CT NOFA's New Farmer Program

New, young, and emerging farmers have several opportunities coming up to network, resource share and support efforts to farm and keep farming in Connecticut.

A "Getting Started in Organic Farming Conference" is set for Jan. 29 in New Haven. A beginning farmer track at the Annual Conference on March 5 in Manchester. We have scholarship funding to help beginning farmers pay for registration to those conferences.

All new and beginning farmers to participate, whether they are organic or not.
The USDA defines a "beginning farmer" as one farming for fewer than 10 years.

The project was supported by the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, USDA, Grant # 2010-49400-21847.  The CT NOFA New Connecticut Farmer Program is supported in part by a USDA Beginning Farmer grant in collaboration with NOFA NY and other NOFA chapters.

Headquarters For Holsteins, USA

It was the glint of the gilded cow figures atop the sign in front of this building that caught my eye.

The Holstein Association USA headquarters is Brattleboro, Vermont. This is the largest breed organization in the world, with more than 30,000 members. Their mission is to identify desirable qualities and distinguishing characteristics of the best of the Holstein breed, and to promote and communicate these to other dairymen to help increase their business success.

According to the association, they "have maintained records and ancestry that trace back to the original 8,800 Holstein animals that were imported to the U.S. from the Netherlands during the period of 1852-1905."

The Holstein Association USA employs more than 140 people in the office and the field. More than 19 million animals are registered in the Holstein Association's herdbook. Holsteins identified with the association account for nearly 20 percent of all U.S. dairy cattle.

For more information call (800) 952-5200.

Top image, courtesy USDA.

Raw Milk, Pro And Con, Where To Find

“The secret of happiness is freedom. The secret of freedom is courage.”
- Thucydides

Many people have never even touched a cow or even seen one being milked. So the current controversy in Connecticut over raw milk legislation goes largely unknown by an urban population.

The Connecticut Department of Agriculture is sponsoring a bill (see details of Bill No. 6313 here) presented to the legislature in 2009 which would ban the sale of raw milk in retail stores in Connecticut and/or require extensive additional milk testing at the licensed producers' expense.

In 2008, a young boy who consumed raw milk became ill due to e-coli bacteria tainted milk and spent 16 days in the hospital. The rare occurance raised concerns that the general public may choose to purchase raw milk over pasteurized products. The aim is to include a label about the potential risks of raw milk.

It all boils down to choice. Using a cell telephone is illegal while driving a motor vehicle - that moving metal box may impact public health. Peanut butter that was improperly handled by direction of a large company's management is in the news daily. Mortgage loans based on unsound finances were choices made by business, and results are rippling across the economy.

Don't want raw milk? Don't buy it. To make up your own mind on pros and cons of raw versus processed milk, see this link.

Raw milk producers in Connecticut are listed at www.realmilk.com.

F. Philip Prelli, the state's agriculture commissioner, said the agency has made changes to an early version of the bill that include require the state to pick up the tab and oblige farms to cover the cost of testing if there's an outbreak.

Sales of raw milk are legal in 28 out of 50 U.S. states, according to A Campaign for Real Milk, a project of The Weston A. Price Foundation of Washington D.C. "If you include the states which permit the sale of raw milk for animal consumption (implying that human consumption is feasible) then the total is 33 out of 50 states, which is two-thirds. In some of the remaining states (such as Colorado, Virginia and Wisconsin) raw milk is available through cow share programs."

In Connecticut, raw milk sales are legal on the farm and in retail stores. In order to operate legally, farmers must obtain producer permits and raw milk retailer permits from the State Agriculture Commissioner. Additionally, they must obtain a milk dealer license from the public health board of the town or city where their farms are located.

The state Milk Regulation Board has issued a regulation on the quality standards for retail raw milk. The state does not charge any fees for the testing required to ensure the quality of the milk. Notwithstanding the quality standard regulation, towns and cities have the power to ban the sale of retail raw milk. At the present time, only two towns have done so.

State representative's direct contact information can be found at http://www.house.gov/writerep/ - and refer to Raised Bill No. 6313, An Act Concerning Raw Milk.