First-generation farmer finds a market for chestnuts
PITTSTOWN - Breadtree Farms is the largest organic chestnut operation in the United States. It did not exist five years ago.
It started with grocery shopping. Even if Russell Wallack, co-owner of Breadtree Farms, ate all of his groceries, he would end up with trash. A system in which total consumption equated to the production of waste in a landfill or ocean, didn't make sense to him.
"We've devalued the actual food," Wallack said. "We've taken the fundamental nutrition, value, flavor and diversity out of our food system and then tried to just repackage these commoditized foods into brands."
Upon questioning why and how certain foods are grown, Wallack became more critical of the commercialization of food. Though learning chestnuts were a staple tree crop - which Wallack defines as a food source essential to the overall food system - but were not widely cultivated in the U.S. wasn't a direct answer to his questions, it was a point of excitement and expansion.
Wallack was showing off the operation to visitors Thursday as part of a tour held in advance of Saturday's Farm Aid concert at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, with proceeds to benefit family farms.
Despite the United States being able to grow chestnuts, it produces less than 1% of the total world production and imports 7.5 million pounds of non-organic chestnuts a year. While there are 55,000 acres of apple farms in New York state, there are only 4,200 acres of chestnut farms in the U.S. Dessert crops like apples may be popular, Wallack said, but their role is limited as part of the food system.
Chestnuts are referred to around the world as the tree of bread, which inspired the farm's name. Most nuts are fats or proteins, but chestnuts are a starch crop that Wallack describes as "a sweet potato that grows on trees." They are high in potassium, magnesium and vitamin C, with 5 grams of protein for 100 grams. They are multifaceted as a grain that grows on trees, because they can be milled into flour, Wallack said. His favorite chestnut flour dish is polenta.
Seeing the potential in the nuts, and the untapped market, Wallack created a five-year plan.
He teamed up with Bradley Wiley, owner of Otter Creek Farm, whose family has farmed in Pittstown for 200 years. Wiley was hoping to reinvent his farm, which consists of a variety of pasture animals. Wallack showed up with an idea, a business plan and finances to support it.
Wiley offered Wallack a 30-year lease. As part of the deal, Wallack didn't have to pay for the land but agreed to share 10 percent of every dollar he sells in chestnut revenue. While Wallack said he wouldn't do this deal again, it was the only way Wallack could make his dreams a reality.
"I didn't have cash to buy land," Wallack said. "I couldn't really afford to pay for acreage that wouldn't produce revenue for realistically six or seven years."
Wiley's grandfather's grandfather had propagated hickory nuts and sold them in Troy. He liked that the land would once again produce nuts and that the domestic market for the crop was wide open.
In May 2019, the operation began with planting one-year chestnut seedlings on 8 acres of converted corn and soybean ground. Wiley recalled Wallack's wife, parents, friends and the ultimate Frisbee team from the University of Massachusetts coming to help plant trees. A few years later, Wiley allowed Wallack to plant on another 12 acres.
The farm harvested its first handful of nuts in year three. By year 10, they anticipate harvesting 1,000 pounds per acre. Their current retail price for chestnuts is $12 a pound.
What started as a grass-roots operation led by volunteers has grown into full-time work for six. Breadtree Farms at Otter Creek was originally a pilot project for Wallack, who has a master's degree in ecological design and began working in food systems and agroforestry in 2014. Now he has expanded and planted chestnut trees at different farms throughout the upper Hudson Valley. He manages a total of 600 acres, with 250 acres being orchards.
"He's gone from a dream of having a 20-acre orchard to 15,000 trees in the ground now, mostly in Washington County," Wiley said.
Wallack lovingly calls his trees "mutts," as they are complex hybrids derived from multiple lineages of tree species making every tree in the orchards unique. Breadtree and Otter Creek practice agroforestry, where the raising of animals and plants are intertwined. Cattle pass through the orchard twice a year, grazing the rows and keeping them clear.
As of March, Breadtree Farms secured $2.8 million from the USDA to convert an old sweet potato barn complex into the country's largest chestnut processing facility at Breadtree's home base in Salem, Washington County. The facility will process fresh nuts, as well as dry and mill chestnuts into flour.
Though Wallack has been successful in his endeavors as a first-generation farmer, he said farming is not the romanticized American dream that many imagine.
"As much nostalgia and idealization as we have of farming and rustic landscapes and rolling hay fields, we tend to totally under acknowledge that farming is actually a really hard business," Wallack said. "It tends to be pretty low margin. It's very asset dependent.
"A lot of farmers are farming on potentially millions of dollars of land that they inherited," he said. "If you are a first-generation farmer, you're not only trying to make a low-margin business work, but you're also trying to gain access to an asset that is only increasing in value as it becomes more scarce. It's hard enough to be a farmer. It's even harder to be a farmer who has to buy land or gain access to land."
The farm real estate average value per acre in New York increased 4.8% since 2023. The difficulty is only amplified for those planting trees, which take years to produce harvest and revenue. Chestnut trees take three to five years to produce. It's a capital risk to have to wait so long for revenue to come in, Wallack said. He also said there aren't financial products that exist to serve farmers. Business loans are typically two to three years. Although Wallack said he could justify a 20-year business loan, they don't exist.
Farming is a risky business venture because of all the external variables - like weather extremities or insect invaders - that can have detrimental effects on the crop. Wallack compared it to running a small bookstore. Imagine if on any given day, it could rain and all the books would be destroyed.
"That level of variability and complexity is not present in a lot of businesses," Wallack said.
Though the struggles of farming may be shrouded to the majority, on Saturday, the annual music festival Farm Aid in Saratoga Springs will raise awareness and funds for family farms. After the event, money will be bestowed to farms that applied for grants, receiving checks signed by country music star Willie Nelson.
Wiley was 16 years old when Farm Aid started in 1985. He remembers what a tough time it was for farmers and how music was a unifying force. "Rain on the Scarecrow" by John Mellencamp, a song about the farm crisis in the 1980s, was the theme song for Farm Aid.
"Most of the stuff on the radio didn't have anything to do with my upbringing," Wiley said. "That was the first song that had something to do with my life, and it was the sad part of it. You didn't know what the future was."
Wallack is well aware of the history of individual small farmers struggling but is hoping for a future of collaboration. He's curious as to how farmers can combine resources and work together to collectively strengthen their missions. Though there is often an individualistic approach to business, Wallack hopes to establish a model that counters that.
"Breaking down that narrative has a long way to go in terms of reducing risk and also creating shared resources that allow us all to do more," he said. "There's an assumption that somehow doing it together is less good - it's all the better."
This story was originally published September 21, 2024, 3:31 PM.
