Our Mission
Catskills Agrarian Alliance models food sovereignty in our region by…
establishing and managing local agricultural initiatives that help protect and promote the right of all people to healthy, culturally-appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods. Our grassroots, participatory approach supports our right to define our own food systems.
Our Vision
We imagine a worldview in which Earth is not just an extractable resource, food is not a commodity, and partnership replaces exploitation.
We see ourselves in a diversely populated Catskills’ farmland of the not-too-distant future, thriving ecologically and economically under the stewardship of a new generation of farmers growing nutrient-dense food made available to all the people within our foodshed.
Our Initiatives
We advance our mission and vision through farmer-led (1) stewardship of land, (2) ecological food production, and (3) food hub operations.
These initiatives are embodied in our programs. Our own production at Star Route Farm grounds our work in lived agroecological farming practice, while our food hub operations connect small farms to viable markets and coordinate shared logistics across SNAP-enabled retail CSAs (The 607 CSA and Choy Commons’ Asian Vegetable Club). We also connect our farms to regional wholesale markets, farm-to-institution sales, mutual aid and pantry partnerships, and food-as-medicine programs. Through our land access stewardship work, CAA incubated West Branch Commons, now launched as an independent community land trust. We are supporting its final takeout costs so farmland remains in community hands.