Support Staff for the Farmland Access Grant Program

On February 20, the Connecticut Appropriations Committee will hold their public hearing on Department of Agriculture funding appropriations. In the previous legislative session, they passed the Farmland Access Grant Program, which aims to help farmers overcome barriers to accessing land and create viable pathways for farm succession. However, there is currently no funding for staff to administer this program, which would effectively render the program non-operational.

We urge concerned constituents to contact their state legislators – especially those whose legislators also sit on the Appropriations Committee – and ask them to provide funding for these critical staff positions.

The Working Lands Alliance has prepared an email template, below, that can be copied, pasted, and personalized. Contact information for your state legislators can be found here.

Subject Line

Support $300,000 in FY27 Funding for Connecticut’s Farmland Access Grant Program

Email Body

[PERSONALIZED INTRODUCTION: Your name, where you live, your connection to the legislator or to farming in Connecticut]

I am writing to ask you to support $300,000 in the FY27 budget for two dedicated staff positions at the Department of Agriculture to operationalize the Farmland Access Grant Program.

Last session, you and your colleagues demonstrated strong bipartisan support for Connecticut farmers by passing Public Act 25-141, which established the Farmland Access Grant Program. In addition, $10 million in bonding was authorized last year to provide direct financial assistance to farmers purchasing farmland. The legislature recognized what farmers across our state already know: land access is the single biggest barrier facing beginning and historically underserved farmers in Connecticut.

However, the program remains non-operational because the Department of Agriculture lacks dedicated staff to implement it. Without a modest investment of $300,000 for two staff positions, the $10 million the legislature already committed will sit unused while Connecticut farmers continue to struggle with skyrocketing land prices and our agricultural workforce ages out.

The need is urgent:

• The average age of Connecticut farmers is 58 years old, making farmland transition support critical to the future of our state’s agriculture.
• Connecticut agriculture generates $4 billion in annual economic impact and supports over 18,000 jobs across more than 5,500 farms.
• Without action, we risk losing productive agricultural land to development and an entire generation of farming knowledge.

As a member of the Appropriations Committee, you play a key role in ensuring the legislature’s commitment to Connecticut farmers is followed through. I respectfully ask that you advocate for $300,000 in the FY26 budget for Department of Agriculture staff to launch the Farmland Access Grant Program.

Thank you for your continued support of Connecticut’s farming communities.

[YOUR NAME][YOUR TOWN/CITY][YOUR ORGANIZATION, if applicable]