Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture

Blue Hill and the Battle for the Soul of Stone Barns | Eater

"Founded in 2004 by David Rockefeller and Peggy Dulany to demonstrate, teach, and promote sustainable, community-based food production on an 80-acre working farm, this institution built a wide-ranging education apparatus—school field trips, the Food Ed. high-school curriculum, teacher training conferences, an apprentice program and a Growing Farmers Initiative—that became influential in regenerative agriculture. After a large influx of Rockefeller-family gifts in 2017–18 that pushed assets above $100 million, leadership announced a strategic pivot called “2.0” to scale impact by centering gastronomic research and labs (baking, milling, meat processing, preservation, seed breeding) and by using flavor to drive demand for responsibly produced food; staff repeatedly pushed back, arguing the shift risked deepening elitism and sidelining racial and social-justice work. Tensions peaked with a February 7, 2020 office restructuring that included layoffs and cultural crises, and during the pandemic the nonprofit routed its emergency program ResourcED through a partnered restaurant, pausing many traditional education programs (including much of Food Ed.), redirecting produce sales, and prompting complaints about organizational culture, pay cuts, and transparency. The subsequent Chef in Residence series and a suite of high-priced, ticketed experiences further consolidated programming toward adult, member, and donor audiences while farm staff and critics questioned whether substantial fundraising dollars and seasonal residency budgets were delivering broad educational impact or strengthening farm infrastructure and equitable access." - Meghan McCarron