SEN. OSTEN WELCOMES SIGNING OF IMPORTANT CONNECTICUT FARM AID BILL

Senator Cathy Osten and members of the Spielman Farm in Baltic, Connecticut

State Senator Cathy Osten (D-Norwich) was praised today for her work in crafting a bill that will bring about $144 million in tax cuts to Connecticut farmers and make them eligible for millions more in state aid to run their farms.

Sen. Osten was a key speaker at the ceremonial bill signing for Senate Bill 1497, “An Act Concerning Programming At The Department Of Agriculture,” which passed the General Assembly in June on a bipartisan and nearly unanimous vote. The bill signing took place at a tobacco farm in South Windsor.

Senate Bill 1497 increases the local property tax exemption on farm machinery to from $100,000 to $250,000, a change that is expected to save Connecticut farmers about $144 million in local property taxes every year. The bill also provides a 20% income tax credit for farmers investing in machinery, buildings or equipment, thereby supporting farmers who are struggling with costs and inflation

The bill also creates a new state-backed crop loss reimbursement grant program will help support farmers who face crop losses after extreme weather events, and it allows drones to be used for precision application of fertilizers and pesticides

“Agriculture in Connecticut brings in billions of dollars of revenue to the state every single year and is responsible for tens of thousands of jobs. When I was younger, my parents ran a family restaurant in eastern Connecticut, and we would buy our corn, eggs, milk and meat from local farms,” said Sen. Osten. “This bill provides a mechanism for dealing with the costs of running a farm, and if we can drive down those costs, we can drive down the costs to consumers. This bill has been a dream of mine to accomplish, and I’m so excited that my colleagues joined me because any legislative victory is never one person, it’s done with a team and a group of people. And this was a bipartisan bill, supported on both sides of the aisle.”

At today’s event, state Agriculture Commissioner Bryan Hurlburt introduced Sen. Osten as a “legislative champion” of the bill and its driving force.

“Senator Osten, as chair of the Rural Caucus, has spent a significant amount of time and energy focused on agriculture – not only in her district, but across the state,” said Commissioner Hurlburt. “She started the conversation around the Connecticut farm bill with a very simple statement: ‘I want to do something for farms this year.’ Senator, with the passage of this bill, you certainly did a heck of a lot for farms this year.”