Equipment Sharing Hubs

CT RC&D's Equipment Sharing Hubs enable agricultural producers the opportunity to cooperatively use equipment, develop a network for information sharing, and implement climate smart practices on their farms. This enables farmers to increase soil health without the potentially cost-prohibitive investment of purchasing equipment on their own.

The hubs encourage soil health practices (identified by USDA NRCS) including, but not limited to, planting of cover crops, conservation crop rotation, conservation tillage (no-till/low-till) mulching, composting, nutrient management, and improved grazing and pasture. The Hubs accept new users on a rolling basis until capacity is reached.

The hubs are funded in part by the Connecticut Department of Agriculture’s Climate Smart Agriculture & Forestry Grant, which was established by the Community Investment Act (C.G.S. Sec. 22-26k). A portion of the grant funds were utilized to implement and support four Equipment Sharing Hubs. One Hub is housed in and provides access to farmers in each of the following regions: the CT River Valley, Northeastern CT, and Northwestern CT. A fourth Hub is housed by and accessible to Farmer Veterans. This project provides access to climate smart equipment for three growing seasons (2024-2027) while fostering collaborative education in geographically diverse areas.

This project enables more agricultural producers to cooperatively use equipment, develop a network for information sharing, and implement climate smart practices on their farms, thereby increasing soil health without individually buying each of the equipment implements on their own. Some climate smart and soil health practices (identified by USDA NRCS) include, but are not limited to, planting of cover crops, conservation crop rotation, conservation tillage (no-till/low till), mulching, composting, nutrient management, improved grazing and pasture, and land management in agricultural operations.