Kim Grijalva, a farmer who operates Grijalva Cattle on 100 acres in North Stonington, said farming in Connecticut has gotten unaffordable.
“The USDA reported over five years that the cost of production for cattle has gone up 170%, but retail prices on beef have only gone up 10%,” Grijalva said. “There is immense pressure on cattle farmers, and costs only keep rising while retail prices are not keeping up with the costs of production. It’s getting harder for local farmers to make profits.”
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s most recent census in 2022, there were 5,058 farms in Connecticut with a total market value of more than $704 million. The number of farms in the state has decreased by 8% since 2017, as costs have skyrocketed and profit margins get smaller. But despite the downward trend, there are still more than 372,000 acres of farmland in Connecticut, with the state’s average farm size around 74 acres, according to the USDA.
Connecticut’s top agricultural products include floriculture, milk and other dairy products, chicken eggs, cattle and calves and turkeys, the USDA said. The state has 80 working dairy farms remaining, a significant decline from a few decades ago. In 1975, Connecticut had 817 dairy farms, By 2018, the number had fallen to just 100, according to data. In 2021, the USDA counted 85 dairy farms, down from just a few years prior.
Production has been shifting to much larger but fewer farms, and that shift is accelerating, according to the USDA.
“Milk prices are down nationwide and some farmers are getting paid what they were making 15 years ago. You can’t live off that,” said Dave Buck, who owns Guardians Farm in Southbury. “We had a farm bureau meeting the other night, and we were told that since 2024, there were 85 dairy farms in the state, now we’re down to 80. If the milk prices continue, we may be down to 50 or less in a few years. That’s what we are being told. It’s a rough time for dairy farmers.”
According to the USDA, milk prices have seen dramatic decreases in value driven by an oversupply of milk combined with stagnant demand, dropping prices below production costs for many farmers. Over the past four weeks, the average price of milk lost 7%, and in the last 12 months, it decreased 27%, according to financial data. The average price of a gallon of milk for February is now at a 29-month low hovering around $3.39 a gallon despite rising production costs.
But it’s not just cattle and dairy farmers that have felt financial pressures over the past few years.
Joshua Beebe, owner of Tardif Farms in Coventry, said he is also facing immense financial strains. He is facing foreclosure after what he calls “years of navigating regulatory hurdles, unexpected town-mandated expenses and the financial fallout from mandatory poultry depopulation,” according to a GoFundMe page set up for Beebe, which has reached over $7,000 out of a $16,000 goal as of Saturday.
Beebe, who raises game birds like mallards and quail and has a poultry farm, said he lost tens of thousands of dollars due to an outbreak of salmonella at his farm in 2024. He said regulatory hurdles and the pressure of rising prices for feed means one setback could be devastating.
“We had to depopulate our flock in 2024 due to a test that came back positive for salmonella pullorum, so we lost over 5,000 birds,” Beebe said. “We lost our entire income for the year and I had to cash out part of my retirement. The options the state gave us was to test every bird on the farm or depopulate. If we tested each bird, like the state wanted, it would have cost around $7 a bird times 5,000.”
The other issue is that most of farmers in the state are over the age of 50, with many in or close to retirement age, according to USDA data. The average age of a Connecticut farmer is 58.5 years old, up from 57.1 years in 2017. More than a quarter of Connecticut farmers, around 28%, fall into the age group of 65 to 74 years, and 23.6% of farmers are ages 55 to 64, according to USDA census data.
State officials say they are looking to address the age gap by offering several grant opportunities for younger and new farmers this year, including the New Farmer Micro Grant program offering $5,000 for new farmers with one to three years of experience, and farm transition grants up to $49,999 for infrastructure and innovation, according to the Connecticut Department of Agriculture.
CT’s been having a fight over farmland. What to know about the outcry and 20,000 signatures.
Despite the many ongoing challenges farmers are already facing, they say they are now wrestling with a new hurdle: Potentially crushing tax assessments.
“Farmers are beyond upset about this because this is our livelihood. Our farms are being taxed out of existence,” Grijalva said. “It’s hard enough to make it as a farmer to begin with and then add on top of that massive tax hikes. My taxes would have gone up $16,000 if the current assessment rates went ahead. We’re talking Pasture F land, or land that’s for just grazing, went from $400 an acre to somehow became $1,570 an acre, the numbers don’t make sense.”
Responding to the outcry from farmers, Gov. Ned Lamont placed a pause on the potentially large tax increases on farmland back on Jan. 19. In a letter to the state budget director, Lamont said the tax increases must be placed on hold to prevent the farms from being turned into residential and commercial properties.
The issue over high tax assessments for farmland has to do with Public Act 490. The law, established in 1963 by the state legislature and the state’s Office of Policy and Management, releases new recommended current land-use values on farmland every five years in consultation with the Department of Agriculture, according to officials. These recommended values have historically been compiled using data from rental rate surveys with an analysis by an independent contractor and review by a certified appraiser.
The last appraisal happened in 2020 and the most recent survey conducted was last year, according to a spokesperson with the state’s Department of Agriculture. But last year’s survey, conducted by UConn’s Department of Agriculture and Resource Economics, had flaws including low response rates that skewed results, data inconsistencies that led to erratic land use values for specific land categories and oversights in the review process prior to the initial release, according to the Department of Agriculture.
Since Lamont’s directive on Jan. 19, both the Office of Policy and Management and Department of Agriculture have moved to request recommendations for a working group and send invitations to convene the first meeting. For now, officials say they have reinstated the 2020 tax assessment values as they work out an answer to the potentially crushing tax assessments.
Grijalva, who is part of the working group, said she and many other farmers are demanding answers.
“Our trust is broken, while we are happy the governor is pausing these tax hikes, there are many questions. How did we get to these numbers? There was a debacle of a survey done used for an appraisal by Farm Credit East. The survey numbers and the final assessment numbers served up to farmers in December don’t match. Farmers are pretty good at math, we have to do it all the time, but nothing about this adds up. Someone needs to say we screwed up and we need to start over.”
Rebecca Eddy, a spokesperson with the state’s Department of Agriculture, said that the working group is composed of land and agriculture farmers, forestry representatives, agency representatives and municipal leaders. Together, she said, the group will seek input and gather responses to decide how to move forward. Eddy said there is no concrete timeline yet to get new assessment rates, but she said that a rough timeframe may be October 2027.
“We are focused on the best pathway forward and this working group can further than conversation and figure out the best way forward,” Eddy said. “Maybe it’s not a survey, maybe there is some other path forward that makes the most sense. Things change and maybe it’s time we make a change. Those things will be discussed with the working group.”
Buck, owner of Guardians Farm, said he is happy that Lamont stepped in and paused the tax assessments.
“If the tax assessments went through, it would have been tough. I would be seeing about a 400% increase,” he said. “I’m not up for property re-evaluation until next year, but I am interested to see what comes out of the working group. I think farmers need to have input.”
Connecticut Department of Agriculture commissioner Bryan Hurlburt said that he is working with Lamont to address the issue.
“Governor Lamont’s decisive leadership reaffirms Connecticut’s commitment to its farming community. By addressing the unintended tax burdens and inviting farmers into the PA 490 working group conversation, we are seeking practical solutions that meet producers where they are today while safeguarding the working lands that will sustain future generations,” Hurlburt said.
“This directive ensures family farms can continue their vital role — feeding our communities, stewarding our environment and preserving the open spaces that define our state. Together, we are building a path forward that honors the original intent of PA 490 as a land preservation tool to strengthen the foundation of Connecticut agriculture,” he said.
Stephen Underwood can be reached at sunderwood@courant.com
