Action Research
CHESTER AG CENTER
The Chester Agricultural Center owns over 180 acres in the “black dirt” region of Orange County, New York. Formerly the site of conventional onion farming enterprises, we are offering both consultation and facilitation to help CAC’s investors, staff, farmer lessees, and community co-create the next phase of the center’s regenerative farming mission. Next steps include the full leasing of all land with 30 year lease options, building processing capacity for vegetable growers, developing high quality farmer housing, and helping the Center to achieve its program goals – offering training and land to current farm workers so that they can become farm business owners.
RG19 & HEALTHY FOOD FOR ALL
IMA is working to cultivate social soil in downtown Hudson, NY and in rural Columbia County, an area that has faced significant challenges in food accessibility. Out of this need, we founded Rolling Grocer 19. In the first two years following RG 19’s foundation, our project team collaborated with core groups of community members throughout Columbia County to assess what was needed from a local grocery store.
The first iteration of Rolling Grocer was a 16 foot trailer that offered a variety of products aimed to meet the needs of the community, specifically low income community members. This involved building up a dynamic and diverse inventory of products that were local, organic, culturally relevant, and convenient. In a further measure to prioritize low income residents, we developed a three tiered pricing system, allowing customers to self-select prices that meet their needs, ranging from wholesale costs to competitive retail prices.
In February 2019, RG 19 opened a brick and mortar store in downtown Hudson, NY, further deepening our reach within the community. A curbside and pre-ordering program was started and we began delivering groceries to New Lebanon, NY. Rolling Grocer’s intention has been to grow our pre-order system and deliver groceries to people with limited food access around the county, using the three tiered pricing system developed at our storefront.
In our most recent effort to expand food access in Columbia County, we have partnered with Columbia County Recovery Kitchen (CCRK). The kitchen is operated by professional chefs and volunteer cooks who prepare free, nutritious, from-scratch meals that are delivered to food insecure families and individuals throughout Columbia County. Together, RG19 and CCRK have begun a joint weekly delivery to five homeless shelters throughout Columbia County. The residents currently receive two meals a week prepared and delivered by CCRK. On the new additional delivery day, along with receiving a third meal, shelter residents will also have the option to order grocery items suitable for kitchens with limited capabilities. Groceries are priced in Rolling Grocer’s “blue” tier and payable with EBT and Double Up Food Bucks.
Our Hudson location is not meant to solely act as a storefront, but as an artery connecting farm workers, food producers, and shoppers with each other. We plan on continuing to nourish generative relationships within our community’s foodways.
FARMER SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY
In collaboration with the University of Maine and the Cornell Small Farms Program, IMA is part of a northeast SARE grant to explore the long term social sustainability of current small to mid-sized farmers in New York and New England. This research will engage with hundreds of current farm practitioners through focus groups, surveys and facilitated retreats to help uncover challenges and potential solutions to social sustainability of farmers in these three areas: Health and Well being, Equity, and Community Relationships.
