The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Life on the farm
Murphy, Esty hear from those who work the land ahead of new bill
GOSHEN — Two Connecticut lawmakers said they have a better understanding of the needs of small-town agriculture after a tour of a local farm last week.
Clint Thorn, owner of Thorncrest Farm & Milk House Chocolates, on Friday guided Sen. Chris Murphy and Rep. Elizabeth Esty, both Democrats, through the barn, where cows were eating and sleeping peacefully, unconcerned with the visitors, and then to the chocolate house.
Thorn’s farm has been in his family since 1968. He is the second generation to run it. When it started, Goshen had 23 dairy farms. Now, there’s one — Thorncrest Farm.
Thorn said he hoped the legislators would take away an understanding of
farming in Connecticut and New England, including the importance of preserving land for farming and the government programs that support agriculture.
Murphy and Esty are preparing for the creation of the 2018 farm bill, which will guide agricultural and food policy in the United States.
“This is an amazing operation that brings people to Connecticut from all over the Northeast, all over the country,” Murphy said. “It’s a real Connecticut treasure.”
The price of dairy products has dipped dramatically in recent years in the face of foreign competition, Murphy said — a “catastrophe” for smaller farmers.
Murphy said efforts to support prices were included in the latest budget approved by Congress, and if it was up to him, the farm bill would rewrite the dairy subsidy program.
It’s an insurance program at this point, he said — farmers are asked to buy a policy that pays off if dairy prices dip below a certain point. But the premiums are so high, it is little-used in Connecticut, he said.
Thorn said milk is the key to the farm, even if they do not produce commercial, fluid milk as their end product. He said the price of milk had increased since the 1990s, but not enough to keep up with the rising cost of health insurance and grain.
“It’s actually insane — it’s really insane. I give credit to those farms ... how they can exist. Those guys are thrifty, hard-working people to keep that alive,” Thorn said of dairy farms.
Land is at a premium in Connecticut, Murphy said — the aim is to create a balance between land and farmland preservation. The number of farmers has increased, but more property is not available to use, and without a family legacy, it’s hard to start a farm and make it work, he said.
Murphy said he would take away a story to share in Washington about the virtues of small-scale, sustainable agriculture.
“We have to build a case to help support smaller-scale farming in the farm bill, and one of the reasons to do that is because of the care that they take with the land and with the environment,” Murphy said. “Being able to tell the story personally will help.”
Thorn said he and his wife, Kimberly, started placing special emphasis on making their farm more sustainable around 1984, when she suggested making chocolates.
“You could see right away that what’s good for the cow is good for the people, is good for the earth,” Thorn said.
As an example, Thorn said they do not put down manure when the ground is frozen, preventing nitrates and phosphates from flowing into the water system when it rains.
“Every farmer’s job is not to use the land while we’re here, but to preserve it for the next generation produce food,” Thorn said. “It’s really important to not just be a farmer, but to make sure you’re taking care of it in a way that it’s there.”
Esty said her visit was a chance to see how the “extraordinary” small business and farm was doing, and prepare for the farm bill.
“It’s really important for Chris and for me to understand how those proposals that go on on a massive scale in Washington, for the whole country — what kind of impact is it going to have on the Thorncrest Farm? What kind of impact is it going to have on Kim and Clint?” Esty said.
She said she would take away a sense of the farm’s success — the chocolate shop was busy on a rainy Friday afternoon, which was good, she said with a laugh — and the challenges faced by small farmers.
Thorn had noted the issue of preserving land for sustainable farming in Connecticut in the long term, she said — something that can be worked on by bringing together state actors and at the federal level.
“Passion and commitment are really important, but good policy’s important too,” Esty said. “And so we can’t be making good policy for these folks unless we know the challenges they’re facing.”
Thorn said a combination of the past, the present — in the form of the land and the animals — and the opportunity that has come with the chocolate-making business has kept him on the farm, he said.
“There’s a certain amount of responsibility when you’re the last of anything to keep it going, but we also, because of the chocolate, the artisanal chocolate, it’s more of a dream, it’s a lifestyle, more than it is a business,” Thorn said. “It’s nice to work with living animals, plants, the land.”
He said he would like to pass it down to his children and remain a presence in Goshen.
“I’d like to see it continue and go to the next generation, and keep enhancing people’s lives — anyone who comes here,” Thorn said.