New and Emerging Farmers Gravitate Toward Collaboration in New York State

The Cornell Small Farms Program’s Futuro en Ag project supports Spanish-speaking and bilingual new and emerging farmers. We have observed these farmers come together to create collaborative agricultural ventures that begin rooted in pre-existing trust.

New York State agriculture is in the midst of a demographic transformation that is not only redefining who works the land, but also who is launching viable farm businesses. This shift reveals a growing population of new farmers and agricultural workers ready to transition to independent production, driven by generational knowledge from their countries of origin or skills developed through their current farm-based work.

Through our experience supporting Spanish-speaking and bilingual new and emerging farmers in the Futuro en Ag Project of the Cornell Small Farms Program, based at Cornell University, we have seen that these agricultural ventures tend to begin rooted in pre-existing trust. Rather than through theoretical structures, these collaborations spring up organically in conversations among coworkers, friends and in families who started working
the land during their free time, sharing tips about market access, sustaining production, and serving initial customers.

Around 91% of Spanish-speaking population in the state lives in urban and peri-urban communities, with high concentrations in counties such as the Bronx County (51.7%), the Queens County (26.8%), Westchester County (22.6%), Orange County (18.4%), Suffolk County (17.7%), Kings County (Brooklyn) (16.8%), Nassau County (15.6%), and Rockland County (15%), confirming that Spanish is a social and cultural component at the state level.

This group of Hudson Valley growers is exploring ways to work together. I took this picture on November 10 of this year.
Mildred Alvarado / Cornell Small Farms Program

Public data tell us where Spanish is spoken, but the true significance for the state’s agriculture lies in what the data represent: a wide range of practitioners with hands-on experience in crop and livestock production, local distribution logistics, and opening local markets who now aspire to formalize independent agricultural businesses without sacrificing economic stability. This represents a translation of lived experience into
entrepreneurship, balanced with informed decision-making around land access, startup capital, markets, and legally accessible business models such as the LLC and other governance structures—when they are economically viable and socially coherent for sustaining families and community participation.

Regardless of the legal starting point, the farmers we have worked with tend to agree on a key principle: building a business collaboratively to share resources, knowledge, labor, and responsibilities, allowing co-owners and operators to access opportunities that would be nearly impossible to reach alone. Collaborative initiatives help reduce risks, extend the life of farm equipment through sharing, rotate responsibilities so that one absence does not impede progress, and develop leadership in practice.

In a land-constrained state with high capital barriers and geographically dispersed farms, collaboration is not a trend—it is a strategic response based on sound business logic for sustaining what is already growing and expanding where demand already exists.

Collaborative Agriculture in New York: Recent Experiences of the Futuro Ag Team

What I present here is not based on a formal academic concept, but rather on what I have observed and learned through my direct work with the groups I currently support. These reflections arise from real experiences in the field, in spaces where farmers create their own forms of collaboration and mutual support.

Long Island

A group of new farmers began working together because they already knew each other and shared a common vision: growing flowers and vegetables on small plots of land, often on farmland temporarily provided by local organizations or private landowners. Their primary jobs were outside of independent farming—they worked in cleaning services, as delivery drivers, or in greenhouse operations.

The partners could only work on the land in the evenings and on weekends, yet they still managed to hold a spot at weekly farmers’ markets. They intentionally rotated their labor and responsibilities, supporting each other so that one absence would not cause them to lose opportunities they had developed as a team.

For nearly three years, the group also underwent an extended learning process, navigating production challenges, startup capital, business administration, and transitioning into more formalized markets. Their biggest challenge was not how to grow their crops—they knew how to do that—it was learning to manage a business collectively and make decisions based on real data and ongoing dialogue.

The group reached an important milestone when they accessed stable community farmland supported by a Community Land Tenure model, structured under a Community Land Trust (CLT). This achievement enabled deeper formalization, business growth, and long-term participation, without fully sacrificing family or job stability during the early stages of their agricultural transition.

New York City

In New York City, our collaborative agriculture efforts emerge from shared green spaces rather than large farms. Collaboration begins in gardens, parks, and community green areas where farmers grow healthy food and also nurture deep human roots: shared wellbeing, community health, working relationships, and entrepreneurial spirit.

Within these initiatives, some groups have chosen to operate under agricultural cooperatives, others function as nonprofits, and some have formalized their work under an LLC, among a variety of collaborative organizing structures.

In Western New York group, farmers are teaming up on a beef cattle project and are pictured here visiting a beef farm.
Mildred Alvarado / Cornell Small Farms Program

Western New York

Another group in Western New York—also supported by Futuro en Ag—is moving into a more formal planning stage. Their conversations have evolved into developing a future- focused strategy, with the goal of forming farm businesses that build generational pathways and strengthen rural economies.

These teams are primarily composed of agricultural workers who have gotten to know each other in their workplaces and through family ties. This was the foundation for members of the group to meet after work and on weekends to plan operations, mobilize shared resources, co-open markets, and explore business models that sustain independent production while still protecting family and job stability.

They are now designing a business plan, identifying market opportunities, prioritizing areas of production, and have already begun a collaborative land search process with support from allied networks and trusted landowners. Their shared vision centers on informed decision-making, continuous dialogue, market evaluation, and social and economic impact they want to create for their families and communities.

Hudson Valley

Another experience worth sharing comes from the Hudson Valley, where collaboration has entered an important phase of scaling up. These farmers already have land under cultivation, steady weekly sales, reliable markets, and loyal customers who count on their products.

Collaboration here moves at the pace the market demands: the farmers have identified the common needs of cold storage, logistics around fresh produce, transportation planning, and infrastructure investment that strengthen both independent farmers and teams built on shared trust and experience.

This stage has revealed a key lesson: the market also organizes us. When demand is high, collaboration requires new discipline, rapid coordination, clear leadership roles, and decision-making with team-based strategy rather than informal organizing.

Lessons Learned

Collaborative agriculture reaches scale only when grounded in trust, viable markets, and economic feasibility, creating incentives that strengthen—rather than compromise—family wellbeing and generational futures.

Organizing collaborative agriculture requires intentional investment in shared understanding: personal relationships, defined roles, hard conversations, real market validation, and feasible business models that are strong both socially and economically. For many farmers, financial viability is not secondary—it determines whether collaboration becomes a sustainable opportunity or an unbearable weight.

When an initiative is social or educational but lacks economic feasibility, collaborative agriculture slows—not for lack of dreams, but because families still need to prioritize their basic needs and must generate income to live today. Collaboration must uplift life, not compete against it.

We have also seen collaborations shift or break—not as abandonment, but as reorganization. Some groups have restructured themselves so that collaboration could be tried again, with more clarity and stronger governance, giving the collaboration a better chance of success.

We have seen initiatives dissolve for lack of communication—not for lack of hope. I have seen work teams realign—not to separate permanently, but to do it better next time.

Collaborative agriculture for new and emerging farmers is human, iterative, imperfect—and adaptive, just like agriculture itself. It evolves through trial and error, redefinition, and renewed effort until both relational and economic sustainability align.

The field has been a classroom where farmers learn both the technical and the relational sides of running farm businesses. Collaboration is not easy—but it is possible when born from shared purpose, necessity, strategy, patience, honest conversation, and leadership that inquires rather than imposes.

Puede leer este artículo en español a https://smallfarms.cornell.edu/quarterly/

References

U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service. (2022). 2022 Census of Agriculture: County-Level and Statewide Farm Labor & Payroll Tables for New York State.

National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund. (2021). 2020 Census Profile Report: Hispanic/Latino Population in New York State.

New York Farm Bureau. (2024). Public statement summarizing 2022 Census of Agriculture results for farm count in New York State.