Community organizing is a key part of our work. At its core, organizing is about relationship building — identifying local stakeholders for collaborative partnerships to work towards mutual goals, such as enhancing local food access; promoting sustainable agriculture; increasing educational opportunities in organic farming, permaculture design, and natural building; expanding workforce development; and promoting policies that reduce barriers facing the next generation of farmers.
Unadilla Community Farm collaborates with local farms, natural food stores, saw mills, refuse services, mechanics, and other businesses in the area for our composting and upcycling program, a win-win relationship where we receive local waste, divert it from going to the landfill, and transform it into usable farming or building materials. For example, we pick up food scraps, manure, and yard waste and return it to the earth through our on-farm composting operation. Through partnerships with local natural food stores, we divert approximately 1 ton of food waste from the landfill every year. Additionally, we upcycle up to 1.5 tons of local businesses' used cardboard per year for sheet mulching or no-till "lasagna gardening" as a method of bed preparation. We receive 4.5 tons of scrap wood from local saw mills per year — which would otherwise be burned as waste — for building on-farm infrastructure and heating our buildings. Through the support of New York State's Climate Resilient Farming program, we will be expanding our capacity for receiving scrap wood for the generation of our own wood chip mulch on site. Through partnerships with local mechanics, we have salvaged over 1,000 used tires — which would otherwise be burned for electricity — and transformed them into Earthship foundations for all of our agricultural buildings.
Unadilla Community Farm is represented by our board and staff on a number of agricultural advisory committees in the region:
Unadilla Community Farm is a co-founder & co-organizer of the Leatherstocking Farmers Network, which consists of over 60 members representing farmers, ranchers, food business owners, and ag agencies in the Greater Otsego “Leatherstocking” Region of New York (within a ~50 mile radius of Cooperstown). As a farmer-driven collective, we create a platform for networking, skills and resource sharing, and advocacy to create a more viable climate for small-scale sustainable agriculture. We are an inclusive group with members of all ages and backgrounds. We meet for potlucks, farm tours, listening sessions with policymakers to share our challenges and resource needs, and informational presentations on member-chosen topics, such as renewable energy, food hubs, marketing, and more.
