Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture
Farm · Westchester County
630 Bedford Rd, Tarrytown, NY 10591
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23673223/GettyImages_493463418.jpg "Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture by Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for the New York Times")
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23673340/GettyImages_52831963.jpg "Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture by Stan Honda/AFP via Getty Images")
Highlights
Farm & educational center for regenerative agriculture & culinary innovation
Farm & educational center for regenerative agriculture & culinary innovation
"Two livestock guard dogs had escaped from Stone Barns, a non-profit farm adjacent to Blue Hill, the nearly $400 per person restaurant from chef Dan Barber, injuring a local Westchester woman and killing her poodle in February, resulting in a judge-ordered euthanization of the dogs." - Emma Orlow
"The Rockefeller-founded nonprofit farm and educational center that houses the restaurant is accused by former apprentices and staff of fostering a sexist, "boys club" atmosphere and of unsafe or coercive labor practices—allegations include hazing, being asked to perform rooftop greenhouse work without harnesses, and increased workloads after the organization began managing additional pastureland. Critics also describe instances of unnecessary animal suffering and decisions that prioritized production over animal wellbeing; the organization has disputed these accounts, defended its safety record, and said it prioritizes animal and landscape health." - ByElazar Sontag
"Opened in 2004 on former Rockefeller family lands with major Rockefeller funding, this high-profile nonprofit farm positioned itself as a test bed for regenerative agriculture, a source for a CSA and farm store, a training ground for apprentices, and a supplier to an on-site Michelin-starred restaurant. Reported strengths include experimental crops, soil-health work, and multispecies livestock systems, but former employees describe a pattern of operational and cultural problems under long-time farm director Jack Algiere: a rapid expansion of acreage and animals that strained staff capacity; repeated livestock-management mishaps (including a prolonged cattle escape that ended with a police marksman shooting a steer and the carcass being butchered and stored); a troubled pastured-duck program and large freezer backlogs; outbreaks of flystrike and other animal-welfare incidents; alleged unsafe work practices and hazing of apprentices; top-down management and a persistent, largely male managerial culture that several women said produced sexism and drove resignations; and the eventual phasing out of the apprenticeship program. The organization has disputed or contextualized many of these claims, framing its choices as consistent with whole-animal, no-waste practices and emphasizing investigation and training efforts." - Meghan McCarron
"A nonprofit regenerative farm and educational center founded in 2004 on land formerly part of a Rockefeller dairy estate, intended to model small‑scale, ecologically minded agriculture and serve as a living laboratory for chefs, farmers, and the public. The center supplied produce, livestock, and pedagogical context that helped shape the restaurant’s cuisine and storytelling; it is influential in the sustainable‑food movement. Former workers, however, alleged dysfunction in aspects of the farm’s livestock program and raised concerns about how the center’s charitable and commercial activities intersected with operational challenges between roughly 2016 and 2021, complicating claims that the site was an unambiguous, replicable model for regenerative agriculture." - Meghan McCarron
"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
