Stone Barns Harvest Feast 2023

October 02, 2023

Young Farmers Conference at Stone Barns - Day 2

December 08, 2016

Another great day on the farm hearing some amazing speakers and running between classes

Young Farmers Conference at Stone Barns - Day 1

December 07, 2016

Event Photographer - Ben Hider

Sheep Shearing Stone Barns Center Food Agriculture

Sheep Shearing at Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture

April 30, 2016 in Event Photographer, Food Photographer, Photo

Sheep Shearing at Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture. I am forever grateful for my working relationship with so many incredible clients, but Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture is always the most amazing place to work and a really beautiful location to photograph.

Ben Hider - Event, Food and Portrait Photographer based in New York City and Westchester

Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture

Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture is a non-profit farm and educational center with a partner restaurant, Blue Hill at Stone Barns, located in Pocantico Hills, New York. The Center was created on 80 acres (320,000 m2) formerly belonging to the Rockefeller estate in Pocantico Hills by David Rockefeller and his daughter, Peggy Dulany. Stone Barns promotes sustainable agriculture, local food, and community-supported agriculture. Stone Barns is a four-season operation.

Stone Barns Center is also home to Blue Hill at Stone Barns, a restaurant that serves contemporary cuisine using local ingredients, with an emphasis on produce from the Center's farm. Blue Hill staff also participate in the Center's education programs.

Young Farmers Conference at Stone Barns

December 05, 2015 in Photo

The Young Farmers Conference, at Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture, is convening some 250 young and beginning farmers for intensive workshops, demonstrations, business courses, conversations and dancing. Part of the Center's Growing Farmers Initiative, the conference is unique in scope and reach, bringing together thought leaders, creative practitioners and business experts in the sustainable agriculture movement with farmers eager for ideas, information and connection.

Young and beginning farmers attend to talk about improvements they want to make to their farms and, for most, dream about the type of farm they hope to have one day. They gather to share ideas, business models, tools and experiences that can help them meet the challenges of small-scale farming.

A study conducted in 2011 by the National Young Farmers Coalition not only quantifies those challenges but gives voice to the frustrations and fears of the farmers dealing with them. Lindsey Lusher Shute started the coalition in 2011 to help define the issues confronting this generation of young farmers and bring about the policy changes needed to give them a leg up. In a nationwide survey of 1,000 farmers, Lindsey found that some of the top barriers impeding them are lack of capital, credit and land.

The annual Young Farmers Conference, together with Stone Barns Center’s Growing Farmers Initiative, is designed to give beginning farmers the resources and information they need to overcome these hurdles, as well as be a vital forum for education and training.

Problem: Lack of Capital and Access to Credit. Finding the money to start a farming operation can be daunting. Inputs are expensive and the margins are slim. Of the farmers surveyed by the National Young Farmers Coalition, 78% ranked “lack of capital” as their top challenge. Yes, there are loans available from the USDA Farm Service Agency, but current rules are too restrictive, small loans are hard to secure and loans can take a long time to process. Financial straits frequently force beginning farmers to work second jobs: 73% report they rely on off-farm income to make ends meet. This year, the Young Farmers Conference is offering a Business Planning Track—a five-workshop series focused on establishing systems to promote efficiency and help farmers find their market niche.

Problem: Access to Land. According to the survey, approximately 78% of beginning farmers did not grow up on a farm. Without inheriting farmland, the prospect of buying land, and at affordable prices, can be unattainable for many, especially for those in areas with high real estate prices. Several conference workshops will explore the access to land issue from different angles, from urban farming to farm ownership.

Problem: the Need for Education and Training. All beginning farmers need hands-on training—both technical and practical. They need to learn techniques and ideas from experienced farmers and have an opportunity to put them to work. The survey cited farm apprenticeships as one of the things that currently is working—and arguably one of the things that Stone Barns Center does best for young farmers, with its dozens of apprenticeships offered annually. As the only national annual conference of its size and scope, Stone Barns Center’s Young Farmers Conference is leading the way in educating and convening young farmers. And it offered up education and practical courses in spades: backyard beekeeping, the basics of soil science, pasture-raised laying hens, greenhouse management, sheep-handling skills, poultry-processing, crop rotation, whole-animal butchering—just to name a few.

To learn more about the Young Farmers Conference visit virtualgrange.org!