Today, Food & Water Watch and its European project, Food & Water Europe, released the first comprehensive analysis of the U.S. government’s strategy, tactics and foreign policy objectives to promote pro-agricultural biotechnology policies worldwide. Biotech Ambassadors: How the U.S. State Department Promotes the Seed Industry’s Global Agenda examines more than 900 State Department diplomatic cables

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$816,706 in competitive, matching grants have been awarded to expand Connecticut’s $3.5 billion agricultural industry. The investments are made through the Connecticut Department of Agriculture’s Farm Transition Grant and Farm Viability Grant programs and will assist farms, agricultural nonprofits, and municipalities increase production, promote Connecticut Grown products, and create jobs.

The Governor’s Council for Agricultural Development is in the midst of creating a strategic plan for Connecticut agriculture.  As part of that effort, it seeks input from stakeholders involved in agriculture in the state. Please provide input at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GCAD_Stakeholder_Input_Aug_Sept_2012.  This survey consists of a dozen questions that should take only five to ten minutes of

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Two north central Connecticut legislators are pushing for the creation of a select committee that would focus solely on agricultural issues — an area that they say deserves heightened awareness right now. The Hartford Courant reports.

In an era when jobs haven’t exactly been growing on trees — Connecticut is betting that they just might. And on bushes. And even indoors. Some half-dozen years after the Rowland administration tried to all but eliminate the state’s Department of Agriculture, the Malloy administration is embracing the state’s $3.5 billion, 20,000-job agriculture industry as

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“There needs to be a lot better effort to educate local regulatory officials, and in some cases, state regulatory officials, on the importance of farming and agriculture, and that there are certain inherent smells, odors and activities associated with farming that local regulations ought to take into consideration.”

Connecticut’s new governor, Dannel Malloy, has talked about strengthening the state’s agricultural economy. Why not think bigger and connect agriculture with smart growth, The Hartford Courant asks?

If the economics of tight-knit walkable communities outperform suburban counterparts by more than 200 percent, as studies by the firm Public Interest Projects in North Carolina and Florida (Miami pictured above) have recently shown, then smart growth should be a goal.

Join the CT Farm Energy Program for a series of 5 free workshops in January 2011 about technical assistance and financial incentives that are available to AG producers as it relates to energy.

The appointment of Steven Reviczky as state agriculture commissioner is good news for farmers and for those who believe in protecting Connecticut’s dwindling farmland from further development, The Day reports. Farm Bureau president “cannot think of a better person” for the new Governor’s staff.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell announced on Dec. 29, 2010, that goods such as furniture, flooring, lumber and fencing made from wood harvested in Connecticut forests will now bear the popular “Connecticut Grown” marketing label.

The state’s agricultural sector generates $3.5 billion a year. That’s far more than anyone had reckoned.

Small poultry farmers in Connecticut who are looking to expand their business and grow jobs will now be able to do so thanks to a new law approved by the General Assembly, according to a news release from state Sen. Edith Prague.

Even with the $14 million they’ve received under the Community Investment Act legislation passed in 2009, dairy farmers are still struggling to pay the bills.

A study of agriculture in Connecticut found that the industry provides $3.5 billion a year in sales — an output that translates to $1,000 per Connecticut resident. The industry also generates 20,000 jobs statewide, two-thirds of which are from farming alone.

Additionally, the industry contributes about $1.7 billion in ‘value added,’ which is the difference between the value of output and the cost of raw materials — the money left in the hands of residents and business taxes, both of which stay in Connecticut.

The CFB is holding a series of free seminars statewide to help explain PA 490 and to distribute the Bureau’s latest PA 490 guide to landowners, government officials and anyone interested in how the law is applied.

Dairy farmers are lamenting a reduction in a state government aid program and are calling for changes in federal milk pricing.

The Easton Board of Selectmen (BOS) voted unanimously Thursday night to create a town Agricultural Committee. The three selectmen had been debating whether to form a committee or a commission to promote agriculture in town.