Farmland Value Returned to 2020 Levels

Working Group to Recommend Improvements To Valuation Process

The Connecticut Farm Bureau Association (CFBA) is pleased to announce that Governor Ned Lamont has officially rescinded the 2025 valuations and directed the Office of Policy and Management (OPM) to reinstate the 2020 values. Additionally, the Governor has called for a working group that includes representation from agricultural organizations, farmers, municipal leaders, and assessors, to recommend an improved process for determining farmland values.

Since early November 2025, CFBA has played a pivotal role in advocating for this change, maintaining firm pressure on state officials to seek relief for our farmers while also protecting the integrity of the PA 490 program. CFBA President Paul Larson, Vice President Keith Bishop, and Executive Director Tracey McDougall held a critical meeting with the Office of Policy and Management and the Commissioner of Agriculture to issue the first formal request for a rescission in early November of 2025.

While the CFBA secured an initial partial victory on January 5, 2026, when OPM released a revised schedule with reduced assessments for most categories, the organization remained steadfast that these figures were still based on fundamentally flawed data. The January value revisions still meant that some farms faced an increased tax burden of tens of thousands of dollars.

Recognizing that the initial survey—which had only 71 respondents to set the base for hundreds of thousands of acres—posed an imminent threat to the viability of our state’s farmers and farmland preservation, CFBA continued intense behind-the-scenes negotiations alongside the Department of Agriculture to achieve a full rescission.

“We are deeply grateful to Governor Lamont and Commissioner Hurlburt for listening to the concerns of Connecticut’s farmers,” said Paul Larson, President of the CFBA. “By reverting to the 2020 values, the state is honoring the original intent of Public Act 490: to discourage the forced conversion of farmland to development by ensuring land is taxed based on its current use rather than its market value”.

This rescission of values back to 2020 provides essential stability for Connecticut’s fragile agricultural economy, particularly for land-intensive dairy and livestock operations. The proposed collaborative working group will examine rental land trends and standardized reporting to ensure that future valuations reflect economic reality rather than statistical anomalies.

The CFBA remains committed to working with OPM and the Department of Agriculture to ensure that PA 490 continues to serve as the foundational tool for protecting our state’s working lands, local food supply, and rural character.