Amy Halloran

Amy Halloran

Amy Halloran lives in upstate New York with her family. She writes about food and agriculture, and is especially interested in the revival of regional grain systems in the Northeast. She blogs at amyhalloran.com and archives her work at amyhalloran.net.

Putting Culture Back into Agriculture

By on October 12, 2012

“I used to be a faceless producer,” David Rowley said of his last job in conventional agriculture.  “We grew two to three tons of tomatoes a week, starting in February. There were six people, no weeds, and no pests.”

At the end of 2000, three things happened that led this farmer from old school ag back to the older school of ag, and into organics and direct marketing. Fuel prices went through the roof, pushing energy costs for the Pennsylvania greenhouses from $15,000 a month to $45,000 a month. A change of management occurred, and most significantly, Rowley got ill and attributed it to pesticides.  Read more

Bring Back Local Grains! One Man’s Quest in Upstate NY

By on September 27, 2012

Don Lewis fell into flour because of his chickens. Back in the late 1990s, he went to Lightning Tree Farm for organic chicken feed and saw that Alton Earnhart was growing wheat. The farmer offered him a bag of flour, and this piece of wheat history began.

At the time, Lewis sold baked goods featuring his own honey at New York City’s Greenmarkets, so of course he was intrigued by the farmer’s flour. As a result, he began to incorporate local flour into all his products, increasing the percentage he used each year and upping the acreage he asked Earnhart to grow. All the while, Lewis educated consumers about ingredients as he offered samples.

In the early 1980s Lewis used samples to discuss the honey he produced. When he started baking bread with local grains, he also used the belly as a point of mental sale.

Since 2008 Lewis has run Wild Hive Bakery and Café, a Hudson Valley shop and eatery that he is now closing in order to focus on his passion: redeveloping a regional grains system.  Read more