Wednesday, April 29th
4PM to 6:30PM
Ives Farm, Cheshire

Join Solid Ground's Soil, Conservation and Land Use Consultant Kip Kolesinskas for a a farm tour and demonstration of how to go about assessing farmland using key areas of interest such as property history, soil health, infrastructure, water features.

The event will include a walk of the property, overview of farmland considerations, introductions to service providers, and more. Dinner will be provided. Cost to attend: $15.

Register for this Skill Share!

See their full calendar of upcoming events: Solid Ground Farmer Trainings

Thursday, April 30th
6:30PM to 7:30PM
Virtual Event

Hear from Shuresh Ghimire, UConn Extension Vegetable Specialist, on how ground covers and mulches can improve soil health, conserve moisture, suppress weeds, and boost productivity in small urban growing spaces.

This webinar will highlight practical, space-efficient strategies for using mulches and living ground covers in raised beds, containers, and compact garden plots—helping urban producers build healthier and more sustainable growing systems.

Register here!

Saturday, May 2nd
2:00PM to 3:00PM
Keney Park, 183 Windsor Ave, Windsor

Join Sarah Rose from Samad Gardens Initiative for a demonstration and application of an electric leaf shredder for easy leaf mulch application. Participants will see the leaf shredder in action, learn how to assemble and use it, and produce bagged mulch to spread on the prepped planting beds at Keney Park Sustainability Project. Participants will also discuss tools and options for practical application of leaf mulches to garden beds, and the benefits to soil health and farm and garden success. Parking is available at the Windsor entrance to Keney Park. Free street parking on Norman Ave.

Register here!

Thursday, May 7th
3:00PM to 4:00PM
Virtual Event

Many people are interested in opening a poultry processing facility to meet this need, but many things need to be considered before proceeding to do so. Dr. Indu Upadhyaya will discuss common issues and important considerations for small-scale processing.

Register here!

• Growing strong, healthy vegetables all season
• Managing pests with effective, low-impact methods
• Tools and support available for growers

Email jwhipple@ewoodlandsolutionsllc.com to register. 

Thursday, May 21st
9:00AM to 5:00PM
Tolland Agricultural Center

In partnership with Berkshire Agricultural Ventures, please join us for the first UConn Extension Diversified Livestock Conference! The day will feature presentations on meat processing, prescribed grazing, small-scale poultry production, sheep farming in CT, and a deep dive into product taste testing.

Register here!

May 28th and 29th, 2026
9:00AM to 3:00PM

The Produce Safety Alliance (PSA) Grower Training Course has been designed to provide a foundation of Good Agricultural Practices knowledge that includes emphasis on co-management of food safety and environmental management goals, while outlining the requirements of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety Rule.

Cost to attend: $50. Technology required: Computer software for ZOOM, audio, video, and internet.

Register here!

Small Farms Innovation Project - Financial and Technical Support for Tools, Infrastructure, and Environmental Impact Ideas

Submissions due May 31st, 2026

The Small Farms Innovation Project, put forward by the UConn Engineering Department in partnership with CT RC&D and NCTFA, is gearing up for its third year and is looking for farmers interested in problem-solving or prototyping their innovative farm ideas by teaming up with engineering students. Participation and supply stipends available for accepted farmers.

Learn more here!

Online Course Offerings

Farm Risk Management Online Certificate
This unique program from the University of Connecticut's (UConn) College of Agriculture focuses on one of today’s most critical topics for the agriculture industry, farm risk management. Farm risk management involves understanding and mitigating factors that can impact agricultural operations, such as climate change, pest management, and financial uncertainties. Through this grant-funded 12-module course you will gain knowledge and strategies to enhance the resilience and sustainability of your farm. Knowledge is the key.

Designed for the Agricultural Industry
Serving livestock farms, dairy farms, crop farms, fruit & vegetable farms, or anyone seeking to develop a farm, this free course is a must for the modern-day farmer. View the listing of modules.

USDA Funded & Free to the Public
UConn’s Farm Risk Management Online Course modules are developed in conjunction with UConn’s College of Agriculture, UConn’s Center for Excellence in Teaching & Learning, and UConn’s Academic Program Development & Support unit, and are funded by a grant from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Flexible & Convenient
Take one module or all twelve Farm Risk Management online modules. Learners will receive a course completion certificate for each module completed that can be downloaded and printed.

Courses are self-paced and offered 100% online and asynchronous; you can participate in the course at any time of day from anywhere with an Internet connection.

How to Register
Registration for UConn’s Farm Risk Management Online Course modules is facilitated by UConn’s non-credit online course registration platform. Register Here.

Conferences

December 15-17, 2026

Manchester, New Hampshire

More details to come. For now, visit the conference website to learn more.

Save the date!

Next year's conference is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, January 12th, 2027.

Community Programs

Becky Sideman at University of New Hampshire is once again putting the call out to recruit organic high tunnel growers as part of an OREI funded high tunnel cover crops project. This Fall 2025 trial will look similar to last year’s: growers will get sent seed, a free soil test and help interpreting it, and will be asked to complete a couple of short surveys to let the researchers known how it went. A biomass sample from the following spring would be ideal as well, but is not required.

These on-farm trials are meant to evaluate how legume cover crops perform in active farming systems. Farmers will not be asked to plant replicated arrangements of the trial plots on their farms. Instead, researchers will plant all of the cover crop options in replicated plots on a research station, while each participating farmer plants one plot of each of the cover crop options that they select. Farmers can select between two levels of participation and compensation, depending on the amount of time and effort they are willing to commit.

• Read the full trial instructions, detailed species and timing menu, and farmer expectations for each level here .
• Watch the recording of the High Tunnel Cover Crop Trial Webinar
• Sign up to participate  by telling the team which species you’d like to grow and how much seed to send.

Contact the research team with questions: hightunnel-cc@umn.edu

The new program, which is voluntary for CT farms, provides sampling kits to ensure contamination-free soil collection, and provides data on 14 PFAS directly to the farmers who submit samples. “Our hope is that PFAS data will help farmers protect their safety and that of their customers” says Jasmine Jones, the PFAS technician at CAES. PFAS found in farm soils may impact crops and livestock, and may pose a risk to drinking water wells on and near farms. There are no enforceable limits for PFAS on farms at the state or federal level, though high levels can be harmful to human and animal health. “Collecting data on PFAS concentrations at CT farms is an important step towards understanding the scope of PFAS contamination issues in CT” says Sara Nason, Ph.D., a research scientist at CAES. The new CAES program uses a certified EPA method for soil analysis, and has ISO:17025:2017 accreditation, an internationally recognized lab quality certification. “Data quality has been a big priority for our PFAS measurements” says Nason.

Additional program information can be found on the CAES website at:

https://portal.ct.gov/caes/about-caes/pfas-in-ctagricultural-soils/pfas-in-ct-agricultural-soils.

Detailed information on PFAS can be found on the following websites:

https://portal.ct.gov/DEEP-PFAS
https://pfas-1.itrcweb.org/

New England Soil Health Survey

Free Soil testing is available through a new program from AFT New England and the USDA ARS Food Systems Research Unit. Farms in Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Massachusetts are eligible to receive free soil health testing on up to three fields after completing a short survey.

Learn more at: https://farmland.org/new-england-soil-health-survey/