Challenges to farming

CORNWALL —  The Cornwall Library hosted a panel presentation on Farming in the Northwest Corner on Saturday, May 8. The lively discussion conducted on Zoom drew around 70 participants.

First to speak were Dave Moran and Audra Leach from the Housatonic Valley Regional High School (HVRHS) agricultural education program.

The ag ed program appeals  widely to students, they said, with 42% of HVRHS students, or 142, enrolled in some aspect of the program’s coursework, whether Animal Science, Engineering and Mechanics, Food Science, Natural Resources and the Environment, and Plant Science and Horticulture.

Bringing real-world farming perspective to the discussion, Bill Hurlburt of Cornwall added his views on what it means to farm today, much different from generations past; and how modern farmers achieve sustainable agriculture in the face of changing conditions and attitudes. 

Hurlburt’s experience is enriched by family history: His ancestors began farming in Cornwall in 1748. Hurlburt serves on the HVRHS Agriculture Education Advisory Committee.

Cornwall resident and ecologist Peter Del Tredici moderated the discussion and contributed his insights spanning 50 years of working with plants.

Today’s HVRHS program has three funding sources, Moran explained, including the Region One budget, the State of Connecticut and the FFA student-managed fundraising efforts that include plant sales (especially the December holiday greens sales). The Agricultural Education Advisory Board guides and oversees the program.

An arboretum stands today on the campus of HVRHS, boasting 41 trees of a variety of species.

Dangers of
a spreading maple

During the discussion period, Cornwall’s Roxana Robinson inquired about the Norway maple that stands on the campus, asking how it came to be.  

Moran responded that the maple was planted in the 1950s, before the arboretum was begun, and that it is watched closely each year. 

To date, no young maples have sprouted anywhere in the vicinity, so the situation seems to be benign.

Del Tredici praised the depth of the program. “Farming is no longer a vocational education program,” Del Tredici said. “It is more forward-looking, getting into climate change issues and economic changes affecting agriculture.”

Hurlburt raised the rhetorical question of why small family farms are not sustainable today. He pointed to changing weather patterns, more snow and killing frosts. Marketing and selling are more important today than in the past.

Farmers now need to supplement their income, taking on a side expertise and career — ideally, one related to their farming enterprise. The question is how to take an occupation rooted in the earth and make it work. Viable farms add value by offering a product to the community.

Economic sustainability is key, Del Tredici said.

“Do you think that someone starting out today can make a living at it?” Del Tredici asked Hurlburt.

“No,” Hurlburt said, adding that many small farmers in Cornwall have hay businesses. They can grow it and sell it, but they have a side occupation for income.

“Everyone wants a farm, but no one wants to farm,” Hurlburt observed, adding that people do not realize the costs for farming equipment, for example, and of course the amount of work.

Del Tredici spoke of the potential for farming to function as part of a conservation strategy, a vitally important point, he said. “It’s in everyone’s interest to keep farming viable.”

According to Del Tredici, the HVRHS program is addressing the core issue of how a farm can connect with its larger community.