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Roadside farm stands are a common site across Dutchess County.
its Open Kitchen series, telling the farm’s story and featuring recipes from the farm.
Migliorelli Farm, a fruit-and- vegetable farm that originated in 1933 in the Bronx, now has more than 400 acres under cultivation in Tivoli and provides produce to more than 20 markets in New York City.
Meiller’s Farm, founded in 1971 in Pine Plains, supplies beef, lamb, pork, and veal for restaurants across the region, like American Bounty at the Culinary Institute of America, Gigi Trattoria in Rhinebeck, and Cafe Clover in Manhattan.
MAKING AN INTERNATIONAL IMPACT
Several of Dutchess County’s food producers are distributing at a national or global level, in some places spurring rapid growth while creating popular brands.
Sprout Creek Farm in Poughkeepsie sells 50,000 pounds of cheese each year. It distributes to high-end supermarket chains like Wegman’s, and to specialty food shops in California, Texas, and Colorado. Cabot, one of the nation’s leading cheese brands, sources its cheese from four Dutchess County dairy farms.
McEnroe Farm in Millerton produces soil and compost that is sold from Vermont to Georgia. And Migliorelli Farm recently partnered with Blue Apron, the online service that sends farm-fresh produce and other foods to customers across the country for weekly home dinner preparation.
Millerton is home to internationally renowned tea blender Harney & Sons, a family-owned-and-managed operation founded by John Harney, who traveled the world for ingredients for his popular tea avors. Today, the company’s teas are sold internationally in food stores and tea shops, as well as in Target stores worldwide. The company employs more than 155 people with its warehouse, tearoom, and shop in Millerton, and operates a tasting room in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood. Millerton is also home to Irving Co ee Roasters,
REGIONAL METROPOLITAN FOODSHED
The American Farmland Trust reports that the United States loses nearly 40 acres of farmland every hour. Dutchess County, however, is bucking this trend.
In 1998, the county introduced the Agricultural and Farmland Protection Plan, which has led to the protection of more than 3,300 acres of farmland and open space. As of 2012, the county had 678 farms, up 3 percent from 2007, and 112,482 acres of farmland, up 10 percent from 2007.
Land in Dutchess County, just 60 miles from New York City, produces much of the food found in restaurants and markets across the New York Metropolitan area, fueling a vibrant farm-to-table ecosystem. This contributes to the nearly $50 million the agricultural sector produces in market value.
Some of the farms supplying food to the region are longtime family farms with rich histories.
Fishkill Farms, which started in 1913 when Henry Morgenthau Jr.—the U.S. Treasury Secretary under President Franklin D. Roosevelt—purchased an apple farm, sells apples and other produce at three weekly farmers’ markets in Brooklyn.
“Most people that attend the farmers’ markets in Brooklyn are regulars, and that’s where they get their groceries,” says Mark Doyle, business manager of Fishkill Farms and Dutchess County Industrial Development Agency board member.
Today, Josh Morgenthau runs Fishkill Farms, having taken over for his father, longtime Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau. Williams-Sonoma recently featured Fishkill Farms in
Agriculture
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