VIABILITY GRANT IN ACTION
THE TOWN OF GILFORD FARM MAP
The Town of Guilford has been an agricultural community since 1639 and established Connecticut’s first Agricultural Commission in 2006. The town is
home to a number of agricultural businesses; some who have been in operation and well supported by the community for many years, while others are new farmers working to establish themselves in the area.
In 2021, the Town of Guilford received a Farm Viability Grant to ensure the continued survival and support of all farm businesses. The proposed project involved updating the Farm Map of Guilford, which was originally produced in 2014 with funding from a 2013 Viability Grant. Updating the map would allow the community to support farms new to Guilford, as well as understand how existing farms had expanded or refocused their available products over the last 7 years. Overall, the goal of this mapping projects was to provide a hard copy and online tool so that Guilford residents, tourists, and members of other CT towns could find and support Guilford farms offering their CT grown products and value-added goods.
The Guilford Agricultural Commission, with the assistance of Town of Guilford staff, began to update the map listings by identifying the agricultural operations in town through the Assessors Department P.A. 490 listing of agricultural properties. From this group, 31 farms approved their presence on the map, as well as the inclusion of information on their farm including the address, hours, products available, and photos.
To unveil the updated farm map, the Town of Guilford hosted an Open Farm event on August 20, 2022. Nine farms set up on the Guilford green and displayed tractors, goats, sheep, donkeys, lamas, horses, chickens, ducks, vegetables, flowers, maple syrup, eggs, beef and pork. Six farms were open for the farm tours to grant the public a closer look at the farms operating in their community. In total, the Open Farm event was attended by over 200 people and was a great celebration of the agricultural community in Guilford.
The FTG is a competitive matching reimbursement grant for Connecticut agricultural producers and agricultural cooperatives. The Farm Transition Grant is provided through the State of Connecticut Farm Transition Grant Program, established in 2005 through Public Act 05-228, An Act Concerning Farmland Preservation, Land Protection, Affordable Housing, and Historic Preservation.