| AUGUST 8, 2005 -- In May Gov. M. Jodi Rell nominated former state representative F. Philip Prelli of Barkhamsted to be the state' commissioner of agriculture. From 1991 to 2003 the 58-year-old Prelli represented the 63rd House district, which includes Canaan, Colebrook, Hartland, Norfolk, North Canaan and Winchester, in addition to his hometown. A graduate of Northwest Connecticut Community College (1968) and Central Connecticut State (1970), Prelli also worked for Aetna Life & Casualty Insurance Co. from 1970.
What is the long-term trajectory of Connecticut agriculture?
The best way to describe it is 'ever-changing.' Certain parts of the industry are contracting, and other parts are expanding. The nursery industry is growing by leaps and bounds; we're seeing changes in the aquaculture area, where we're hoping that oysters are going to be coming back stronger, and the clam industry has also grown. We see consolidations in some of the dairy farms, but [Connecticut farms] are still producing the same amount of milk. So instead of asking whether it's growing or contracting, you need to look at each sector. We can even look at the tobacco industry, which is following a couple of down years due to the blue mold on our leaf-wrap tobacco, and now it appears that [tobacco] is making a comeback and the [sector] is growing.
What is Connecticut tobacco used for? Cigars?
It's a leaf-type tobacco that's used in wrapping cigars. Connecticut leaf tobacco is famous for its use as a wrap. It's a niche market - not nearly as big as in, say, Kentucky or North Carolina.
Aside from living in a rural part of the state, what initially interested you in agricultural issues?
I've been on the periphery of agriculture my whole life. My grandparents had a small farm, and my grandfather was a sawyer in the logging industry. I'm a 40-plus-year member of the Connecticut Grange, and I'm currently its highest officer [holding the title of Master]. I also sold farm insurance prior to doing this, so I got to deal with farmers and the issues facing them. Agriculture's just always been part of my life, and I've enjoyed it.
Many people these days probably aren't familiar with what the Grange is and does.
The Grange is the oldest agricultural fraternal organization in the United States. It started in 1867 as a means to help farmers build co-ops and obtain insurance. It's still very much tied to agriculture, but you don't have to be a farmer to be a member. As you and I just discussed, I'm not. The Granges are also very active in community service. That goes back to when we built co-ops, which was the start of [farmers] insurance companies. We've continued that community service; [e.g.] many of the Granges today are doing dictionary projects, giving dictionaries to every third-grade student in their towns. In your area the Totoket Grange in North Branford has worked for years with one of the magnet schools in New Haven, providing books and other materials to them. Today there are still about 70 Granges in Connecticut with about 3,000 members.
Worldwide, aquaculture is a growing industry. How is it doing here in Connecticut?
The [state] Agriculture Department's aquaculture center is located in Milford. They're the ones that do all the leasing of all the oyster and clam beds in the state. In addition to overseeing that, they work to make sure that the waters [over] those beds remain safe: Some times during rainy period we get sewage overruns and have to close beds down. They make the decisions about that. Clamming has been on the rise [in the state]. For a time we had problems with oysters but now oystering is coming back and I think the industry will be in good shape moving forward.
Beyond the agricultural community itself, the industry has a pretty low profile in Connecticut. What do you think the general public's perspective is on farming in Connecticut?
That's probably one of the major functions our department has to do a better job on, because I think the public's overall view is of the 1950s-style farm, which isn't around any more. So people look around and [conclude that] farming no longer exists in Connecticut. What they don't see is the nursery industry as part of it. They look at all those big greenhouses and don't realize that that's agriculture in the state of Connecticut. Because most people don't see aquaculture, they don't think of it as agriculture. They don't think of our many fruit and vegetable operations as part of agriculture. They don't see the farmers markets; New Haven now has four active farmers markets. They want to remember the small family farm that used to be down the street from them. Well, what they don't know is that land is still being used [for farming], but it's being used by a larger farm. We have to remind people about what agriculture is, and how it's ever-changing.
The Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources has a very aggressive marketing campaign ['Massachusetts Grown...and Fresher!']. Does Connecticut have anything like that?
We already are marketing state-grown produce, and we're very protective of our [products]. If you go to any of the farmers markets or if you go to the local stores, you'll see 'Connecticut Grown.' But what's also important is that we participate in the New England-grown [marketing] program. [Supermarket chain] Big Y is part of that and other stores are going to be participating in that as well. We're not only marketing Connecticut-grown only, but also New England-grown.
To what extent is Connecticut agriculture threatened by the very rapid disappearance of open space generally and farmland specifically?
We did get a bill passed this year - S.B. 0410 ['An Act Concerning Farm Land Preservation, Land Protection, Affordable Housing and Historic Preservation'] - that gave us money to preserve agricultural land, and we are preserving it. Last year we bonded $2 million to preserve agricultural land. The way we do this is we buy the development rights, and we leave those development rights so farmers can continue to use that land. Our next step is to be able to link farmers with available agricultural land in their area for their use. All those are moving forward. Bill 0410 is a major piece of legislation for our department because it gave us four new grants, two of which will farmers either enhance their farms and outreach to businesses and build on programs we already have. The other component encourages municipalities to consider [starting] farmers markets as well as look at ways to [assist in the preservation] of their own agricultural land. Those are each $500,000 matching grants for municipalities. |
