Sky High Farm is committed to community-centered research and action to contribute solutions toward urgent and long-term issues at the intersection of climate, agriculture, food access and education. Our work responds to urgencies in the food system by proposing a dynamic model – moving beyond a single issue to understand and address the interconnection of nutrition security, economic and health disparities, and the history of structural, racial, and educational injustice.
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In the immediate, we deploy public health frameworks and the principles of co-production, all of which prioritize collaboration and dialogue with our community partners. Through direct engagement with those receiving our food, we identify critical gaps within the larger, urgent food system and have the flexibility to cultivate items that are important in cultural food ways though not always readily available. Using an agroecological approach, our farm cultivates nutrient-dense produce and protein, 100% of which is distributed in partnership with community-based organizations to individuals and families experiencing food and nutrition insecurity.
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Sky High Farm addresses long-range issues through iterative work. We partner with ecologists, biologists and community-based researchers to investigate soil health, strategies for wildlife habitat preservation and restoration, and water and air quality monitoring to shift conventional farming’s impact on our ecosystem; we offer a 9-month, residential formal training and mentorship program for burgeoning farmers interested in regenerative agriculture and the larger food system; we offer grants to individuals and community organizations to catalyze and sustain work towards food sovereignty and food justice around the US and globally; and we develop and offer public programs centering youth to engage in broad-based conversations about food ways, climate change, and our collective futures.
2011-2015
2011: - Sky High Farm is Founded in Ancramdale, NY 2013: - First farmers hired - First partnerships established with the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern NY and the Food Bank for NYC - Farm begins donating 100% of production into the urgent food system - Foundational work around public health frameworks to support food nascent food access program
2016
- Sky High Farm becomes a non-profit organization (501(c)3)
2017-2019
- Programmatic expansion of food access partnerships - Expanded agricultural capacity - Board growth
2021-2022
- Team expansion across farm and programs - Intensified regional focus of food access work - Establishment of Fellowship training program - Founding of Sky High grant making - Expanded educational and community-based programs - Sky High partnership with Forge Project; construction of Community Learning Kitchen
2023
Sky High Farm continues to raise, harvest, and donate thousands of pounds of fresh food during the growing season; develops an on-farm communal learning space; hosts the second class of Farmer Fellows with an enhanced curriculum; opens up a second round of Sky High Farm Grants, this time for $350k
Onwards...
In 2023, Sky High Farm purchased a 550-acre farm to expand capacity and capability with the goal of beginning the transition onto the new property by 2025
To learn more about our work, please check out our 2024 Annual Report.
You can also learn about Sky High Farm Universe, a separate for-profit entity that was built to fundraise and storytell on our behalf, on their website.