AGRICULTURE COMMITTEE
MINUTES OF MAY 2, 2007 MEETING
Audrey P. Beck Municipal Building
Conference Room B, 7:30 p.m.

1. Acting Chairman, Charlie Galgowski, called the meeting to order at 7:30.

2: PRESENT: Al Cyr, Charlie Galgowski, Carol Stearns, Vicky Wetherell

3. Minutes of the March 7, 2007 meeting were approved.

Old Business
4. Reports on past business:
Agricultural Lease for Bonemill Field: no proposals for lease of the field. Al will keep it mowed
The annual plow match was cancelled due to wet conditions.

5. Proposed Farm Animal Regulations
The committee has arranged for Jim Gibbons of the UConn Extension System to make a public presentation, “Keeping Horses in Residential Areas,” to inform horse owners and Town officials about best practices and regulations concerning horses on residential properties. This program is scheduled for May 31 from 7 to 9 at E.O. Smith High School and will be cosponsored by the high school’s agriculture department. Publicity options were discussed.

6. Open Space Initiative
The “Protecting Family Farms and Forests Workshop” April 17 was well attended. Follow-up activities include a tour of Random Farm in Ashford as part of Walking Weekend and a November 17 program by Ct. Farmland Trust for the region’s farmland owners. The committee discussed co-sponsoring a tour of historic barns in Mansfield with the historical society for Walking Weekend. Several options will be investigated. A notice about these events will be sent to those on the farm mailing list.

New Business
7. Historic Barn Inventory
The Ct. Trust for Historic Preservation is promoting a state-wide inventory of historic barns. The committee discussed the possibility of co-sponsoring an inventory with the historical society in 2008 with the potential for a photo contest, an exhibit at the historical society’s
museum and town events, such a Know Your Town Fair, and publication of a calendar.

8. The meeting was adjourned at 9:10.