As announced at 2009 Ag Day, This year's Outstanding Young Farmer comes to us from Wallingford, CT. Eric Henry, his wife, Rebecca, and mother Rita, along with his 4 children -- Benjamin, Samuel, Camille, and Elias -- manage a 318-ac apple, peach, and pear operation known as Blue Hills Orchard. Eric has been working on the farm for the past 20 years, after attending Lyman Hall's Vocational Agriculture Program and getting his Associate's Degree in Fruit Production from the Stockbridge School of Agriculture at the University of Massachusetts. As Eric explains, education is important as the Henry family continues to improve and modernize the orchard with each generation. He conserves water by using drip irrigation for the orchard, and plants cover crops to rebuild the soil in the orchard. Eric also takes an active role in the issues affecting his part of the agriculture industry, and is currently serving the Connecticut Pomological Society as their President.
