Tom and Sea: Bringing a New Generation into Farming
Farming can bring people together in many ways, from meeting neighbors at a market to sharing a meal at a table. The connections between people, and the land they share, is special. One such connection is the story of Tom and Sea, and the founding of the West Branch Commons, which we have featured in a short film and two podcast episodes share on the Cornell Small Farms Program website.
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Tom Hutson is a third-generation dairy farmer nearing retirement, and Sea Matías is a beginning farmer from the Bronx. Tom’s greatest wish is to see his 257 acres stay in farming, as his life’s work has been tending the land. Without family to take over the farm stewardship after him, Hutson worked with American Farmland Trust for more than a decade to create a transition plan. Neighboring farmers and organizations joined the conversation, and together began imagining what equitable land access might look like for the next generation of farmers. The West Branch Commons was born out of those conversations, and this new organization will be taking over the farm and offering 99-year affordable leases to historically excluded beginning farmers to start their own operations.
The farmers of the West Branch Commons are currently leasing the land from AFT while raising funds to purchase the property for permanent, secure access for the farmers within the commons. Farmland for a New Generation New York
One of the greatest challenges facing a new farmer is the search for land. It is difficult and costly to find quality acreage with the infrastructure needed to support a budding agricultural operation. However, there are many organizations trying to change this. The second episode of our Small Farms Radio podcast explores the founding of the West Branch Commons, a land access project that is working to bring land, logistical support, community, and sustainability to beginning farmers in Delaware County, New York.
The story of West Branch begins with Tom. He dreamed of farming on his family’s land for the rest of his life after graduating college, but pressure from large industrial dairy farms drove him into debt. Hutson was forced to sell his cows and lease parts of his property, but he refused to let go of his land for good. He wanted to sell his family property to someone like him who would honor land and respect the role of agriculture in the community.
Tom decided to sell his farm to American Farmland Trust in exchange for cash and a charitable gift annuity that will provide him with income for the rest of his life as he transitions out of farming. Farmland for a New Generation New York
That’s when Hutson heard of Tianna Kennedy, who was looking to start a non-profit land access project that would prioritize regenerative agriculture and food security for the surrounding community. He decided to partner with her to realize her project.
“Why did I pick what I did with the farm last year and this group of kids? Because they want the same thing [as me],” Hutson said.
The project born out of the partnership between Tom and Tianna was West Branch Commons, a community trust land access project that supports beginning farmers. In partnership with the Catskills Agrarian Alliance, the non-profit that owns Hutson’s former farm offers 99-year, affordable farmland leases. Additionally, they offer logistical support to market and distribute farmers’ products upstate and into New York City through The 607 CSA, a community-supported agriculture program. In the future, they plan to construct housing that will build a tight-knit community of farmers at West Branch.
Programs like West Branch allow beginning farmers to find a foothold in agriculture.
Sea Matías is one of the farmers who has been deeply involved in the creation of the West Branch Commons. When Matías’ grandmother passed away, they wanted to connect with her again through plants and the outdoors. They decided to join Farm School NYC, where they learned how to farm in an urban setting. Matías became an apprentice at Morning Glory Community Garden in the Bronx, but soon grew bigger ambitions and wanted to scale up to a farm of their own.
Matías quickly learned that finding one’s own land is not as easy as it sounds; land was expensive and hard to find, and they lacked family support or other means to fund a lease. They decided to attend a meeting of the American Farmland Trust, where they learned about the West Branch Commons and met Hutson.
“It’s very competitive to get financial support and it’s also really hard to find land,” Matías said. “This opportunity with Tom and with American Farmland Trust and the West Branch Commons is like a needle in a haystack opportunity, a once in a lifetime chance to get equitable land tenure.”
Matías began a lease on the Commons land and began Serra Vida Farm in 2024. Their farm became one of the anchor lessees on Tom’s land, managing over an acre of vegetables, flowers, and herbs, grown for their community in the Bronx and the local community around Delancey. Matías also helps Tom with his herd of beef cattle on the land and emphasizes the importance of receiving generational wisdom and the ability to “see the land through Tom’s eyes” as its lifelong steward.
Sea and Tom quickly forged a connection, and the timing was right for Tom to make his land available to farm. Farmland for a New Generation New York
People like Rhiannon Wright, a program coordinator at the Center for Agricultural Development and Entrepreneurship (CADE), believe that stories like Matías’ and programs like West Branch Commons could be the future of small and regenerative farming.
“Land access is the number one issue that beginning farmers are facing, and the cost of land is the number one reason why,” Wright said. “Beginning farmers are being really clear that we need new models of land tenure … the income that is possible from running any type of regenerative farm enterprise just really isn’t aligned with the cost of land.”
Wright highlighted the participatory nature of West Branch and the many supports that it offers as a source of potential for the land access model.
“One of the guiding pieces has been that the majority of the most active project team members have been farmers,” Wright said.
“The project has started with individual farmers saying that they have a need or have a resource … The key piece is that this project has been designed to serve as many farmers as it can.”
With the help of organizations like the Pace University Law Clinic and the Watershed Agricultural Council, West Branch provides an innovative tenure model to support beginning farmers throughout the farming process, allowing farmers to focus on sustainable, fulfilling, and community-oriented production.
When asked what it feels like to be a beneficiary of the services of the non-profit, Matías described it as “a hug.”
“I feel very supported … I have developed a community and family here,” Matías said. “For someone to understand what I’m trying to do, and what the farmers of this Commons want to do, and what they’re looking for, and believing in, that is just incredible.”
