2018 Cultivators

Hudson Valley AgriBusiness Development Corporation (HVADC) works with an impressive constellation of advisors, planners, strategists and field experts.

Following a long career in state agency administration, Dennis Moore, a former New York Ag & Markets Dairy Inspector, has been working with HVADC to help New York’s dairy farmers ride the wave of the shifting markets by including value-added processing, such as yogurt and self-bottling.

In 1996, New York responded to the loss of precious farmland by establishing the Farmland Protection Program).

Pennings Farm in Warwick in Orange County, is a multi-generational operation that incorporates 100 acres of unspoiled farmland where various tree fruits, summer and fall vegetables are grown.

One of the keys to success to the HVADC programming is the ongoing, and daily interaction that HVADC team members have with other stakeholders and like-minded organizations throughout the region.

The term, a “public plate” describes food served in public and publicly-funded institutions and bought with funding administered by the State of New York.

“Hudson Valley Seed Company was initiated as a passion project by librarian Ken Greene,” Todd Erling, Executive Director of HVADC, summarized about one of HVADC’s longest-term clients, Hudson Valley Seed Company (HVSC).

Making it Happen, HVADC and the Carrot Project offer profitability and success training for food producers.

It takes a village, right…? Hudson Valley AgriBusiness Development Corporation (HVADC) is partnering with Poughkeepsie Farm Project (PFP), Poughkeepsie School District (PSD) and Wappingers Central School District (WSD) to implement one of the 12 Farm-to-School projects across New York State announced by Governor Cuomo’s in January.

Battenkill Fibers, a carding and spinning mill that manufactures yarn and fiber products for wholesale and retail markets in Greenwich, New York, has worked with Hudson Valley AgriBusiness Development Corporation (HVADC) to develop a public-private partnership to expand its fiber mill’s grass-roots operations, and is also presenting as part of HVADC’s “Local Lamb Lesson” education series.

In the summer of 2016, a centralized effort began to conduct regional research to identify ways to increase economic resilience and equity in the Greater Capital Region Foodshed and to reduce the impact of poor nutrition on public health.

In December a six year collaborative initiative that Hudson Valley AgriBusiness Development Corporation (HVADC) has been working on in Sullivan County came to fruition when Bethel Creamery cut the ribbon on its newly expanded organic kosher yogurt and milk operation.

In 2011, governor Cuomo established a new approach to economic development for New York State that included the creation of 10 regional economic development councils (REDCs) and the consolidated funding application process (CFA).

On December 8th Hudson Valley AgriBusiness Development Corporation’s (HVADC) Farm and Food Funding Accelerator (FFFA) (formerly the Farm and Food Business Accelerator) was awarded a $100,000 grant through the federal Economic Development Administration (EDA) to fund its next training sessions for food entrepreneurs.

Population increases and development pressures are challenging the future of agriculture across America.

Most days of any given week, both HVADC Executive Director Todd Erling and Deputy Director Mary Ann Johnson are on the road attending meetings with farms, agribusinesses, committees, boards, businesses, municipalities, initiatives, and state and county governments throughout the seven-county region served by HVADC, to lend expertise and to collaborate with other groups’ initiatives.

Not all distilleries can boast that their spirits are crafted from local grain and fruit and aged on-site, “farm to cask,” in their own handmade barrels.

When it comes to preserving historical properties, shouldn’t we apply the same logic as respecting our elders to our venerable farmlands as well?

To answer the need for a more refined and deeper knowledge-base for those considering entering the steadily growing sheep industry in the Hudson Valley, HVADC developed the Local Lamb Lessons series

Farmers have long been adapting to unexpected weather patterns and events; however there is little consolation that a farmer can take when healthy, producing fruit trees or other crops are damaged by the ravages of nature.