The hilly terrain of Nostrano Vineyards in Milton, a 65-acre former apple orchard turned boutique winery and wedding venue, served as a dramatic backdrop for the Ulster Agriculture Summit that took place on May 9. There, in the tasting barn, a panel discussion brought together six local growers to discuss the business of agriculture in Ulster County, how it has changed over generations, the challenges it faces in our current economy and how to make it sustainable for future generations. The event was organized by Ulster Strong, a local division of the Hudson Valley Economic Development Corporation, whose stated mission is “building a stronger community for all by advancing sustainable growth and broad economic opportunity throughout Ulster County.”
Another theme of the summit was “The future of agriculture is female,” reflected in the makeup of the panel: Only one of the seven participants, host Nic Bozzo of Nostrano Vineyards, was male. The choice of panelists reflected a growing trend for farms to be owned and operated by women – and not only in the capacity of “farmer’s wife,” though that anchoring role certainly got its fair share of appreciation during the discussion. “When I first started, 28 years ago, the room was filled with men,” observed Helene Dembroski, now co-owner with her brother Alex of Dembroski Orchards in Plattekill.
Most of the panelists, Bozzo and Dembroski included, represented the latest generations of their families to be running the legacy farms where they grew up. “You’re usually born into farming,” Bozzo said. The only relative newcomer to the field on the panel was Casey Erdmann, a Long Island native who has been running Fjord Vineyards in Marlboro with her husband, Matthew Spaccarelli, since 2013. The more typical pattern is for the heirs to family farms to go off to pursue higher education in the agricultural sciences, as well as the business and marketing skills needed to adapt to changing economic times, before returning to take a greater role in the farm’s operation.
“I studied business, but then came back to the Hudson Valley, and it was the best decision I ever made,” said Alisha Albinder, fourth-generation owner/operator of Hudson River Fruit Distributors in Milton. Albinder has successfully championed the addition of newer varieties such as Snapdragon and RubyFrost to the region’s apple market, and during the forum she gave kudos to Dembroski for having brought EverCrisp, a cross between Honeycrisp and Fuji apples, to the forefront. Dembroski’s particular passion has been advocacy for state policies optimizing purchase of New York-grown apples and other produce by school districts for student meals, as well as to “put apple cider on the Food Stamp coupon” and to have Hudson Valley apple products offered as standard fare at Thruway rest stops.
Another panelist who went off to college but returned to the family farm was Samantha Boylan, who belongs to the fifth generation involved in running Wright’s Farm in Gardiner. Acknowledging the many challenges involved in farming as a profession, she added, “There’s a new crop every year, and I find a lot of hope in that.” These younger farmers understand that diversifying products, services and income streams is a strategy crucial to sustainability. Wright’s, which started out as a dairy farm and is now mostly known as an orchard and market, recently added a brewery, Gardiner Brewing Company, under the direction of Sam and her two siblings.
Several panelists cited motherhood as an added burden for women trying to make farming their profession. Boylan and Dembroski both praised the Agri-Business Child Development (ABCD) program in New Paltz, part of a statewide agency that provides daycare and preschool services for farm families. “It’s a great program,” Boylan said. “It’s hard to be a working mom; you have to make a lot of sacrifices.”
Among other challenges to the sustainability of small farms mentioned repeatedly by the panelists were the unpredictability of weather; price competition with imported fruit, particularly from Washington State; and skyrocketing costs of such essentials as land, property taxes, farmworker housing, farm equipment, materials and especially labor. “It’s really hard to keep prices down in the tasting room,” Erdmann lamented.
“All this is fueled by corporate money,” stated Bozzo. But he also partially blamed state regulations for farmers’ financial struggles: “New York, along with California and Hawaii, are the only states with laws allowing collective bargaining for farmers… The UFW [United Farm Workers] is putting farmers out of business.”
Complaints about farmworkers’ wages did not sit well with local legends Gail and Amy Hepworth, introduced by moderator Lisa Berger as the “rock stars” of the panel. The twin sisters took over Hepworth Farms in Milton when Amy graduated from Cornell University in 1982, ten years after their mother had picked up the reins when “our father left the family,” in Gail’s words. Since then, they have converted the farm’s 400+ acres to NOFA-certified production of organic vegetables, becoming icons in the field of sustainable agriculture in the process.
It was Gail Hepworth who got the mic-drop moment of the event, taking a characteristically maverick position on labor costs: “Agriculture is a slave-based institution. People in the US spend less of their disposable income on food than any other country. It’s a system based on suppressing the wages of workers. I’m here to tell you that we don’t pay them enough.” The task ahead for policymakers and agribusiness alike, she said, was to determine “how to do better by our farmworkers.”
Such a proletarian position might be expected to alarm event sponsor Ulster Strong, which despite its professed advocacy for “smart growth” is a pro-business group, known for its support for the controversial Kingstonian and Winston Farm development projects. But moderator Berger, who is the director of Ulster County Tourism & Office for Film and herself the daughter of legendary New Paltz apple farmer Tony Moriello, welcomed the Hepworth sisters’ attitude, saying, “This is a concept so worth talking about.” As the public forums hosted by Ulster Strong are typically followed up by the formation of a countywide task force on the topic, we can probably expect more dialogue in the future on how to make farming a sustainable occupation for the hired help, along with the landowners.
The Ulster Agriculture Summit wrapped up with an appearance by Michelle Hinchey, chair of the New York State Senate’s Committee on Agriculture and Food. She affirmed her commitment to expansion of the state’s universal school lunch program to include breakfast, with an accompanying requirement that school districts and state agencies purchase food supplies from New York State-based suppliers wherever possible.
Hinchey also noted that agriculture in our region is currently positioned to gain a competitive benefit from climate change: “The major agricultural states — California, Florida, the Midwest – are suffering from the climate crisis. Places are underwater, suffering severe drought or on fire. Agriculture is shifting back to the Northeast, and we’re working to have it be a viable trade.” Ending on a hopeful note, she said that the state budget has lately incorporating more funding to support the viability of small family farms, “and regular people across the state are realizing what it’s worth to have local fresh food.”
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