Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training (CRAFT) is a nationwide, grassroots program geared towards building skills, connections, and resilience within farming communities. The Mid-Hudson CRAFT chapter, facilitated by Glynwood, offers tours every year, April to October, so farmers throughout the Hudson Valley can visit neighboring farms and learn from their peers in a series of free educational farm visits.
The farm visits are diverse in enterprise, scale, and representation and strive to spotlight farmers from historically marginalized, excluded, and underrepresented groups — particularly BIPOC and LGBTQIA2S+ farmers. These on-farm events allow new farmers to see multiple farm businesses, develop practical farm skills, and network with other farmers and apprentices.
This season’s CRAFT tours focused on topics such as transitioning to organic certification, composting, growing medicinal herbs for mutual aid efforts, seed saving, season extension, cover cropping, and more.
Highlights from this season included visits to Fishkill Farms, Sky High Farm, and Sisters Hill Farm. At Fishkill Farms, a third-generation 270-acre orchard, participants learned about organic apple production, the transition from conventional to eco-certified, and the challenges of operating two certification practices side by side. The visit included meandering through Fishkill’s production spaces and indulging in snacks and cider during a lively social hour. Sky High Farm is a non-profit diversified vegetable and livestock farm committed to addressing food security and nutrition in Ancramdale, NY. As participants walked through the fields at Sky High Farm, they learned about food sovereignty and what it takes to feed our neighbors. Sky High Farm donates 100% of its annual crop to food banks and community centers, providing many thousands of pounds of food each season to those in need. Sisters Hill Farm is a Community Supported Agriculture, non-profit farm sponsored by the Sisters of Charity of New York, located in Stanfordville. Since 1999, Sisters Hill has provided millions of pounds of fresh vegetables to charities around the state. While visiting Sisters Hill, farmers toured the washing and packing facility and took time to talk about the health and wellness of their bodies as they discovered what an ergonomic work environment could look like.
Glynwood’s Farmer Training team is looking forward to spending time this winter working with the CRAFT farmers and organizers group to create next season’s Mid-Hudson CRAFT schedule for aspiring and new farmers.
