Farming the Future in the Catskills

  |  September 4, 2012

Flickr/Mastermaq

On our most recent trip to Jeffersonville, we scoured the environs for fresh, local food (Peck’s market has many fine qualities, but the produce didn’t scream locavore). We were told there aren’t even many farm stands open these days. Between the drought and the economy, they’re going under.

So we were heartened, or somewhat heartened, to read this piece in OnEarth magazine, about how the farming business in the Catskills, if not booming, is at least trucking along. “With interest in eating high-quality local food (broadly defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as food raised or produced within 400 miles of the consumer) higher than at any time since local food was the default, the Catskills are perched on the threshold of perhaps the greatest food-marketing opportunity in North America,” they write.  “Less than three hours away are 22 million stomachs and many thousands of foodies happy to pay $8.59 a pound for Bourbon Red turkey raised within commuting distance. Perhaps even more important for the region are the thousands of city institutions — schools, hospitals, prisons, senior centers, and shelters — looking to feed their constituents food that’s fresher and more sustainably grown than what’s currently on offer.”

So, that’s good for farmers, and thus good for upstate New York. But does it mean the city is reaping most of the rewards? There’s plenty of fine dining in upstate New York, menus stacked with locally-grown or -raised items, but is downstate getting too much of the glory?

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