Thank you!
Your support is sustaining the future of local news in our communities.

Northwest Corner farmers aided by climate-smart grants

Northwest Corner farmers aided by climate-smart grants

Janna Siller, farm director at Adamah in Falls Village, said her organization is “incredibly grateful” for its $16,000 grant from the Northwest Connecticut Land Conservancy.

Photo provided

KENT — Seven farms in the Northwest Corner have been awarded a combined total of $100,000 in the second round of Northwest Connecticut Land Conservancy’s climate-smart agricultural and forest grant program.

The initiative provides direct funding to farmers to enable them to adopt practices that enhance sustainability, productivity and climate resilience. In total, 15 awardees from across Litchfield County and northwestern Fairfield County received a combined $212,000 in the program’s second round.

“It’s very motivating to have been awarded an agricultural grant from NCLC,” said recipient Sheri Lloyd of Carlwood Farm, whose fifth-generation family farm will receive $10,000 to purchase seeds and soil amendments for crop rotations.

The project aims to reduce compaction, controls erosion and improve soil biology.

“We are looking forward to making some crop rotations to continue focusing on soil health and sustainability while being able to provide forage for our cattle,” said Lloyd.

In March 2023 the Kent-based land conservancy received an award of $750,000 from the state Department of Agriculture through the Climate Smart Agriculture & Forest Grant program. The program allocated $7 million to agricultural and conservation entities, and NCLC was one of 12 recipients selected for an award.

In 2024 the land conservancy announced 10 implementation grant awardees, and after a final competitive grant round last fall, 15 additional sites were selected.This year’s cohort includes beef, dairy, poultry, fish, forestry, vegetable, fruit and flower farms across Litchfield County and northwestern Fairfield County.

“Connecticut’s farms are in the top three for most at risk of loss in the country,” said the land conservancy’sExecutive Director Catherine Rawson.

“Connecticut’s agricultural producers are committed to being part of the climate change solution through on-farm energy, soil health and carbon sequestration projects to further increase their sustainability and resiliency,” said Bryan P. Hurlburt, Connecticut Department of Agriculture commissioner.

High temperatures, more frequent and severe drought and more intense and damaging storms with associated flooding and power outages have been “huge challenges” for the Falls Village-based Adamah, a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm, said director Janna Siller, who noted that CSA shares are still available to the public at fvcsa.adamah.org.

“The $16,000 we’ve been granted from NCLC will help us adapt by purchasing supplies to improve our resilience to these challenges through greenhouse, field production and irrigation improvements like shade cloth, temperature-neutral insect netting, greenhouse climate control, automation, high tunnel ventilation, a generator for the greenhouse heating system, irrigation upgrades and an electric mower.”

The distribution of the grants, for which the Falls Village farm is “incredibly grateful,” said Siller, comes at a time of great uncertainty for farm businesses.

In addition to Carlwood Farm and Adamah, other Northwest Corner farm grant recipients include: $24,000 to Canaan View Dairy LLC in East Canaan; $30,000 Conundrum Farm in Kent; $8,000 to Howling Flats Farm LLC in North Canaan; $9,000 to The Stead Farm LLC in Barkhamsted; and $3,000 to Wright Farm LLC in Goshen.

The Building Resiliency program also includes funding for 22 climate-smart agricultural assessments conducted by Berkshire Agricultural Ventures.

Later this spring, NCLC plans to celebrate Building Resiliency awardees and program partners with an on-farm celebration.

“Small farms serving local customers like ours have long relied on federal grants like the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and the Conservation Stewardship Program, both of which are federal programs that have supported farmers in serving local customers while mitigating climate change and preventing pollution.”

She further noted that federal funding for those programs and many others supporting local farm economies “have been frozen for months and are under threat of drastic cuts in the federal budget.”

In addition to Carlwood Farm and Adamah, the following Northwest Corner farm grant recipients include:

Canaan View Dairy LLC in East Canaan, which will receive $24,000 to purchase a dragline toolbar. This equipment promotes efficient manure application, which reduces nutrient loss and fuel consumption, decreases greenhouse gas emissions and improves soil and water quality.

Conundrum Farm in Kent will receive $30,000 for energy efficiency upgrades in the greenhouse, including establishing an airtight seal, ridge vent and automation software. These upgrades will lower the greenhouse’s energy consumption while improving growing conditions for year-round production.

Howling Flats Farm LLC in Canaan will receive $8,000 for an electric mower and trimmer. This equipment will reduce fossil fuel use and soil compaction while supporting the increased maintenance needs of the farm’s newly planted silvopasture.

The Stead Farm LLC of Barkhamsted will receive $9,000 for mobile chicken coops to enhance multispecies rotational grazing, a process which improves soil health, enhances biodiversity and controls weeds and parasites, increasing pasture and animal resilience and improving carbon sequestration.

Wright Farm LLC in Goshen will receive $3,000 to plant pollinator habitat. Pollinator-friendly plantings support biodiversity, enhance ecosystem services essential for food production and promote carbon sequestration.

In addition to the farm grants, The Building Resiliency program includes funding for 22 climate-smart agricultural assessments conducted by Berkshire Agricultural Ventures.

NCLC announced 18 assessment awardees in the fall of 2024, and since then, has awarded four additional farms, including the Sharon Land Trust’s Mary Moore Preserve. The land sits on the southwestern reach of the Red Mountain range and offers three miles of trails through farm fields, forests and boulder fields.

Later this spring, NCLC plans to celebrate Building Resiliency awardees and program partners with an on-farm celebration.

Latest News

Motorcycle crash near Route 7 prompts Life Star landing at HVRHS

Motorcycle crash near Route 7 prompts Life Star landing at HVRHS

A Life Star helicopter lands on the front lawn of Housatonic Valley Regional High School on Saturday, May 16, to transport a motorcycle crash victim to a hospital.

Aly Morrissey

LIME ROCK — A motorcycle crash involving a car temporarily shut down a section of Route 112 near the intersection with Route 7 on Saturday afternoon, drawing a large emergency response and prompting a Life Star helicopter landing at Housatonic Valley Regional High School.

Emergency responders at the scene confirmed the incident involved a motorcycle and passenger vehicle. Route 7 was closed from Dugway Road to the intersection of Routes 7 and 112 while crews responded.

Keep ReadingShow less
Van strikes utility pole, closes Route 112 for hours

Traffic was diverted near Wells Hill Road after a crash closed part of Route 112 Friday afternoon.

By James H. Clark

A van crashed into a utility pole on Route 112 near Wells Hill Road Friday afternoon, leaving the driver hospitalized in serious condition and forcing the highway to close for several hours.

The crash was reported at approximately 3:20 p.m., according to Connecticut State Police Troop B.

Keep ReadingShow less
Voices from our Salisbury community about the housing we need for a healthy, economically vibrant future

Renee Wilcox

If you’ve ever wandered through Paley’s Farm Market, you probably know Renee Wilcox. For thirty years, she has been greeting you with unmistakable warmth—always ready with a smile. Renee grew up in Millerton, but it was in Salisbury that her family found something they’d never had before: a true sense of home. In 2003, she and her husband Bill were living in Millerton, but Bill—a volunteer with the Lakeville Hose Company—was already part of Salisbury life. When the Salisbury Housing Trust finished eight new homes on East Main Street (Dunham Drive), Renee and Bill were the first to sign on.

The story of those houses is really a story about the best parts of our community. Richard Dunham and his wife, Inge, along with the Housing Trust board, poured years of energy and hope into the project. Renee can’t help but light up when she talks about the people who helped her family settle in. Digby Brown came by to install appliances and bathroom cabinets; Barbara Niles spent hours painting; Carl Williams assembled bunk beds for the kids. Rick Cantele, at Salisbury Bank, helped them with their finances so they could qualify for a mortgage, while neighbors arrived at their door with fruit baskets and welcoming words.

Keep ReadingShow less
google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.

Trade Secrets: a glamorous garden event with a deeper mission

Heavy stone garden ornaments, a specialty of Judy Milne Antiques from Kingston, at Trade Secrets 2025.

Christine Bates

Tucked away on Porter Street in downtown Lakeville, Project SAGE is an unassuming building from a street view. But cross the threshold a week before Trade Secrets — one of the region’s biggest gardening events, long associated with Martha Stewart and glamorous plants of all varieties — and you’ll find a bustling world of employees and volunteers getting ready for the organization’s most important event of the year.

“It’s not usually like this,’ laughed Project SAGE director Kristen van Ginhoven. “But with Trade Secrets just around the corner, it’s definitely like this.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Two artists, two Hartford stages, one shared life

Caroline Kinsolving and Gary Capozzielo at home in Salisbury with their dogs, Petruchio and Beatrice

Provided
"He played his violin, I worked on my lines, we walked the dog, and suddenly we were circling each other perfectly."
Caroline Kinsolving

Actor Caroline Kinsolving and violinist Gary Capozziello enjoy their quiet life with their two dogs in Salisbury, yet are often pulled apart to perform on distant stages in far-flung cities. Currently, the planets have aligned, and both are working in Hartford, across Bushnell Park from one another. Bridgewater native Kinsolving is starring in “Circus Fire,” the current production of TheaterWorks Hartford, while Capozziello is a violinist and assistant concertmaster of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra. While Kinsolving hates being away from home, she feels the distance nourishes their relationship.

“We are guardians of each other’s confidence and self-esteem,” she said.

Keep ReadingShow less
Local filmmaker turns spotlight back on Hollywood’s Mermaid

Esther Williams in “Million Dollar Mermaid” (1952).

Provided

For decades, Esther Williams was one of Hollywood’s brightest stars, but the swimming sensation of the silver screen has largely faded from public memory — a disappearance that intrigued Millerton filmmaker Brian Gersten and inspired him to revisit her legacy.

As a millennial, Gersten grew up largely unaware of Williams’ influential career. His teen years in Chicago were spent with friends who obsessed over movies, spending hours at their local independent video store,and watching anything that caught their eye. Somehow, though, they never ventured into the glossy world of synchronized-swimming musicals of the 1940s and ‘50s.

Keep ReadingShow less
google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.

google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.