Marble Valley Farm in Kent leases land from the Kent Land Trust at below-market rates. The model enabled owner Megan Haney to grow her vegetable operation in an otherwise harsh economic climate for Connecticut farmers.
In August, the USDA’s 2024 Land Values Summary reported that Connecticut has the third most expensive farm real estate in the country (tied with Massachusetts) at two times the northeast average for dollars per acre.
To Chelsea Gazillo, the senior New England policy manager for American Farmland Trust, these numbers reflect a “farmland access and succession crisis” that has impacted the state for “the last 15 years at least.”
While the value of farm real estate is on the rise across the U.S., up 5% from 2023, the trendline is particularly steep in Connecticut. In Litchfield County alone, the average estimated market value of farm land and buildings rose 28% between 2017 and 2022 according to a study by the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS).
“Connecticut is a densely populated state and farmland is in high demand from both farmers and non-farmers,” said Rebecca Eddy, director of communications at the Connecticut Department of Agriculture (DOA), citing the competing pressures of investors and developers.
Farmland values are also reflective of broader trends in the real estate market.
“We’re still seeing ripple effects from the pandemic,” said Gazillo, noting that western Connecticut became an especially desirable region for buyers looking to leave nearby metropolitan areas during lockdowns.
As high demand inflates prices and increases development pressure, Connecticut is losing farmland at a striking rate.
American Farmland Trust ranked Connecticut among the top states in the country for farmland conversion to residential and urban uses; Litchfield County alone experienced a 10.5% loss in total cropland between 2017 and 2022.
Meanwhile, U.S. farmers are getting older. In 2022, there were four times more U.S. farmers over the age of 65 than under 35.
“In the next 20 years or so, we’re going to see a massive amount of land start changing hands,” said Gazillo.
The Working Lands Alliance (WLA), a statewide coalition currently directed by Gazillo, formed in 1999 to preserve Connecticut’s farmland against the threat of transition to development.
In Connecticut, where agriculture contributes a significant $4 billion to the economy each year, maintaining farmland and supporting farmers has been a concern of the state for decades.
DOA’s Farmland Preservation Program was one of the first of its kind when it debuted in 1978. The program places agricultural conservation easements on farmland by purchasing the development rights from farmers, providing a monetary incentive for farmers to preserve their land into perpetuity.
Ella Kennen, coordinator for the New Connecticut Farmer Alliance, noted that while these easements bar development, they don’t necessarily require that “farmland is being actively used as farmland.” Nor do they directly address the challenge of first-time land access for new and BIPOC farmers.
To meet these remaining needs, DOA formed the DEI in Agriculture Working Group in 2021. Based on a report produced by the group last summer, DOA applied for and won $2.5 million through the USDA Land Capital Market Access grant which Eddy says will be employed to “increase land access to historically underserved producers.”
The grant provides hope for future change. But for many small farmers, the state policies currently in place do not go far enough to realize their dreams of farm ownership and tenure.
“It’s been simply out of the question that I could own my own farmland,” said Megan Haney, owner and operator of Marble Valley Farm in Kent. “I know of no farmer who can afford real estate based solely on what they make farming.”
Haney has grown her 14-acre sustainable vegetable operation thanks to a below-market-value lease from the Kent Land Trust. She is one of many Connecticut farmers reliant on land trusts or wealthy sponsors as alternative access models.
For the farmers who could afford to purchase their first plots, recent real estate trends may eclipse their plans to grow.
“I was fortunate to purchase my land before the crazy COVID inflation hit,” said Kelley Babbin, owner and operator of Howling Flats Farm in Canaan. “These prices make it unattainable to purchase additional pasture or hay ground.”
While land access is critical to the future of local farming, the issue does not exist in a vacuum. Gazillo noted that many solutions are compounded by other pressures.
“Litchfield County has a lot of protected land, which is both a good and a bad thing,” she said. “Affordable housing groups are saying that if we continue to put easements on properties, then there’s no land to be developed for affordable housing.”
Meanwhile, for older farmers without easements, selling one’s farmland at full market value may be the only path to retirement. “That [land] is their pension,” said Gazillo.
As the issue of farmland tenure grows more pressing and more complex, new policy initiatives hope to meet multiple needs.
WLA has proposed OPAV (Option to Purchase at Agricultural Value), a policy which would compensate farmland owners for selling only to certain farmers or family members at an “agricultural value” below market value. OPAV policies have already been implemented in Vermont, Massachusetts and New York.
OPAV’s future is yet to be determined in Connecticut. As is the future of Connecticut’s remaining farmland.
To Gazillo, the future that Connecticut can count on is one in which local farmers are vital to the community.
“One thing that we learned from the pandemic is that our national food system is very fragile,” she said. “If there are any disruptions to the supply chain, we are dependent on local producers to survive. And as we see more climate-related disasters and weather-related disasters, it’s just going to become more and more of a necessity.”
Madi Long
The Royal Flush won the bed race in 2025.
NORTH CANAAN — The Annual Bed Race will return to Summer Nights of Canaan on Saturday July 18, following the Fireman’s Parade at 6 p.m.
Now a Summer Nights tradition, and before that, a staple of Railroad days since the early 1990s — the Bed Race is back after being revived in recent years by Will and Samantha Perotti. After the event lay dormant for several years, the couple volunteered to take it over and have been working to grow participation.
The lighthearted competition invites teams of five, with four people pushing and one riding atop the “bed.” The term is used loosely as any creative contraption with four wheels qualifies. Past entries have included a toilet bolted to a cart, a trash can on wheels, and a kayak mounted on wheels.
Participants must be 18 years or older to compete.
Teams race one at a time and will be timed pushing their “bed” down the street, around a cone, and back. Participants must be 18 years old.
The race was previously held at North Canaan Elementary School, but will be held on Main Street and will start by the St. Martin of Tours Church of St. Joseph.
“The road will be closed,” said Will Perotti. “There will be a ton of people right there, so it will be a spectacle.”
Will Perotti is encouraging people to just show up if they're interested in competing. Preparedness is not a worry at the Bed Race. When asked about his team on Friday, Will said, “I don't really have our team locked down together. I usually wait till the last minute and then I guilt trip somebody.”
The race is for bragging rights.
“I believe there will be a very, very expensive, really high-end piece of plastic trophy and bragging rights for the next year. That's really what's valuable.”
To sign-up, fill out the form at tinyurl.com/bedrace2026.
Christian Murray
Cole Bushnell appears in Berkshire Superior Court on Thursday after a grand jury indicted him on charges of murder and evidence tampering.
An Ashley Falls man whose arrest drew attention on both sides of the Massachusetts-Connecticut border has been indicted on charges of murder and evidence tampering in connection with the June 1 killing of Michael A. Moore, a former Falls Village resident.
A Berkshire County grand jury has indicted Cole Bushnell, 41, on charges of murder and evidence tampering in the death of Moore, 40, of Winsted. The evidence tampering count is a new felony charge, with prosecutors alleging that Bushnell attempted to destroy his cellphone following the killing to conceal evidence.
Bushnell, who owned a painting business, was indicted Thursday morning in Berkshire Superior Court, where he entered the courtroom in handcuffs. He showed little visible emotion, kept his eyes on the floor throughout the brief hearing and remained silent. The courtroom was largely empty.
According to a spokesperson for the Berkshire District Attorney's Office, Bushnell pleaded not guilty to both charges.
The indictment alleges that on or about June 1, Bushnell assaulted and beat Moore "by means of a dangerous weapon, to wit: a knife and a sledgehammer," causing his death.
A second count charges Bushnell with evidence tampering. Prosecutors allege Bushnell attempted to impair evidence "in an official proceeding, by attempting to destroy his cellphone, either by his own actions or by directing another person to do so."
According to prosecutors, Moore, who also worked as a painting contractor, went to Bushnell's Ashley Falls property on June 1. Prosecutors allege the two argued over money before Bushnell killed Moore inside a greenhouse on the property.
Moore was killed after suffering blunt-force trauma to the head and lacerations to his back, according to prosecutors. His body was allegedly concealed beneath a mattress until one of Bushnell's workers discovered it after Bushnell led him into the greenhouse. The worker then alerted Connecticut State Police at the Troop B barracks in North Canaan.
Bushnell was ordered held without the right to bail pending further proceedings.
During the hearing, prosecutors also sought a no-contact order prohibiting Bushnell from communicating with witnesses in the case, arguing there had been efforts to contact at least one witness. Bushnell's court-appointed defense attorney, Jeffrey Brown, objected, arguing the court lacked authority to impose such a condition while Bushnell remained held without bail.
Brown, a private criminal defense attorney and partner at Brown & Brown, declined to comment on the case.
The case has gained widespread attention throughout the Northwest Corner because both men are well known in the region.
Bushnell, who attended North Canaan Elementary School, and Moore, who attended Lee H. Kellogg School in Falls Village, both attended Housatonic Valley Regional High School. The two became friends and remained close into adulthood, working together as painters on homes throughout the region before the alleged killing.
Alec Linden
Officials closed the Sharon town beach at Mudge Pond on Wednesday, July 15, after a fallen tree limb exposed a large beehive. The beach is expected to reopen Thursday.
SHARON – The town beach on Mudge Pond closed on Wednesday, July 15, but the cause wasn’t the smoky haze drifting in from Canadian wildfires – it was angry bees.
According to Sharon’s Parks and Recreation Director Bryan Failla, a large limb fell from an old tree near the lifeguard stand overnight, exposing a hole that houses a large beehive. He said the town made the decision to close the beach Wednesday morning “out of an abundance of caution.”
He said that when he went to the beach in the morning, the bees were understandably riled up. “If your home got destroyed you’d be a little agitated as well,” he said.
The town has been aware of the hive in the tree for a long time, Failla said, but it hasn’t caused any concern for safety previously. With it now exposed, he said the time has come for a relocation for the sake of the bees and beachgoers alike.
Mike’s Beehives, an apiary and beekeeping supply store in Goshen, will be handling the operation “first thing tomorrow,” Failla said, with the aim being to safely relocate the hive with as little disturbance to the bees as possible.
Failla said he’s hopeful that the beach will be able to reopen Thursday by 10 a.m., its normal opening time, but noted that delays are possible based on how long the extraction takes.
Ed Bahr, who owns the business, said he frequently performs similar relocations across the state. He said the first step is to remove the bees safely, then take care of the comb, which contains the larva, eggs and honey stores. “It’s basically the furniture of their house,” he said.
He said he will take the bees and their comb back to the Goshen apiary, where he has about 60 other hives. He said it’s important to keep the bees fed and cared for throughout the relocation process, because “you do not want to kill honeybees – that’s not good.”
He promised the bees will be happy in their new home. “We’ll just bring them to a new neighborhood, take care of them and keep them good and happy,” he said.
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Aly Morrissey
If you’ve driven down Main Street in Millerton, you’ve passed the former home and shop of one of the village’s earliest female entrepreneurs. At a time when most businesses were owned by men, Mary Kisselbrack made a name for herself in the late 1800s as a well-respected milliner and dressmaker.
On April 11, 1891, train conductor George Kisselbrack purchased a 124-by-232-foot vacant lot at 54 Main St. and hired locally renowned builders Beers and Trafford to design what would become their home and Mary’s business.
In a historical document, “A Beckon Call to a Village,” the house was referred to as “one of the handsomest, architecturally, in the village.” With gables, pointed roof lines and delicate shades of colors on its exterior ornamentation, the document noted that “no stranger passes it without an admiring glance.”
Today, the home still stands, and recently operated as a restaurant called Manna Dew Cafe, which closed its doors in 2023.
Mary Kisselbrack operated her business out of the west side of her home and developed a reputation for her skill, style, and business acumen.
“Mrs. Kisselbrack spares no pains in satisfying her patrons,” an 1890s Telegram article, the village’s newspaper at the time, said.
Kisselbrack’s reputation earned her customers from different parts of the country — some as far away as Florida — in addition to regular clients from Salisbury, Lakeville, Sharon, Amenia, Pine Plains, Copake and Hillsdale.
“With a woman of the long experience and exquisite taste of Mrs. Kisselbrack at the head of the millinery and dressmaking business, we may be sure that our wives and daughters will be reasonably supplied with the most stylish bonnets and dresses,” the article said.
In her 1905 obituary, Kisselbrack was described as a “self-made woman” who possessed “more than ordinary ability.”
On Oct. 5, 1905 — just over two months shy of her 56th birthday — Kisselbrack died following a severe, three-week illness. According to an obituary that appeared in the Millerton Telegram, she suffered a fibrous tumor and peritonitis.
“While she was not afraid to die, she lamented leaving home and loved ones,” the obituary said. “She talked of dying and of her funeral arrangements as calmly as if going away on a visit.”
Nathan Miller
Millerton’s business community will soon see the completion of a public wastewater system, addressing what local officials and business owners have called a major constraint on commercial development in the community for decades.
The $13.8 million project, which is expected to serve the core of the Village of Millerton and a commercial stretch of the Town of North East along U.S. Route 44, represents one of the largest infrastructure investments in the community in decades, and brings an end to calls for a sewer system that stretch back to World War II. Officials say the system will safeguard local waterways while creating a foundation for long-term economic stability.
Millerton trustee Matt Soleau, who has been working closely on the wastewater project and also operates a local full-service custom building firm, said in February that both residents and businesses are constrained by outdated septic systems, particularly on smaller lots where upgrades cannot meet modern health standards.
The proposed wastewater district aims to serve the core of the village, including its business district, as well as the commercial section of the Town of North East along Route 44 extending from Cumberland Farms to the New York-Connecticut border. Properties within the proposed service area currently rely on individual septic systems, including tanks with leach fields, and outdated systems like seepage pits, cesspools and holding tanks.
Village officials said many properties are limited not by zoning alone, but by septic constraints.
“As a result, many homes cannot legally add bedrooms, create accessory dwelling units or convert existing structures,” Soleau said.
Under the proposed system, most properties would retain their existing septic tanks if they are code-compliant and in good working condition. If a tank does not meet current standards, a new one would be installed as part of the project.
The existing tanks will still be used to collect solid waste, but liquid waste will travel through the municipal system to a treatment center. Treated wastewater will then be returned to Webatuck Creek.
Existing leach fields would be taken out of service and left in place, allowing property owners to reclaim that land for landscaping, driveways or ADUs.
For businesses, many commercial properties rely on old septic systems that are already maxed out, which makes it difficult or impossible to open water-heavy businesses like restaurants, cafes, salons or fitness studios.
Officials also emphasize the environmental benefits. A modern, up-to-date wastewater system will protect the natural environment, including the Webatuck Creek that flows right through the village.
Village officials say the construction phase will aim to limit disruption throughout the village and town, proceeding in targeted segments, with defined areas opened for installation, restored, and then closed before crews move on. The goal, Soleau said, is to allow normal activity to continue as much as possible throughout the process.
“Protecting the safety of our residents and visitors, preserving continuity of local businesses, maintaining access, and retaining residents’ quality of life throughout construction are non-negotiable priorities,” Soleau added.
The project hit major milestones this year, with village officials securing needed funding from a congressionally-directed spending grant of just under $4 million announced in February. That additional federal funding represented the last chunk of money needed to move the project forward.
Officials expect to begin construction on the system next year, with a tentative completion date targeting 2028.
Additional reporting provided by Aly Morrissey.
Graham Corrigan
Wooden beams made from tree trunks comprise the load-bearing structure under Millerton’s Moviehouse.
There are a handful of buildings that have stood the test of time over Millerton’s 175-year history. But if there’s one that stands out as a singular representation of the town, it’s the Millerton Moviehouse and its iconic clock tower.
Built in 1903 as a grange hall, it was soon converted into a movie theater with a second-floor ballroom. It was one of a handful of buildings that came to define the town in the following decades, standing tall across the street from the Episcopal Church and Millerton Inn, next to Terni’s, and up the hill from Millerton’s train station.
When a fire destroyed the local department store and other storefronts on the north side of Main Street in 1955, the Moviehouse became a landmark that represented the village’s early history.
It fell into disrepair in the 1970s and was briefly run as an adult theater. Marian and Carr Ferguson bought the theater in 1974, hoping to revive its status as a first-run theater and remove the pornographic element. Their four teenage daughters ran the theater for two years before the Fergusons sold the Moviehouse to Carol and Robert Sadlon in 1978.
“It was a single theater with 300 seats. There was no heat, no air conditioning,” said Carol Sadlon when asked about the state of the theater when she and her husband purchased it.
The Sadlons worked hard to improve the facilities over their nearly 50-year tenure. They added heat, air conditioning, and a second screening room. In 2012, they replaced the 35mm projection systems with a digital system.
But when COVID hit in 2020, the Moviehouse was an early casualty. By November 2020, the property was on the market, and the whole concept of movie theaters was in question.
Vaccines arrived in early 2021 — and a buyer for the Moviehouse followed soon after. The new co-chairs, David Maltby and Chelsea Altman, made the purchase in February 2021 and reopened the theater as a non-profit.
Its new non-profit status allowed the Moviehouse’s operators to seek grant funding. They initiated a massive renovation campaign that included redesigning both floors and adding an elevator. They also replaced the signage, and upgraded the seating this past April.
This past month, the Moviehouse received $99,000 as part of a grant provided by the New York State Council on the Arts that will pay to renovate and stabilize the 120-year-old building.
Looking forward, general manager Jeremy Boviard has big plans for the Moviehouse’s future. “What excites me about the possibilities looking forward is that we continue our positive trajectory as a regional arts center,” Boviard said. “We want to reach a wide variety of demographics, and continue to grow in lockstep with the needs of our community.”
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