Funding will help restore agriculture program

On May 3, The Register Citizen published an article, “Sen. Murphy pushes to help young farmers as interest in agriculture grows,” with an incorrect funding figure related to the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program.

ACEP, a critical piece of the Farm Bill that helps protect farmland with conservation easements, is proposed to be funded at $500 million a year, not $5 million as stated in the article. ACEP is currently authorized at $250 million for the 2018 fiscal year.

The American Farmland Trust supports the increase of ACEP funding to $500 million, which will restore the program closer to what it has been in previous years.

This is an important fact because ACEP is a vital program that gives funds to farmers and ranchers to permanently protect their land from sprawling development—funds which many farmers and ranchers use to reinvest in their businesses, transition land to the next generation, or improve their stewardship.

Working Lands Alliance — a project of American Farmland Trust — thanks Sen. Chris Murphy for coming to Waldingfield Farm to discuss the student loan debt many of Connecticut’s new and beginning farmer hold. We would also like to formally thank the New CT Farmers Alliance which is the CT chapter of the National Young Farmers Coalition for organizing the event.

For readers interested in learning more about American Farmland Trust’s 2018 Farm Bill priorities, including our recommendations for ACEP, please see this article written by AFT’s Federal Policy Manager, Sanaz Arjomand. — Chelsea Gazillo, Working Lands Alliance Director, American Farmland Trust, Wethersfield