CT NOFA Board Member, Freedom Gerardo, Featured on New Hampshire Public Radio
July 24, 2024
CT NOFA board member, Hector “Freedom” Gerardo, was recently featured on New Hampshire Public Radio’s podcast, Outside/In. Gerardo is, among other things, a Connecticut-based industrial hemp farmer, whose experience provides insight into the past, present, and future of industrial hemp as a U.S. agricultural product on their episode “Reefer Madness, the CBD Bubble, and the Future of Hemp.”
Recent Posts
CT NOFA Launches Equipment Share Program
CT NOFA is proud to announce the launch of our Equipment Share Program. In partnership with The Hickories in Ridgefield, Connecticut, this program aims to provide both commercial farmers and home gardeners free access to both specialized equipment and expertise in a shared environment. Equipment Share days at The Hickories will include free soil analysis, seed winnowing services, nut cleaning, compost tea brewing workshops, and much more.
Advocacy News: May 2026
The Good News: CT Senator Chris Murphy has introduced a bill (bipartisan and bicameral) to increase funding for Agricultural Management Assistance to $30 million and to expand the eligible uses for these funds to include “soil health improvements, composting, implementing organic farming, and food safety certification in addition to existing authorized uses such as water management structure and soil erosion control.” Let’s thank Senator Murphy for introducing this bill!
The Bad News: The Farm Bill passed the House of Representatives on April 30, despite 320 food, farm, and conservation organizations, including CT NOFA, voicing our opposition to a bill that does not fix SNAP, does not support new and beginning farmers, and does not adequately support conservation programs or organic agriculture. Now it goes to the Senate and we need to urge both of Connecticut’s Senators to reject this Farm Bill.