Leopold Center - New York grape growers look at heritage development

View Duncan Hilchey presentation

Inspecting grapes in Lake Erie region

Vineyards of the Lake Erie region

Growing Home book cover

In the grape-growing region in western New York and
eastern Pennsylvania, farmers are working with local
businesses to emphasize their agricultural heritage.
In Growing Home, Hilchey explains some of the rural
development strategies.

Amazing things can happen when farmers and economic development groups work together, says Duncan Hilchey, a regional planner for the Community, Food and Agriculture Program (CFAP) at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

Hilchey came to Iowa in November to present seminars for the Leopold Center's Marketing and Food Systems Initiative, Regional Food Systems Working Group and the Iowa State Graduate Program in Sustainable Agriculture.

From his tool box of rural economic development strategies, Hilchey shared a number of successes. Many are outlined in Growing Home: A Guide to Reconnecting Agriculture, Food and Communities that he co-authored with Joanna Green in 2002. Successes include:

Growing Home certification
Hilchey and his colleagues at CFAP have developed a two-year "Growing Home Certification Program" for the estimated 100 agriculture development professionals in New York. Eleven people from extension and a number of nongovernmental organizations have taken a pilot course that looks at the social, political and economic aspects of rural local agriculture and food system development. Participants learn different strategies, then apply their skills in a final project.

Hilchey is working on a project of his own as part of "A Place at the Table," a New York development program that began in 2003. The Concord grape-growing region along Lake Erie in western New York and eastern Pennsylvania was identified as an area in which farmers and local businesses could benefit from what Hilchey calls "heritage development."

About the region
The region is only 50 miles long and up to six miles wide in places, but the gravelly soil and milder climate next to the lake make it ideal for growing grapes. Historically, the grapes were used in the production of Welch's grape juice, but the company no longer operates an office in Chautaugua County.

"It's a beautiful place, a world-class viticultural area yet nobody outside the region knows about it," Hilchey said. "This is where Mr. Welch developed the first nonalcoholic juice beverage in the world but the local aspects were lost in modern marketing. Grapes were basically a mainstream commodity that we took for granted."

Hilchey worked with the grape- growing community to establish the Lake Erie Concord Grape Belt Heritage Association, which hopes to receive heritage area status from the New York state legislature. This designation could open the door for agritourism and additional resources, such as eligibility for state and federal grant programs. The association is planning an interpretive trail that links local businesses and farms, history displays in local storefronts, tours of local vineyards and wineries, and possibly labeling and branding local products.

Agricultural heritage areas
Agricultural heritage areas recognize a place-based product and are geographically bounded. They also celebrate the communities that have evolved with the product and protect unique agricultural landscapes. Hilchey said these areas also can reward unique traditional production practices and encourage stewardship of local resources.

The key to rural economic development, he adds, is the idea of food as an expression of a specific place or location, which must include farmers and agricultural enterprises.

"If a 'place' or 'region' is defined by what most scholars of regionalism argue is the intersection of land and people or culture and environment, then local food and agriculture together constitute a profound expression of place," Hilchey says. "For it is in the toil of human activity on the local landscape that food and other tangible products are created that reflect the cultural uniqueness of a place."