Saving farmland is a concern in virtually every community with which we work. Community leaders want to know how they can take more effective action to support local farmers. Growing numbers of people want to know the farmers who produce their food. They want to ensure continuing – and increasing - access to food that is “locally grown and locally known”.

In response, Glynwood has undertaken a multi-year Agricultural Initiative. The overall goal is to help sustain small and mid-size farmers whose work generates many public benefits including fresh, healthful food, scenic landscapes, wildlife habitat and sound local economies. These are the “farmers in the middle” who are most at risk as a result of federal policies that favor large farms producing commodities for export.

Glynwood’s Agricultural Initiative has several facets:

At the national level, we continue to partner with the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture to coordinate the National Network of sustainable agriculture organizations.

We have created the Glynwood Harvest Awards program. Through this Award we identify the innovative work going on in communities across the country, and feature it in ways designed to inspire others, including through an awards ceremony in New York City and through a follow-on publication.

Our “Keep Farming” program is underway.  Teams of residents have used our tools, using tools designed to assess the many ways that agriculture contributes to local quality of life.  After the results were shared in the community, they have begun to develop action plans.

In our home region, we conducted the Hudson Valley Agri-tourism Countryside Exchange in March 2002 to examine how agri-tourism can help diversify farm income in the Hudson Valley. You may now link to the report for details.

In 2002 we conducted other Countryside Exchanges with agricultural focuses. One was focused on Agricultural Viability in the Catskill Region (part of the New York City watershed) and the other on the region around Goshen, Orange County, New York that includes the unique “black dirt” region.

A special project to test the use of the Exchange in the Netherlands was held in an agricultural community on the coast of the North Sea in 2002.

We have also convened an extensive and varied group of farmers, nonprofit colleagues, agency officials and interested individuals, to examine how the Regional Food System in the Hudson Valley can be strengthened. Through these discussions, all participants developed a more comprehensive sense of the opportunities and the challenges faced by farmers and local leaders in the Valley.

Having identified specific steps that can be taken to strengthen the food system, we will facilitate the collaboration needed to move forward. As an initial contribution, we are pleased to have assisted Vassar College as it determines how to increase its use of regionally-produced food.

In partnership with Minetta Brook, a New York public arts organization, we co-sponsored a discussion to consider "Could the Hudson Valley be the Next Napa?". The provocative title was intended to challenge participants to consider how the Hudson could achieve the perception of being a high quality landscape with high quality agricultural products that enhances the value of products from the Napa.

We also convened a group of leaders in the regions land use and land trust communities to explore:  "You've Saved It, Now What?"  How can success in protecting ag land through conservation easement and purchase of development rights programs be used to encouraged continued production of food?

The first "class" of local leaders has graduated from new Glynwood Grange.  They worked together over 18 months to develop more effective approaches to the agricultural issues facing their communities. Participants are “graduates” of the Community Leadership Alliance Training or a Countryside Exchange local organizing committee.

In the fall of 2004, we released our analysis of the ag census data, "The State of Agriculture in The Hudson River Valley".  During 2005, a major focus of our work will be forging connections between institutional purchases and regional producers.