Agrarianism and Hudson Valley Agriculture

WHEN TODAY'S HUDSON VALLEY GROWERS are lionized in the pages of foodie magazines or the travel section of the New York Times, they are depicted as practicing a dying trade and preserving open space for the cultural and environmental good. Many of the region's farmers see themselves as part of a hardscrabble agricultural tradition (my own town in the region celebrates an annual "Hardscrabble Day"), and certainly their precarious economic position relative to owners of factory farms supports this perspective. Many of their ancestors came from very humble backgrounds, and some struggled against the oppressive tenant system of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Though they may own hundreds of acres of land and hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of farm equipment, their ability to stay afloat from year to year is never assured. Yet advocates of open space preservation see farmers' valiant fight to "hold on" as a defense against the developer's bulldozer.

At the same time, these farmers are enjoying the revival of interest in Hudson Valley agriculture by living up to the idealism of boutique farms, heritage fruit, pick-your-own venues, and branded products. Farmers' markets have proliferated all over the region, and numerous restaurants tout local products on their menus. "Violet Hill sunny side up egg with Berried Treasures ramps and Yuno Farms dandelions" was a featured item on the 2009 Earth Day menu at New York City's upscale Casa Mono. Restaurants such as Manhattan's Blue Hill—with a menu described as "seasonal American celebrating the bounty of the Hudson Valley"—design their offerings around the best local produce. Another ardent supporter of "hometown" ingredients, Rhinebeck's Gigi Trattoria in Dutchess County, boasts supplier relationships with forty local producers. These top-end promotions are evidence of a regional food culture in the making.

"Food culture" is presumed to be distinct from an "industrial food system." In this regard, the expectation is that the food be artisanal in nature and therefore associated with the labor economy of the expanded family, or the cooperative enterprise whose participant members hold some equity. Consumers of this culture are led to believe that their interaction with a small farmer is more akin to securing carrots and beets from a neighbor's flourishing garden than to the commercial exchange that takes place in a supermarket selling factory farm produce.

The regional marketing that promotes today's small farmers is replete with the echoes of more than two hundred years of agrarian idealism, a rich belief system that historically has sidelined the long-suffering but indispensable farmhands. Yet while it is common to hear today's farmers lament the difficulty of securing a consistent annual profit and finding suitable workers, the historical record shows there is nothing new about either of these complaints. Since their initiation into agricultural commodity markets in the early nineteenth century, the region's farmers have consistently transformed their growing practices in an effort to try to secure a profitable niche. Concomitantly, they have faced the challenge of securing a stable work force as changes in the nature of farming go hand in hand with changes in the labor market and growers' labor needs. Between the end of the era of self-reliance in the mid-1800s (when farmers depended on family labor or bartered community labor, and little monetary exchange took place) and World War II, the region's farmers, as a whole, did not enjoy anything resembling a stable agricultural economy or work force. This chapter shows how contemporary Hudson Valley food culture leans on the agrarian ideal and offers a snapshot of the history of farm laborers in the region, from the early decades of farmers entering into market systems to the current economic landscape of Hudson Valley agriculture.

HUDSON VALLEY FOOD CULTURE

There is no doubt that Hudson Valley farming qualifies as an exemplum of the artisanal, local growing ethos that has fueled the local food movement and new forms of agrarianism. Whether Hudson Valley food culture can be distilled into a brand-name dish, method, or product remains to be seen. Perhaps "local" is the best way to define the region's food culture, with its niche products, direct marketing, and accompanying promotional apparatus. "At its heart, a genuine food culture is an affinity between people and the land that feeds them," and it comprises "a set of rituals, recipes, ethics, and buying habits." This is Barbara Kingsolver's stab at defining the term and the ideal to which her family subscribed in their "year of food life." A supermarket diet of multinational products and produce of unknown provenance is the very antithesis of what is imagined to be an authentic food culture, which involves knowledge about how foods are acquired, prepared, preserved, and consumed.

Such a sense of place is best represented by farm products, and Hudson Valley food culture is distinguished by its reliance on high-quality, fresh produce and meats, artisanal goods such as specialty cheeses, and boutique beverages like small-batch ales, hard ciders, wine, and other alcoholic drinks. One hallmark of local food here is heirloom and heritage fruits and vegetables, which have made a comeback in recent years, particularly since more discerning urban consumers have tired of commercially popular produce such as the Red Delicious apple, which has a perfect shape, robust color, and sweet taste, but whose overproduction has diminished its flavor. One of the region's current strengths is niche marketing of specialty fruit. A selection of these is offered at locations like Adams Fairacre Farms grocers (with three locations in the Hudson Valley), one of the first local grocery chains to aggressively promote regional produce. As autumn rolls around, shoppers will find clearly marked bins with detailed descriptions highlighting the qualities of more than twenty varieties of local apples. Bordering the produce aisles are jars of local foodstuffs: honey, jams, chutneys, salsas, marinades, and pickles. On the other side are arranged local milk, eggs, yogurt, and cider, while regional cheeses are to be found alongside gourmet selections in another part of the store. Although only a small percentage of the store's overall stock originates nearby, the range of products is a showcase of Hudson Valley agriculture—fulfilling the traditional function of the county fair—and the proportion of regional products is increasing annually. Adams grew out of an early-twentieth-century farm stand and exemplifies the type of regional economy that has allowed some of the valley's growers to thrive in the face of cheaper international products. In recent years large chain...