The Department of Agriculture shall establish and administer a farm viability matching grant program to any agricultural not-for-profit organization, municipality, group of municipalities, regional council of governments organized under the provisions of sections 4-124i to 4-124p, inclusive, or group of municipalities that have established a regional interlocal agreement pursuant to sections 7-339a to 7-339l, inclusive, to further agricultural viability. Such grants may be used for the following purposes:

1. (1) Local capital projects that foster agricultural viability, including, but not limited to, processing facilities and farmers' markets;
2. (2) the development and implementation of agriculturally friendly land use regulations and local farmland protection strategies that sustain and promote local agriculture;
3. (3) the development of new marketing programs and venues through or in which a majority of products sold are grown in the state;
4. (4) the development and implementation of programs and services that promote farm and farmland access and transfer of such farms; and
5. (5) the development of urban and nontraditional farming practices.

(P.A. 05-228, S. 2; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 05-3, S. 113; P.A. 08-13, S. 3; P.A. 09-229, S. 32; P.A. 13-247, S. 294; P.A. 16-107, S. 1; P.A. 21-155, S. 10.)

History: P.A. 05-228 effective July 1, 2005; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 05-3 changed effective date of P.A. 05-228 to October 1, 2005, effective June 30, 2005; P.A. 08-13 added “farm viability matching grant” and deleted “of matching grants” re program and added eligible entities, effective April 29, 2008; P.A. 09-229 added “agricultural not-for-profit organization” to list of eligible entities and added Subdiv. (3) re development of new marketing programs and venues, effective July 1, 2009; P.A. 13-247 deleted references to regional planning agency and regional council of elected officials and made a technical change, effective January 1, 2015; P.A. 16-107 added Subdiv. (4) re use of grants to develop and implement programs and services that promote farm and farmland access and transfer of farms, effective June 2, 2016; P.A. 21-155 added Subdiv. (5) re development of urban and nontraditional farming practices, effective July 12, 2021.