Glynwood Center Inc

Programs: Training farmers - our farmer training program fosters the next generation of agricultural entrepreneurs who will create viable farm businesses and bring more hudson valley land into production. Apprentice program - using our home farm as a prime training ground, we recently completed our ninth season of training farmer apprentices. As in past years, we welcomed three vegetable production and two livestock apprentices for the 2016 growing season, during which they gained valuable hands-on experience in our fields, as well as classroom learnings through our robust farmer training curriculum. This year's curriculum included approximately 30 workshops, the most ever, many of which were open to the public as part of our public programs (more on that program below). In all, we offered 50 hours of workshops to approximately 250 participants over the course of the season. New this year, we hosted a comprehensive soil health workshop, the first training of its kind in the hudson valley with an emphasis on pasture management, which we planned and hosted in collaboration with grownyc's farmroots and the local economies project's hudson valley farm hub. Another exciting offering was a first-ever swine school master class, featuring niman ranch pork company founder paul willis and journalist barry estabrook. Before heading off to their next farming posts, apprentices spent one-on-one time with our farm managers at the end of the season learning higher-level managerial skills, like reviewing farm records and budgets, which provides a unique perspective on the business realities of farming. Through the end of 2016, we have trained 38 farmers through our apprentice program, the vast majority of whom have continued careers in farming or food systems work after graduating. In 2017, we plan to welcome eight apprentices, the most we have ever had on site during a single growing season.

promoting regional food - our hudson valley food program implements collaborative projects with food and farming professionals that are designed to enhance our region's unique identity and agricultural viability. By creating opportunities and expanding markets for regional food, we are ensuring that hudson valley farms endure. Kitchen cultivars - given the overwhelming success of our experimental hank's x-tra special baking bean seed grow-out last year, we formally launched the kitchen cultivars project this year in collaboration with hudson valley seed library. This new project aims to unite farmers and chefs in protecting, promoting and proliferating regionally-adapted vegetable varieties while raising awareness for regional biodiversity and food culture. As part of the project this year, the heirloom varieties bridge to paris pepper and long island cheese pumpkin were cultivated by 17 regional growers and will be featured in menu specials and events at participating restaurants this upcoming winter. In addition, kitchen cultivars publicly "debuted" during a large-scale pumpkin and craft cider tasting event we co-hosted at fishkill farms earlier this fall with more than 200 people in attendance. Hudson valley csa coalition - building on more than three years of groundwork with our fellow regional csa farmers, we are leading the formation of the hudson valley csa coalition to focus on collaborative marketing opportunities that increase and diversify csa membership in the region. In early 2016, with funding glynwood received from the ralph e. Ogden foundation, we administered a survey to more than 100 regional csas, and 83% of respondents expressed a desire to expand their csa sales, solidifying the need to move forward with a more formalized, collaborative marketing effort. To this end, the group will debut with the launch of a comprehensive online directory of hudson valley csa farms that will be available at hudsonvalleycsa. Org. With extensive input from nearly 70 regional csa farmers, the design and development of the website is now close to completion and will launch later this winter. Once the online identity for the coalition is established, we will work with coalition leadership to promote and grow the directory. We were recently awarded a three-year usda agricultural marketing service's farmers market promotion program grant to support the further development, capacity building and management of the hudson valley csa coalition. This funding has established a firm operational foundation for the coalition, positioning the group to take on a variety of additional projects that expand membership and increase public access to locally grown food through the csa model. Simultaneously, we have been exploring the viability of an innovative health insurance rebate program that could make participation in csas more accessible, a strategy for fostering both healthy consumers and small-farm viability. Cider project - our well-established cider project has continued to shepherd the industry in this region and beyond, an effort that has helped spur an 85% increase in craft hard cider producers in the hudson valley alone-24 in 2016, up from 13 just two years ago. At the state level, new york now ranks as the nation's leader in terms of the number of cideries, having experienced a 750% increase in cider production volume and 1200% growth in number of licensed cider producers, from 5 to 65, between 2011 and 2015, according to wine & craft beverage news. This hard cider "renaissance," bolstered by increased consumer demand for locally produced beverages, can be attributed in part to glynwood's ongoing efforts to build a market and appreciation for this distinctive agricultural product. As part of our ongoing work with cider producers, we led the founding of the first statewide trade association charged with advancing the interests of the industry, the new york cider association, which held its first annual meeting this year and continues to grow in scope and membership. We also produced another successful cider week new york city (october 21-30) for the sixth consecutive year-which included the lower east side cider festival attended by an estimated 6,000 people-as well as the third annual cider week hudson valley (june 3-12). Research - earlier this year, we completed research and analysis on the challenges and unmet opportunities for sustainable livestock production in the hudson valley. A report with our findings and recommendations entitled pastured protein: ecological, humane and healthy meat production from the hudson valley will be published later this winter.

public programs - in order for a regional food system to prosper, residents and visitors need to be inspired and educated, however few resources exist for our local communities to learn about regenerative agriculture and regional food production. For this purpose, we host a variety of public programs at our unique facility, a former estate and historic 225-acre working farm, where public audiences connect with a place where their food is grown and learn about the benefits of a sustainable regional food system. Our goal is that our guests leave glynwood with a strong sense of agriculture's importance in their lives, inspired to become more involved. In all, our public programs welcomed more than 1,000 people to glynwood this year. These public offerings included:1. Farm dinners: collaborations with regional chefs who prepare a unique meal that is emblematic of the hudson valley using seasonal, locally-sourced products. These occasions help connect our community to our nonprofit work and introduce culinary talent to diners fully invested in seeing agriculture thrive in our region. We hosted a number of standout farm dinners in 2016, including our first ever "on the road" dinner in partnership with zwilling j. A. Henckels at their new, state-of-the-art teaching kitchen; a special luncheon and lecture with lebanese social innovator kamal mouzawak; our annual csa vegetarian dinner with guest chef steven satterfield of miller union in atlanta, ga, who also led a separate food waste workshop for regional chefs as part of our role as educational sponsor of hudson valley restaurant week; and our annual pastured goat dinner featuring special guest laura lengnick, author of resilient agriculture: cultivating systems for a changing climate. 2. Farm tours: in 2016, we offered more opportunities to explore glynwood during the growing season than ever before. Our guided and self-guided farm tours provide a lively introduction to our mission, programs, history and farming operations. We also offer sensory family farm tours led by a dedicated children's environmental educator for school-aged children and their caregivers to explore our farm as the seasons change. 3. Farm skills workshops: as previously mentioned, many of the workshops we develop through our farmer training curriculum are also open to the general public. For the first time in 2016, we were able to make the majority of these workshops free to attend due to a grant from the farm credit northeast agenhancement program, which greatly increased workshop participation over previous years. 4. Food + farm day: our annual open house for our community to learn about food and farming in the hudson valley through demonstrations, tastings, tours, farmer talks, children's games and a variety of other engaging activities. In 2016, we hosted our largest food + farm day yet, with more than 300 visitors in attendance. 5. Farm dance gala: we hosted our eighth annual fundraising gala this year, with more than 250 people joining us for an evening of festivity and philanthropy. At the gala, we presented the 13th annual harvest award to hudson valley seed library, our core partner in kitchen cultivars, for their efforts to preserve, develop and celebrate regional seed diversity. 6. Aligned retreats: to augment the philanthropic support that funds the majority of our programmatic work, we rent our site for various functions, including retreats and conferences. In 2017, we will begin to offer low-cost or free retreat opportunities for our nonprofit colleagues throughout the region. Our goal in doing so is to deepen ties with peer organizations who are engaged in work aligned with our mission, while taking better advantage of our unique facility. Next year, we hope to engage our community even more deeply through an expanded lineup of public events, including at least 10 farm dinners, five guided farm tours, six family farm tours, and 18 farm skills workshops open to the public, in addition to reprising food + farm day, seeking out opportunities to showcase our work at regional events, festivals and conferences, and exploring developing a public lecture series.