both local producers and nutrition programs.
Click here for the downloadable report
Farm Business Management and Benchmarking (FBMB) Competitive Grants Program, due April 10, 2023
Farm Business Management and Benchmarking (FBMB) Competitive Grants Program improves the farm management knowledge and skills of agricultural producers by maintaining and expanding a national, publicly available farm financial management database to support improved farm management. The FBMB program supports intellectual talent and collaborative efforts to meet the challenges facing the nation’s agriculture and food systems. Application closes on April 10. For more information, read the FBMB funding opportunity
The Climate Smart Farming: Agriculture and Forestry Grant can fund projects in a variety of areas including, but not limited to:
Any agribusiness or entity, including nonprofit organization, soil and water conservation district, colleges and universities, municipality or for-profit organization in the State of Connecticut are eligible to apply.
All agricultural commodities can participate including aquaculture, agriculture and forestry. In addition, all production types will be supported including conventional/organic, indoor/outdoor, soil/water, and urban/rural.
CT DoAg plans to issue awards in varying amounts for program implementation from May 1, 2023, through May 1, 2028.
There will be four application funding tiers:
There is no match requirement for this grant.
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The Northeast Dairy Business Innovation Center (NE-DBIC) and its partners offer grants, events, workshops, and educational opportunities to dairy farmers, processors, and service providers. Click here for more information.