Connecticut Department of Agriculture

06/11/2026

Your Connecticut Grown strawberry guide is here! 🍓

From Pick-Your-Own fields to farm stands and CT Grown Organic options, strawberry season is in full swing across Connecticut.

Visit ctgrown.org for additional locations near you.

06/05/2026

☀️🍓 If a photo is worth 1,000 words, here are 13,000 words of pure CT Grown summer - from June berries to July sweet corn to August sunflowers. This is what the season looks like across Connecticut.

Comment SUMMER and we’ll send you our custom map of everywhere you can find CT Grown! 🌽🍑🌻🦪

06/04/2026

Attention CT Specialty Crop Producers!⚠️
More information on ASCF is available online at fsa.usda.gov/ascf or contact your local FSA county office.

🚨 $1.625 billion is available to specialty crop farmers through USDA's Assistance for Specialty Crop Farmers program. These payments provide financial support to allow producers to pay for production and marketing inputs in the face of significant market disruptions and elevated input costs during the 2025 growing season. The deadline to apply is Aug. 7, 2026.

On June 1, producers with a http://Login.gov account can access and submit their pre-filled application at fsa.usda.gov/ascf, and beginning June 8, producers can request their pre-filled application from their USDA Farm Service Agency county office. Payments will be issued as applications are submitted and approved, beginning as early as the first week of signup.

🔗 https://www.usda.gov/about-usda/news/press-releases/2026/05/29/usda-announces-enrollment-period-and-payment-rates-specialty-crop-farmers

06/02/2026

Rule #1 of summer: if you spot a flash of red in the field… follow it.

Strawberry season is officially here, and Connecticut’s farms are bursting with the first sweet signs of summer. 🍓

06/01/2026

Happy ! 🥛

Milk is one of the most nutrient-rich foods you can add to your daily meals, providing 13 essential vitamins and minerals to support bone health, muscle function, and overall wellness. 💪

We celebrate Connecticut's dedicated family farms that provide fresh, high-quality milk to our communities every day, while also preserving open space, supporting local economies, and carrying forward generations of farming tradition.

05/29/2026

Governor Ned Lamont today chaired a meeting of the State Bond Commission which approved a series of strategic investments, including $5 million for the Connecticut Department of Agriculture’s Farmland Preservation Program. These funds will support future projects that protect prime and important farmland soils from development, ensuring they remain available for active agricultural production in perpetuity.

“Farmland access and affordability has been, and continues to be, a major concern in Connecticut,” said Agriculture Commissioner Bryan P. Hurlburt. “This funding enables us to address those challenges and continues the Lamont Administration’s ongoing prioritization of agriculture and farmland as essential components of a sustainable, resilient food system in Connecticut.”

05/27/2026

✨International Year of the Woman Farmer Spotlight✨
Kim Milikowski, Foster Hill Farm in Stafford Springs, CT

Kim traded in her scarves and business suits for Carhartt's and bandanas, and has been farming for 18 years on 120 acres operating a seasonal garden shop with 200 varieties of specialty and heirloom tomato and pepper plants along with hanging baskets, annuals, perennials, and other vegetable plants. Foster Hill Farm is also the largest breeder of registered Mediterranean Miniature donkeys in the northeast.

🍅What inspired you to become a farmer?
As a young girl I would visit my great grandfather, Ben Specht, in Milton, PA, during the summer. He grew Burpee Big Boy and Henderson Winsall tomatoes along with Red Bliss potatoes and other vegetables. I remember seeing those giant tomatoes and watching as he pushed a pitchfork into the ground to overturn a clump of potatoes. We were both so excited to see what was under the earth and all of the little potatoes. We grow Burpee Big Boy and Henderson Winsall plants every year and the porch swing that Ben and I sat in is the swing that is on our porch at the farm. There is a lot of good energy in that swing and I love to sit on it at the end of the day and feel it.

🍅What advice would you give to other women?
Farming and agriculture is a lifestyle combined with the responsibilities of self-employment if it is your own farm. The crops and animals come first. You may have employees but ultimately it is you who shoulders all of the responsibility.

🍅Describe a challenge you face as a woman farmer:
The most devastating challenge by far for me was the loss of my husband, Karl. We ran the farm together for many years and he died suddenly of a heart attack. Losing him was like losing half of myself from a work standpoint and spiritually as well. There were many times that I thought it was going to be too much for me to handle on my own but task by task we have figured things out with the help of my adopted farm family. Hard as it is I love the lifestyle, love the land, the joy this brings to others.

👉 Follow Kim at to learn more!

05/21/2026

Memorial Day Weekend is the unofficial start of summer—so make your table a little more local. From fresh meats for the grill to oysters, farm wines, baked goods, and the first crops of the season, CT Grown has everything you need for long‑weekend gatherings.

Find local farms and producers at CTGrown.org.

05/19/2026

We might need to remind this sassy gal that she’s supposed to drink the water, not splash us! 🤣

When the temperatures climb, keeping fresh, cool water available for your animals is top of the list to keeping them healthy. 💦

Remember to keep yourself hydrated while doing farm chores or taking the dog for a walk.🐕‍🦺

05/14/2026

Dozens of dairy farmers along with industry partners and state officials gathered at in Hebron yesterday where Governor Lamont announced plans to release $22.5 million from Connecticut’s Federal Cuts Response Fund to provide immediate relief to the state’s dairy farmers.

Dairy is the state’s second largest agricultural sector providing jobs and economic activity in rural communities and a steady supply of fresh, nutritious milk and dairy products to residents. 🥛🐄