Launched in 2002 by people associated with the Hartford Food System and the existing “Celebration of Connecticut Farms, Food and Art” and others, Connecticut Farmland Trust was founded as a land trust solely to protect Connecticut’s working lands. While the bylaws of the organization permit the outright purchase in fee of appropriate properties, in practice the group has limited itself to the acquisition of agricultural conservation easements.
Connecticut Farmland Trust (CFT) quickly built a reputation as a lean, efficient organization. In 20 years, CFT has protected 70 farms and more than 5,200 acres of land.
In 2012, CFT was Accredited by the Land Trust Accreditation Commission – a sign that what was once a raw young group had quickly become a seasoned and respectable land trust, adhering to the highest organizational and conservation standards. We were re-accredited in 2017, and are currently completing our five-year re-accreditation application in November, 2022.
CFT began its work primarily through donations of agricultural easements. As demand grew, those agricultural easements were purchased through partnerships employing large grants from state and federal sources to match with one another. CFT’s donors also supplied cash to help with pre-closing costs. CFT is proud to have leveraged $17.50 in resources from partners for every $1 it has spent on acquisition of an agricultural easement. The Natural Resource Conservation Service and the Connecticut Department of Agriculture are our most important public collaborators.
CFT’s value to these partnerships is typically threefold: as a not-for-profit organization, CFT can negotiate a bargain sale that the landowner can take advantage of. As a third party, CFT can move quickly to create and sign-up deals, as well as act as a facilitator between state, town, and federal entities which are not always motivated to proceed quickly or in harmony with each other. Finally, due to its nature as a land trust, CFT is obligated to perpetual stewardship of the properties it protects, thus delivering credibility to the promise of conservation.
In addition to the conservation and ongoing stewardship work, CFT convenes and takes part in conversations about the future of farmland protection with a variety of other groups. As an Accredited organization – one of only six in the state – CFT has the professional credibility to lead facilitate collaborative efforts. While land protection is viscerally local, strategies and tactics can be implemented with a broader view, intending to benefit the entire state. In a small geography like Connecticut, we have the advantage of being the only land trust devoted to agriculture. This provides us with a platform and an opportunity.
Perhaps the most important of these partnerships is the complementary work undertaken by the Working Lands Alliance (WLA). A project of American Farmland Trust, the first line in the description of WLA on their website is “The Working Lands Alliance was formed in 1999 with the sole purpose of preserving Connecticut’s most precious natural resource – its farmland.” WLA does everything to protect Connecticut’s farmland except actually protecting it. CFT sits on WLA’s steering committee and the two groups coordinate their work whenever appropriate. WLA focuses on advocacy, education and lobbying activities; they prepared the landscape for the work that we do.
Connecticut Farmland Trusts stands today at the leading edge of the fight to protect Connecticut’s rich agricultural legacy — thanks to you.