The winding path of the Connecticut River cuts through four states before it flows into the Long Island Sound. New England farmers take advantage of the nutrient-rich soil along its banks to nurture their crops.
Billy Collins owns 400 acres of farmland, and a large portion is along the Connecticut River just south of Hartford. The farm’s headquarters, Fair Weather Growers, is in Rocky Hill, the same place Collins’ great grandparents started out as dairy farmers.
Over four generations, the farm has evolved. What started as a dairy farm transitioned into a wholesale vegetable operation that supplied grocery stores throughout the region.
When Collins took over, he diversified the crops. Now, more than 200 varieties of vegetables grow in the fields. Greenhouses are full of flowers and bedding plants. The farm supports a large wholesale operation, a local farm market, a fall festival and a community supported agriculture program.
He calls the farm his family’s legacy. His oldest son plans to be the next owner.
“What my parents did, what my grandparents did, what my children are potentially going to do — we all put our twist on it,” Collins said.
But challenges are compounding for Collins and other farmers in Connecticut, from rising costs for fuel and supplies to severe weather. Collins said his farm lost more than $1 million of crops when heavy rains fell in 2021. Two years later, a flood cost the farm another $1 million in crop loss. Collins was forced to take out additional loans to continue his business, and he hasn’t brought in enough money to pay them off, he said.
“I can only imagine how hard it is for me compared to what it was for my parents and grandparents,” he said.
The 2026 season promises to be another abnormal year, this time due not to storms but conflict.
Hostilities by the United States, Israel and Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway used to transport nearly one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supply.
While a two-week ceasefire took effect in early April, traffic through the shipping lane remains heavily reduced, CBS News reported.
Natural gas is essential for fertilizer production. About a third of fertilizer traded by sea also passes through the strait.
The price of fuel and fertilizer has spiked. Even so, wholesale farmers like Collins don’t have enough market power to raise their prices accordingly, he said.
“You’d be lucky to raise your price a nickel, sometimes a dime,” Collins said.
In Connecticut, the average cost of diesel jumped nearly $2 per gallon in a month, according to AAA.
Collins estimates the annual fuel bill for his fleet of machines is at least $250,000. He expects it to rise 30% this year. Heating his greenhouses and fertilizing hundreds of acres will also be more expensive.
The cost of urea, a common nitrogen fertilizer, rose more than 30% on the global market between February and March.
With prices still in flux, Collins is torn between buying everything he needs immediately or holding off in hope that prices fall.
“That’s what scares the hell out of us right now,” he said. “We don’t know where things are gonna go.”
He questions how hard farming will be for his children, and whether it’s something he still wants them to pursue.
“I don’t want them in something that they’re gonna fail in,” he said as his eyes welled with tears.
High costs, mounting losses
Fair Weather Growers isn’t alone in the struggle.
Across the country, farmers lost $8.9 billion of crops from natural disasters in 2021, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. They lost more than double that amount in 2023. The next year brought another $20.3 billion in disaster-related crop loss.
Connecticut farmers called 2024 a banner season until a hailstorm wiped out crops in late August.
In response to the catastrophic losses, Congress provided disaster relief to farmers in the American Relief Act of 2025. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) allocated $53 million to Connecticut growers but had yet to approve the state’s plan to distribute the funds as of late March.
Like Collins, sixth-generation farmer Jamie Jones is stuck deliberating over when to buy supplies. He is the agricultural and business operations director at Jones Family Farms in Shelton.
“I wish someone could tell me this answer,” he said.
Jones expected to see a rise in costs since fuel and fertilizer are commodities. But he didn’t expect the jump would be so high.
"We're all kind of scratching our heads and we’re very concerned,” Jones said. “But we just don’t know quite yet how to react.”
Spring coincides with the planting season in the United States; fertilizer imports reach their peak in March and April.
The Fertilizer Institute’s chief economist, Veronica Nigh, previously told an agricultural broadcasting network the country could be 2 million tons short this spring.
“I can’t believe we haven’t even started this growing season,” Jones said. “Maybe there’s always next year.”
For farmers looking for ways to stretch fertilizer supplies, knowing exactly what nutrients their soil needs is crucial.
Bonnie Burr, department head and assistant director of UConn Extension, oversees soil testing that helps farmers calibrate their fertilizer use.
Disruption in the global economy could limit how much farmers can plant, constraining their income and making it harder to pay off their debt from previous years, Burr said.
“A lot of people are going, ‘Hello, agriculture here,’” she said. “This is directly impacting how we’re able to get crops into the ground.”
The issue is more pressing for dairy farmers, since they need to plant enough corn to feed their cows regardless of the cost, Burr said.
Attention was already on dairy farmers’ struggles, as milk prices have tumbled recently despite rising operating costs.
The Connecticut Farm Bureau Association has been busy advocating on their behalf for $20 million in state tax credits to cover this year’s expected losses.
Paul Larson, the bureau's president, said this latest economic blow bolstered the argument that dairy farmers need more financial support to stay in business.
The alternative is to let dairy farmers absorb another significant cost, since they can’t raise milk prices or plant less corn without also selling off cows, Larson said.
“Otherwise, what are you going to feed them?” he said.
Paul and his wife, Joyce Larson, own Sprucedale Gardens in Woodstock. The couple bought most of their fertilizer in the fall, sparing them a difficult decision this spring. But Paul Larson said he sympathizes with farmers who have to replenish their supply at a higher price.
'Gambling the farm'
Back at Fair Weather Growers, Collins is doing more soil testing than ever before to avoid applying more fertilizer than necessary. He also started his greenhouse crops about a week later than usual to conserve fuel. He plans to reduce planting by a third.
To cut transportation costs, he and another farmer will deliver produce jointly to grocery stores.
But Collins hopes to increase sales directly to customers at his farm market rather than through the wholesale market, where prices are harder to control.
His biggest concern is offsetting the higher expenses. In normal years, profits hover just slightly above break-even. Absorbing extra expenses could sink the family business, he said.
“How do we pay our bills off? How do we pay our lending agencies that we borrow all this money from?” he said. “Basically, you’re gambling the farm.”
If input costs soar any higher, the strategy for Collins next year is simple: stop growing.
“We would still have our farm market, and we would still have our fall festival,” he said. But he couldn't afford to raise another 400 acres of crops.
“It’s sad. It would hurt,” Collins said. “It would also hurt a lot of the families that rely on income from our farm as well.”
Fair Weather Growers has around 50 employees and nearly double that during the height of the season. Some have worked at the farm for decades. But if Collins can’t afford to pay them, he has to let them go.
“It doesn’t matter if we're raising string beans, sweet corn, summer squash, peppers, apples,” he said. “It doesn’t work anymore. Our labor and our input costs are just so high.”
Federal relief for farmers
While farmers are struggling now, Collins warns consumers could eventually feel the effects. Fewer farmers means less domestic food supply and more reliance on imports.
In mid-March, the American Farm Bureau Federation and about 50 other agricultural groups sent a letter to President Donald Trump and congressional leaders calling for market relief, citing the war in Iran and subsequent closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
The conflict is “further straining a farm economy that already had its back against the wall due to record inflation, trade uncertainty, rapidly declining crop prices and catastrophic natural disasters,” the letter reads.
U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes, who represents Connecticut’s 5th District, has joined other Democrats on the House Committee on Agriculture to urge the federal government to stabilize the fertilizer market.
The committee also aims to pass the first federal farm bill since 2018. The Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026 would require the secretary of agriculture to establish a system to assist specialty crop farmers during economic crises or market disruptions. It would also create a standing authority for faster relief payments.
Trump urged Congress to quickly pass the bill during a celebration of agriculture at the White House on March 27.
During his speech, the president reiterated his support for American agriculture to the hundreds of farmers gathered on the South Lawn. He also reminded the crowd of the $12 billion in aid his administration announced in December.
“The golden age of agriculture is right here and now,” Trump said.
A week after his speech, the administration released the president’s latest budget proposal. It includes major staffing cuts to the office that provides loans, disaster aid and financial support to farmers. It also pulls millions from programs that fund local markets and CSA operations — systems that support many Connecticut farms that sell directly to customers.
The administration said the cuts are meant to eliminate waste and reduce federal involvement in agriculture programs. It argues taxpayer funding should be reserved for core farming needs. In a budget message, the administration also said technology upgrades will help the Farm Service Agency better support existing programs, including farm loans.
USDA estimates national farm debt will rise to $624.7 billion this year.
Collins believes most people don’t realize how many farms are about to collapse.
He couldn’t think of a solution except stronger government intervention. Given food’s necessity, he thinks it should be a bigger priority.
“Without food, there is no life,” he said. “It’s simple.”
