RESTAURANTS
KING TO SLOW ATE CHANGE
OUGH REGENERATIVE CULTURE, ONE FIELD TIME
Farmers in New York State’s Hudson Valley are using techniques that return carbon to the earth and restore soil health. Restaurants are beginning to embrace the movement as the next step in local sourcing, but is it a silver bullet for the climate crisis?
OBE, SENIOR EDITOR, T BUSINESS
S ix Dutchess Farm in LaGrangeville, New York, operated as a boutique horse-boarding facility with in - door riding rink and multiple pastures when Jennifer Kouvant arrived in 2008. By 2015, when she and her husband, Hans Li, walked the 12 acres, they could no longer ignore the visible soil erosion from years of horse treading and the decimated orchards that bore very little fruit. But as rookie farmers—Kouvant worked in food policy and Li in architecture—the couple was des - perately in need of mentors to teach them how to restore the health of their land. They found them at Stone Barns at Blue Hill, Chef Dan Barber’s working farm in Pocantico Hills, New York, and at Ballymaloe Cookery School, Organic Farm and Gardens operated by Darina Allen in Cork, Ireland. “Darina is an incredible educator and steward of the land,” Kouvant says. “We learned tons from her approach to caring for the land, listening to the land, giving back and not taking more than you give. The harmony and full - ness resonate, and respect for the land, which carries straight into the kitchen and your plates.” They learned that through diversified livestock and rotational grazing, they could regenerate their soil and put carbon back into the soil instead of into the atmosphere—a move that mitigates climate change. And they dis - covered the power of pollination. When the couple built a small honeybee apiary on the property, the honeybees began to pollinate the trees and crops and, within a few years, that unproductive orchard yielded an abundance of fruit. “Over several years, we transferred all the pastures into growing areas or rotational grazing fields for sheep, trying to replace everything with something edible for people, insects and animals,” says Kouvant. Armed with their knowledge, Kouvant and Li were well on their way to becoming regenerative farmers.
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SUSTAINABILITY OUTLOOK 2025
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