Ag Brunch Highlights Culinary and Agritourism

Hudson, NY - With over 90 guests in attendance the Chamber unveiled the new Columbia County Bounty website, www.columbiacountybounty.com at the annual Agricultural Brunch on March 12.  The event moderated by Vicki Simons featured a keynote by Mary Kay Vrba of Dutchess County Tourism and a presentation by Linda Fix of Fix Brothers Fruit Farm.

To date there are over 150 members of Columbia County Bounty (CCB). One may become a Charter Member by paying only $25. As part of Charter Membership members will be able to attend a host of local farm and restaurant events throughout the year, including a Farm Tour in May, Taste of Columbia County in July, Restaurant Tour in November and many more.

The brunch focused on "Culinary and Agritourism" and talked about exciting new projects in neighboring counties.  With agriculture bringing in $75 million in cash receipts in the county and tourism bringing in $100 million the idea seems logical to bridge the two together. This is exactly what Dutchess County Tourism launched last year. Mary Kay Vrba of Dutchess County Tourism spoke about a new concept that has become increasingly popular – culinary and agritourism. The concept stems from an interest in eating locally. With recent stories of problems with food more and more people are becoming interested in where their food is coming from. Vrba's program focused on many of these “foodies” in the New York City area. They organized day tours with Metro North to explore food and tourism in Dutchess County and also worked with other partners to produce a guide book catering to this segment. In the first year they brought over 700 tourists to Dutchess County that participated in these tours.

Linda Fix of Fix Brothers Fruit Farm, a fourth and fifth generation farm in Livingston spoke about the success of their pick-your-own operation for cherries, peaches, and apples. According to Fix the farm has continued to grow due to their marketing efforts which include a website and mailings. Fix also attributed their growth to the recent interest in local produce.

Columbia County Bounty Co-Chair Lori Selden of Mexican Radio spoke about the success of CCB over the last year and how this project has been a labor of love. The program has firmly established the connection between farmers and chefs and has helped to build relationships, so that chefs can buy local products to use in their place of business while increasing the bottom line for the farmer. This idea for Columbia County Bounty was generated from information presented at the Chamber's Agricultural Brunch in 2006. Todd Erling of the Hudson Valley Agribusiness Development Corporation had the pleasure of unveiling the new Columbia County Bounty website. The site will give farmers, chefs and the local consumers the opportunity to learn about what is produced in Columbia County and further foster the relationships between these groups. The website is a benchmark of legitimacy that many similar organizations have struggled to get to. It will give the CCB program the opportunity to keep things current and up to date. The site was designed by Suzanne Trevellyan of Trevellyan Graphic Design.

Space 360 produced an almost 100% local menu of food by working with local food producers.  Food providers included Beth's Farm Kitchen, The Berry Farm, Bezalel Gables Fine Catering and Events, Burdick's, Grazin' Angus Acres, Golden Harvest Farm, Gumaer Farm, Hudson Valley Homestead, Old Chatham Sheepherding, Our Daily Bread, Joe Papovich, Staron's Farm, The Red Dot, Ronny Brook Farm, Tierra Farm, and Van Wie Natural Foods.

The Chamber would like to thank everyone involved in making this an outstanding event and moving forward with the Columbia County Bounty program. Anyone interested in becoming a Charter Member of Columbia County Bounty should contact the Chamber at 828-4417.

First Niagara Bank, Kinderhook Bank and Taconic Farms, Inc. were Major Sponsors. Midhudsonmedia and The Register-Star/Chatham Courier are Media Sponsors. Columbia Land Conservancy, First Pioneer Farm Credit and Hawthorne Valley Association were Supporting Sponsors.