SEEC has taken the next step toward creating a regional food processing plan, selecting LS Kahn Associates LLC and Rick Osofsky of Ronnybrook Farm as consultants and introducing them to members of the Farm and Food Advisory Council.
The effort is being coordinated by SEEC and Southern Tier 8 and funded in part by the Appalachian Regional Commission.
Using $56,500 in private and public funding and with help from the FFAC, the consultants will conduct a study that will generate a business plan to identify and recommend regional solutions for food processing in Schoharie, Otsego, and Delaware Counties.
The FFAC was organized to bring together the knowledge and expertise of agricultural leaders to help look at post-COVID opportunities.
According to SEEC Executive Director Julie Pacatte, both consultants bring skills and experiences that fit well with their goals.
Dr. Kahn is an expert in strategic planning, has led multi-partner initiatives, written implementation roadmaps for complex transformations, and is a published author.
“We are honored and humbled to work with all of you on a regional food system business plan and implementation roadmap,” she told the FFAC at a meeting last month.
Mr. Osofsky is the co-owner of Ronnybrook Farm and a lawyer.
Ronnybrook found modern success through its Creamline milk and is now known for a variety of high-quality dairy products.
“We are thrilled to bring together the consultants and our Farm and Food Advisory Council to let this plan take shape in a way that reflects the current realities of the market,” Ms. Pacatte said.
“The consultants’ research will be heavily aided by the first-hand expert insights that FFAC members offer and we are grateful to be assisting.”
The consultants will be busy in the upcoming months organizing interviews, collecting surveys, and conducting research and expect to have a business plan by the fall.

• • •


FFAC member include: Jim Barber, Barber’s Farm; Taylor Bogardus, Schoharie Central Schools and FFA advisor; Seth Browe, SUNY Cobleskill Institute for Rural Vitality; Ann Diefendorf, dairy farmer; and Scott Ferguson, executive director, Institute for Rural Vitality.
Also: Deb Fletcher, Cobleskill-Richmondville Central Schools, agriculture teacher/FFA advisor; Todd Heyn, New York Farm Bureau; Shelly Johnson-Bennett, Delaware County Planning and Watershed Affairs Department; Desiree Keever, Otsego County; and Bill Kuhl, Carver Companies.
Also: Julie Pacatte, executive director SEEC; Dorothy Richter, Southern Tier 8, Regional Development Analyst II; Sarah Salem, Hudson Valley Food System Coalition; and Phoebe Schreiner, executive director CADE.
Also: Duane Spaulding, Nan Stolzenburg, Community Planning & Environmental Associates and Proud Castle Farm (dairy) owner; Alicia Terry, Gilboa Town Supervisor; Myron Thurston III, MBA, Cornell Cooperative Extension Oneida County, Food Supply Chain Marketing specialist; John VanDerwerken, Schoharie County Farm Bureau president; and Marilyn Wyman, Cornell Cooperative Extension Schoharie and Otsego Counties, interim executive director.