Community Notebook

Old Sods Learning New Tricks

Paul Wigstein presenting a seminar on making and marketing a corn maze at the day-long program “Marketing the New Face of Agriculture in the Hudson Valley”

For small farmers in the Mid-Hudson Valley, it’s no longer enough to be the salt of the earth. Modern business woes have intruded on these rolling hills. Chain supermarkets have arrived and brought their own suppliers, squeezing local farmers out of the wholesaling equation. Rising property taxes and labor costs, and lower harvest yields, have forced the selling of farmland to developers riding the tide of urban migration to this region. The younger generation finds little appeal in the long hours and modest returns on farm work. Statistics coldly record the passing of an era: In 1980, there were 249 farms in this region; by 1996, there were 144.

There is a solution, local experts say: Farmers must get in touch with their inner retailers. Selling directly to the public, with an accent on big-city showmanship and marketing, will revitalize business. On a snowy day in late January, more than 150 apple, livestock, and dairy farmers played hooky from their fields to crowd a day-long conference, sponsored by the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Hudson Valley, that promised a roadmap to that spiritual and financial transformation. Hunkering down in banquet chairs at the Kingston Holiday Inn, attendees absorbed marketing tips and pep talks designed to bring the farmer into the 21st century.

Some came for encouragement; others for survival tips. Softspoken Ralph Deitrick of Saugerties has worked construction for two decades. He now plans to start a hydroponics farm, growing produce in water and nitrogen-rich nutrients, all indoors. Until recently, gangly, gap-toothed Quirinus Pennings wanted to be a veterinarian. He’s now one of the few farming majors at his college, Cornell, and is preparing to join the family business, Newburgh-based Pennings Greenhouse. Earth-Mother type Louise Haviland of New Paltz has operated a goat dairy farm since 1983. She recently bought a herd to increase her $10,000-a-year business. To her visible relief, her sons have agreed to help out. Bill Martin of Staatsburg is a third-generation lamb farmer, and manager of greenmarkets in Rhinebeck and Arlington. He wore shorts on this winter morning, he said, because his only pair of long pants is dirty. (His wife Ernestine smiled indulgently.) A self-professed “old-timer,” he insists that word of mouth remains the best marketing tool. But he’s here with an open mind. “I like to keep up on new technology.”

During the day-long conference, called “Marketing the New Face of Agriculture in the Hudson Valley,” experts bombarded attendees with myriad suggestions, from Internet advertising, to marketing, to the urban foodie (many who are weekenders with second homes in the Valley). To stay in the game, farmers were urged to dress up everyday produce with snazzier names, seek out more exotic hybrids, and venture into the profitable niche areas of growing heirloom tomatoes, crafting artisanal cheeses and raising free-range, organic meats.
Attendees agreed that some traditions are best kept, like face-to-face interaction. Many attested to the success of farmers’ markets, which eliminate middleman profits and establish customer loyalty. Several attendees keep a steady business by selling at Manhattan’s Union Square Greenmarket.
Also driven home was the importance of showmanship: luring weekenders onto the farm, with an array of hay rides, petting zoos and pick-your-own arrangements, a cottage industry now known as “agri-tainment” or “agri-tourism”. Seminar speaker Paul Wigsten of Pleasant Valley is a local celebrity; last fall, he schemed to attract tourists by having a corn maze constructed on his farm. It not only drew tourists, but it garnered international media attention. Wigsten admitted that he underestimated the success of his maze; so many people came to buy, he was forced to bring in $17,000 of produce from other farms. But he broke even on his investment. This year, he plans to clear hay land for more produce, and will create a new corn maze design to open on August 1.
In the seminar “The Hudson Valley Says ‘Cheese,’” marketing consultant Philip Yacuk emphasized the economic benefits of keeping local farming alive, including the reduction of air pollution and the preservation of the Hudson Valley landscape. But he was talking about more than mere profits. With the fervor of a motivational speaker, Yacuk also referred to “the inspiration” provided when a farmer remains an independent business person. “To be appreciated for what you’re doing is a very rich reward and part of the equation.”

Louise Haviland came away a believer. “The one idea that really caught me is that you have to make the cheese a very personal thing to your farm and to your animals.”

Philip Johnson, whose family has raised milking cows since the late 1800s, also plans to forge ahead on his 261-acre farm outside of Goshen. Coming from the cheese seminar, Johnson waxed philosophic about the important role of the modern farmer in maintaining his business. He plans to defy hard times, he said, and increase profits with a foray into cheesemaking.

“I’m an optimistic dairy farmer, which I guess is a rarity. I want to see the farmer kept in farming.”
While predictions of doom were diplomatically skirted that day, experts say that farm downsizing in the Hudson Valley will continue. Apple grower Rod Dressel, Jr. of New Paltz estimates more neighbors will have to go under in the next year before the market rights itself, and before he sees a profit. “There is an over-supply in the world right now. And there are cheaper places to buy your apples than from the Hudson Valley.” Farming educator Mike Fargione agreed. “The industry will continue to shrink. But it will always be there. It will just change.”

Ralph Deitrick slipped out early that afternoon, explaining that he “couldn’t take any more schooling.” But he was encouraged by what he heard; the next day, he went to Kingston and registered his hydroponic business as Catskill Mountain Farms.

—Jay Blotcher