Article on Recent Agriculture Workshop

http://manchester.patch.com/articles/does-manchester-have-an-agricultural-future

Excellent Video on Future Farming

http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/farm-for-the-future/

Present And Future Of Local Farming Will Be The Subject Of A Workshop Tuesday

http://www.courant.com/community/manchester/hc-manchester-agriculture-plan-0322-20110321,0,7918013.story

Important Agriculture Workshop

Manchester 2020 Plan Workshop: Manchester's Agricultural Future: All members of the Manchester community are invited to attend a workshop on the present and future of agriculture in Manchester on Tuesday, March 22nd at 7:00 p.m. in the Great Path Community Commons on the Manchester Community College campus. This event is part of the ongoing Manchester 2020 planning process. Many participants at the 2020 quadrant discovery workshops suggested preserving and encouraging agricultural activities in town as important goals for the community. This workshop will provide a brief overview of Manchester's agricultural history, examples of the diverse agricultural activities that currently exist in town, and how these and similar activities can be protected and encouraged in the future. The benefits of and current trends in local food production will also be addressed. Advance registration is not necessary but is appreciated. Please call the Planning Department at 860-647-3044 with questions, or to RSVP.

School Garden Facebook Page

www.facebook.com/pages/Schoolyard-Gardens/169692833078498

Eligible for Federal Programs

Connecticut Department of Agriculture

Dannel P. Malloy, Governor

Steven K. Reviczky, Commissioner

Robert R. Pellegrino, Bureau Director

CONNECTICUT

G R O W N

Marketing & Technology Bureau, (860) 713-2503

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Special Addendum to February 9, 2011 Connecticut Weekly Agricultural Report

Agricultural Snowstorm Losses Must Be Reported to the Farm Service Agency

within 30 Days to be Eligible for Federal Programs

The Connecticut Department of Agriculture has received reports of significant damage to agricultural buildings across the state as a result of recent

snowstorms and excessive snow loads. As of February 9th, the agency has received word that over 300 agricultural structures on 99 farms have either

totally or partially collapsed. The department continues to tally losses to buildings, equipment, and supplies, as well as the significant loss of livestock

resulting from building collapses.

USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) may have programs available to assist those who have experienced agricultural losses. It is very important that

everyone who has experienced a loss due to the weather this winter report their loss to FSA within 30 calendar days of when the loss is apparent to the

producer. Losses can include buildings, equipment, stored feed, livestock, seed, fertilizer, started plants, inventory, etc.

With regard to livestock, FSA will require documentation such as ownership documentation, normal mortality rates, and the number and kind of livestock

lost as a direct result of these winter storms. Producers should track all costs including relocation, transporting feed, disposal, etc.

Fact sheets can be found on FSA’s website, http://www.fsa.usda.gov. Click on Newsroom then Fact Sheets.

In addition to FSA’s requirements, the Connecticut Department of Agriculture is also tallying agricultural losses as part of the state’s overall effort to

account all agricultural losses associated with this winter’s storms. This information is being provided to Governor Dannel P. Malloy in an effort to support

requests for possible federal assistance. In addition to reporting your loss to FSA, you can help the agency’s efforts by also reporting your agricultural loss

to the Connecticut Department of Agriculture. To report your agricultural loss, please contact the commissioner’s office at (860) 713-2500.

FSA can be contacted at the phone numbers below:

Connecticut State FSA Office Phone: (860) 871-4090

344 Merrow Road, Suite B (FAX) (860) 871-4099

Tolland, CT 06084-3917

Marsha B. Jetté – State Executive Director

Hartford-Tolland County FSA Office Phone: (860)-688-7725

100 Northfield Drive, FL 4 (FAX) (860)-688-0083

Windsor, CT 06095-4730

Ross E. Eddy – County Executive Director

Litchfield-Fairfield County FSA Office Phone: (860) 626-8852

1185 New Litchfield Street (FAX) (860) 626-8850

Torrington, CT 06790-6098

Howard E. Rood – County Executive Director

New Haven-Middlesex County FSA Office Phone: (203) 269-6665

97 Barnes Road (FAX) (203)294-9741

Wallingford, CT 06492-1900

Nancy H. Welsh – County Executive Director

New London County FSA Office Phone: (860) 887-9941

238 West Town Street (FAX) (860) 887-4082

Norwich, CT 06360-6599

Ann Marie McCard – County Executive Director

Windham County FSA Office Phone: (860) 774-8397

139 Wolf Den Road (FAX) (860) 779-0148

Brooklyn, CT 06234-1729

Dawn S. Pindell – County Executive Director

Farm Energy Program

Join the CT Farm Energy Program for a series of 5 free workshops in January 2011 about technical assistance and financial incentives that are available to AG producers as it relates to energy. Topics will include the CT Farm Energy Program, the new CT Farm Energy BMP Guide, NRCS EQIP program and grant and loan programs offered through USDA Rural Development REAP Grants (Renewable Energy for America Program) for renewable and energy efficiency projects.

Learn about the CT Farm Energy Program and the technical assistance it provides, along with an overview of the new Connecticut Farm Energy Best Management Practice (BMP) Guide.
The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) will present information on funding available for select conservation practices allowed under the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) to address energy issues, and what is involved in applying for an Agricultural Energy Management Plan (AgEMP). Learn how the recommendations from the AgEMP can be funded through EQIP financial assistance.

CT Farm Energy Program will discuss in detail how to apply for a USDA Rural Development - REAP (Renewable Energy for America Program) Grant and go through the application binder for those interested in applying. CT Farm Energy Grant writers will be on hand to assist & answer questions.

January 5, 2011 @ 6 pm
Tolland County AG Center
24 Hyde Avenue (Rte 30)
Vernon, CT 06066

January 10, 2011 @ 6 pm
Middlesex UConn Extension
1066 Saybrook Road (Rte 154)
Haddam, CT 06438

January 19, 2011 @ 3 pm
Norwich USDA Service Center
238 West Town Street
Norwich, CT 06360

January 24, 2010 @ 6 pm
Windham UConn Extension
139 Wolf Den RoadBrooklyn, CT 06234

January 26, 2011 @ 3 pm
Windsor USDA Service Center
100 Northfield Drive, 4th Floor
Windsor, CT 06095

This series of workshops is made possible through the partnership of Eastern CT Resource Conservation & Development Area (RC&D), USDA Rural Development (RD), USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service(NRCS) and the CT Farm Energy Program (CFEP).
USDA is an equal opportunity employer and provider

The workshops are free and open to the public to attend, please call or email the CT Farm Energy Program if you plan to attend so that we have enough materials available.
Workshop Flyer is attached

Amanda Fargo-Johnson
Program Coordinator
CT Farm Energy Program
www.ctfarmenergy.org
860-345-3977

Manchester 2020 Quadrant Summit

  Manchester 2020 Quadrant Summit: All members of the Manchester community are  invited to attend the Manchester 2020 Quadrant Summit on Wednesday, November  17th at 7:00 p.m. at Manchester Country Club, 305 South Main Street.  Planning  Department staff will present the information gathered at the four Quadrant  Discovery Workshops and identify major themes.   Attendees will have the  opportunity to discuss the next steps in the Manchester 2020 process and offer  their ideas and observations.  At the Quadrant Discovery Workshops held over the  past four months, hundreds of Manchester residents discussed Manchester’s  current conditions and assets, offered ideas on what they would like the town to  be in the future and suggested opportunities and policies to guide the town’s  future development and conservation. Manchester 2020 is the Town of Manchester's  Plan of Conservation and Development update, the plan that will guide the town’s  development over the next 10 years. Call 860- 647-3044 to RSVP.  More  information on the Manchester 2020 planning process is available at:  www.manchester2020plan.net.

Farmers Meeting

The Farming Committee of MAPA is meeting on Tuesday, October 26, 2010, at 7:00 p.m. in the Directors' Room in Lincoln Center. All are welcomed.

Interesting Workshop

Tax Incentives to Protect Family Farms

Without Breaking Your Budget

An AGvocate Workshop

Monday, November 29, 2010

6:30 to 9 pm

Hampton Community Center

(At the Little River Grange)

178 Main Street (Rte 97)

Hampton, CT

Local governments can make good use of tax tools to create a supportive business

environment for local farms. Are you an agricultural producer, agricultural based

business, a municipal decision maker, or do you just have an interest in keeping

Connecticut’s working lands viable? Join us on November 29 for a FREE workshop,

sponsored by the AGvocate program, to learn about available tax reduction programs that

can help retain farms and farmland in your community.

This workshop will cover:

• Public Act 490‐Ct land use value assessment law for farmland, forestland and open space

land

• State tax exemptions and abatements currently existing for farms and farmland

• Optional tax exemptions and abatements your town can implement

• Lessons learned from towns that have successfully implemented tax incentives Share Ideas, Gather Resources

Manchester 2020 Southwest Quadrant Meeting

Manchester 2020 Southwest Quadrant Meeting: All members of the Manchester community are invited to attend the Manchester 2020 Southwest Quadrant Discovery Workshop on Wednesday, October 20th at 7:00 p.m. at the Manchester Historical Society, 175 Pine Street. Manchester 2020 is the Town of Manchester's Plan of Conservation and Development update, the plan that will guide the town’s development over the next 10 years. This will be the fourth in a series of quadrant workshops, each looking at one specific area of town. The Southwest quadrant includes the historic West Side, the Keeney and parts of the Verplanck neighborhoods, the Spencer Street corridor, Hartford Road, Manchester Community College, parts of Downtown and various community and recreational facilities. This workshop will include facilitated discussions on current conditions in this quadrant, what kind of place it might be in the future, and how it relates or could relate to concepts like smart growth and sustainability. Everyone in attendance will have the opportunity to participate and everyone's ideas will be heard. Call 860- 647-3044 to RSVP. More information on the entire Manchester 2020 planning process is available at: www.manchester2020plan.net

Waddell School Garden

Waddell is having another Donuts and Dirt Party NEXT Saturday, Oct. 16th in the morning, I assume starting at 9 a.m. as last time. Try to stop by to support them if you are free. I have an all-day conference that day unfortunately.

Janet

Global Work Parties on 10-10-10 in Manchester

Join a Global Work Party in Manchester on Sunday 10-10-10. Be a part of of 350.org’s Day of Global Work Parties celebrating climate solutions, such as growing more food locally and organically. More than 6000 work parties in over 175 countries are happening this Sunday. See photographs and read all about it at 350.org. Two work parties are planned in Manchester.

The first is at the Unitarian Universalist Society:East at 153 West Vernon St. Members, friends and visitors are encouraged to walk, bike or carpool to 9:00a.m. or 11:00a.m. services at UUS:E on October 10th. After the service join the children, youth and adults to harvest root vegetables and other plants, clean up and care for parts of this organic garden and plant garlic for next season. Use the new bike rack made from recycled materials - railings from our old building and ski poles. Check out the newly renovated and enlarged "green" building now heated and cooled with ten geothermal wells.

Then move on after lunch (brown bag it) to the second work party: This work party will be held outside Manchester Community College from 2 to 4 in the afternoon. Come to help with an organic Community Garden that grows vegetables for the MACC Food Pantry and offers accessible raised beds for gardeners with disabilities. There is an accessible port-o-potty on site. This is a LEARN and WORK party. Clean up, prepare beds, and plant garlic, greens and other things that can overwinter. Bring a shovel or garden fork if you have one.

Park at far end of parking lot C across from the garden.

***participants can learn various ways they might get involved with the garden in the future***

For more details go to www.350.org or contact janet.heller@snet.net.

Next Meeting

The Community Garden Committee of MAPA is meeting Tuesday, October 5, 2010, at 7:00 p.m. in the Directors' Room at Lincoln Center. All are welcomed.

Agriculture in CT

Agriculture Is A $3.5 Billion Industry With 20,000 Jobs In Connecticut

September 27, 2010|By SHAWN R. BEALS, sbeals@courant.com

Agriculture in Connecticut has an impact of as much as $3.5 billion on the state's economy and accounts for more than 20,000 jobs — more dollars but fewer people than previously believed — a study released Monday by the University of Connecticut reported.

The study measured direct sales and purchases by farms and other agriculture businesses, updating numbers that agriculture officials have been using for the past two decades.

"This was something that was needed by policy advocates and agricultural stakeholders," said Rigoberto Lopez, professor and department head of UConn's Department of Agriculture and Resource Economics, who led the study.

The study, based on 2007 sales data, shows that old estimates that were being used by the General Assembly of a $2 billion industry were too low, and estimates of 50,000 jobs associated with agriculture were much too high, Lopez said.

Total direct sales of agricultural products were $551.6 million, the study showed; processing totaled $955 million and forest product sales totaled $131 million. The nursery, greenhouse, sod and flower industries accounted for the largest portion of directagricultural product sales, a total of 49 percent, followed by dairy, 13 percent and tobacco, 10 percent.

Lopez said the group was very careful to count only agricultural production and processing — excluding the peripheral industries such as landscaping, grounds-keeping, bakeries and distilleries.

But the study also includes ripple effects, in the form of goods and services that farms and other agriculture firms purchase — such as feed, veterinary services, equipment, building services, electricians and many other trades. The sector's impact "cascades throughout the state's economy," the study said.

Officials Monday lauded the study's results as a strong reminder of agriculture's contribution to the state.

"People forget that agriculture is an economic generator in our state," said state agriculture Commissioner F. Philip Prelli. "Agriculture is the oldest business in the state of Connecticut as we celebrate our 375th birthday."

"We'll use this to remind people how important agriculture is," he said.

Prelli said the diversification of the state's farms has helped the industry stay healthy and grow in many sectors, and contributes to the impact.

The study used three separate types of economic modeling, which yielded three totals for the impact on the state ranging from $2.7 billion to $3.5 billion. That compares with a total value of goods and services produced in Connecticut of $212 billion. Crucial to producers in the state, the study also said the agriculture sector produced as much as $1.7 billion in value added to the economy — the difference between final payments and raw materials costs.

Of the 3.18 million acres of land in the state, about 405,000 — or 13 percent — are used for agriculture, the report said. Over 50 percent of the total land area in the state is forest (much of that former agriculture land from the 19th century) and 19 percent is developed.

"The study gives us the ability to educate decision-makers at the local level, the state level and the federal level that agriculture is alive and well and it's an important part of what makes Connecticut a special place," said Steven Reviczky, director of the Connecticut Farm Bureau.

Prelli said the results could be important for farmland preservation efforts and legislation affecting businesses, because "every single farm is a business."

Waddell School PTA Reclaiming Habitat

On Saturday morning, September 25 from 9am-noon, families and friends from the Waddell Elementary School community in Manchester will gather for the “Doughnuts and Dirt Day” in an effort to reclaim the Waddell School Habitat at 163 Broad Street! The Habitat was established in 1998 amidst a record heat wave. It thrived as an outdoor classroom for students, and children were able to learn great lessons in both nature and art by using it, but over the years, as focus changed on other areas of accomplishment for students, the Waddell Schoolyard Habitat became an overgrown annex on the east side of the school. Recently, Waddell Principal Roland Axelson and Art Teacher Emma Craib attended a forum about starting an edible schoolyard garden held by the Manchester Agriculture Preservation Association, and a renewed interest in the habitat began to take shape with students, parents and faculty alike. Plans for the restored Waddell Schoolyard Habitat include raised, accessible beds for children, a sensory area, and an edible garden. The event this Saturday will mark the beginning of the work, with raking, weeding, clipping and pulling. The public is invited to attend and are encouraged to bring gloves and garden tools if available. Doughnuts and other pastries will be provided by The Sugar Shack, Center Street in Manchester. For more information about this event please contact the Waddell School PTA at waddellpta@gmail.com or 860-647-3392.

Last But Not Least...The Southwest (From Manchester 2020 Blog)

Last But Not Least...The Southwest

The last of our four Quadrant discovery workshops will take place on Wednesday, October 20th at 7 p.m. at the Manchester Historical Society at 175 Pine Street. This workshop will focus on the Southwest Quadrant, which includes the historic West Side, the Keeney and portions of the Verplanckneighborhoods, the Spencer Street area and parts of Downtown. For those who have attended one or more of the previous workshops, you know the format: We will be discussing the present condition of this area of town, what we would like to see there in the future and how those ideas relate to the state's Growth Management Principles. Everyone who comes will have the opportunity to participate and all ideas will be heard. We especially welcome those who have not attended a workshop yet and people who live in the Southwest part of town. Of course, members of the Manchester community are invited and encouraged to participate!

For more information, or to RSVP, please contact the planning department at 860-647-3044 or via email atanderson@ci.manchester.ct.us.

CHECK OUT THIS SITE TODAY

Next Meeting

MAPA is meeting on Thursday, September 9th, at 6:00 p.m. in the Directors' Room at Lincoln Center (Manchester). All are welcome.