COLD SPRING, NY - September 27, 2007 - Glynwood Center, the not-for-profit organization whose mission to support community stewardship is advanced through educational and community-based agricultural initiatives, will honor the winners of its 2007 Harvest Awards with a ceremony at Beacon restaurant in New York on October 22. The luncheon will showcase a menu of locally-produced ingredients prepared by top chefs across the country.

The 2007 Harvest Award Winners

"It is a testament to the growth of the sustainable agriculture movement that Glynwood Center received over 60 nominations from more than 20 states to consider for our annual Harvest Awards," says Judith LaBelle, President of Glynwood Center.

"We were inspired to see a raising of the bar as to what is regarded as special and exemplary: five years ago a farmer conducting a CSA program and playing an active role in public policy was a real contender. Now many, many farmers have transitioned to that multi-faceted role. This year we saw a trend towards efforts designed to encourage strengthening of the infrastructure that small farmers need if they are to remain viable in a changing and consolidating marketplace. Additionally, there has been an increase in projects designed to encourage urban agriculture -- including efforts to help youth understand how food is produced as well as to make healthy food more available to underserved populations."

The Glynwood Farmer Harvest Award
The 1000+ Family Farmers of the Organic Valley Family of Farms, LaFarge, WI

In 1988, seven farmers founded a cooperative that became the largest farmer-owned cooperative in North America in less than 20 years, selling more than 130 premium products under the brand name Organic Valley. Organic Valley is committed to sustainability: the economic stability of the farmer, the environmental stability of farming practices, and the social stability of rural communities. The farmers from 29 states and one Canadian province who own and control this cooperative have taken a visionary approach to working together to benefit themselves and, in so doing, provide a prime example of how small and mid-size farmers can work together to remain viable in a changing marketplace.

The Glynwood Good Neighbor Harvest Award
Grow Montana, Butte, MT

Administered by the National Center for Appropriate Technology in Butte, Grow Montana is a broad, collaborative project that is making community-based food systems a centerpiece of the State of Montana's economic development policy. Grow Montana's central message - the value of local food as an economic development strategy and the importance of directing state and local resources to rebuilding the infrastructure needed for an efficient community-based food system - should be of interest to policy-makers across the nation. By forging a coalition among many diverse groups and people, Grow Montana has helped catalyze significant change in only two and one-half years, including:

Glynwood

Glynwood

Glynwood is one of the nation’s leading sustainable agriculture and food organizations, with a mission to save farming by strengthening farm communities and regional food systems. Founded in 1995 and located in the Hudson Valley, Glynwood operates its own 225-acre farm, which models sustainable farming practices, conducts science-based soil and pasture restoration, and trains young farmers.

To further its mission, Glynwood conceives and implements community-based programs like Keep Farming®, and tackles infrastructure challenges such as the shortage of slaughterhouse facilities so that small to mid-size farmers can thrive and supply local and regional food systems. Through a national and international network of like-minded professionals and organizations, Glynwood gathers, develops, tests and shares innovative ideas and initiatives from around the world that may be effective in local communities in the Northeast and other regions of the country. In addition, the organization sponsors conferences, educational programs and public events to further a sustainable and robust food system. In 2010, Glynwood founded The Glynwood Institute as an incubator for ideas and action, a "creative action-tank" that develops and promotes realistic solutions to critical issues within the food system.

Glynwood's main programs:

• Keep Farming® is Glynwood's unique, step-by-step program for empowering communities to develop and implement plans to support local farming and conserve farmland.
• Glynwood Farm tests, innovates, and teaches techniques that demonstrate the economic viability of environmentally sustainable farming. With 225 acres in the Hudson Valley, it is a real-world model of farming practices that seek to optimize production while operating as an ecological unit.
• The Apple Project: Saving Orchards with Apples, is stimulating ‘apple entrepreneurship’ in the Hudson Valley by encouraging the diversification of apple varieties, promoting the production of high-value hard cider and spirits, giving growers new resources for knowledge and skill, and supporting a growing market for hard cider and apple spirits.
• Modular Harvest System™ is a revolutionary mobile system that is modeling the solution to the severe shortage of humane and high-quality meat processing facilities for pasture raised livestock - a solution that will benefit farmers, consumers, communities and the environment.
• The Harvest Awards honors farmers, organizations, and businesses across the United States for innovation and leadership in sustainable agriculture and regional food systems.
• The Glynwood Institute is a creative action-tank working to shift the U.S. to regional sustainable food and farming through its public programs like TEDxManhattan: Changing the Way We Eat.

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