Copyright © 2005 Republican-American
NEW MILFORD
Paul Bucciaglia had a hunch three years ago that if he planted vegetables at Fort Hill, a 20-acre New Milford hayfield preserved by the Nature Conservancy, people would come.
He was right. Bucciaglia offered 20 shares, an investment which earns a basket of produce per week during the growing season. This year he had 235 shares and a waiting list with 100 names on it, all by word of mouth. The burgeoning interest in small-scale farming that doesn't rely on chemicals to control weeds and pests is the closest thing to a reverse in a decades-old trend of disappearing family farms.
"Organic agriculture is farming that builds healthy soils without chemicals," said Bucciaglia. "Most often, anything that's flat and without rocks has been viewed as a Wal-Mart site."
There are currently 29 certified organic farms in the state and many more farmers who don't rely on chemicals but don't want to be bothered by a certification process, according to Bill Duesing, executive director of the Northeast Organic Farming Association.
"Demand is amazing, growing by 20 percent a year," Duesing said. "It's the fastest growing segment of the food industry. People now realize that the way food is grown has a lot to do with its quality. The ripple is also important because it means that land will be put into production and a relationship can be established between the grower and consumer."
In Litchfield County, small-scale farmers and food processors have returned to hands-on and in some cases old fashioned farming methods. Across the state, weeds easily killed by pesticides are being plucked by hand or mechanical tillers, slow growing heritage breeds of livestock are being brought out of obscurity for the rich taste of the meat, dairy cows are eating grass instead of processed food, and egg producing chickens are being given free range to eat bugs. It's happening in Cornwall where Debra Tyler milks cows, in Harwinton where Carol and Mark Gauger sell organic produce and eggs from free range chickens. They taste better, Duesing said.
Bucciaglia, who was busy planting garlic this week for a crop next summer, can't grow enough of a variety of vegetables to meet the demand.
About 20 to 25 percent of Litchfield County towns are protected under various programs to keep it from developers. Very little of it is being farmed, making it a buyer's market for organic farmers looking to rent or buy the agricultural rights to protected lands.
"They are meeting the demand for responsible practices," said Sharon Douglas, a plant pathologist at the Agricultural Experiment Station in New Haven. "People are concerned about the human and environmental fate of using so many chemicals. A lot embrace the organic approach as more responsible, but it requires constant oversight to keep on top of insect, weed, and disease problems."
The disappearance of regional farmland is a story often told; of fathers who have no sons or daughters interested in carrying on a tradition, and land sold for far more than the value of the milk or meat it can produce. Even while efforts are stepped up to protect land from development, the state continues to lose 7,000 to 9,000 acres of farmland a year. About 28,400 acres on 191 farms -- 22 percent of the goal of 130,000 acres -- has so far been preserved.
A very small percentage of the preserved land is flat and fertile enough for truck farming, but plenty of it is suitable for other types of small-scale farming, said Bucciaglia, who has reached the borders of the 20-acre hayfield he tends.
Brigitte Ruthman can be reached at bruthman@rep-am.com.