HVADC Program: Hudson Valley Bounty Grows Reach to Albany County

HVADC Program: Hudson Valley Bounty Grows Reach to Albany County

Hudson Valley Agribusiness Development Corporation is pleased to announce that its Hudson Valley Bounty program will now be covering and servicing Albany County. Hudson Valley Bounty has been the premiere online directory of farm and local food information and activity in the region since 2010. Covering seven counties, the website connects farmers, producers, restaurants, grocers and agriculture organizations with consumers through an online searchable portal, updates, and two weekly newsletters. Adding Albany County as the eighth county coverage area allows HVADC to expand its reach and programing deeper into the Capital District.    

The Hudson Valley Bounty site is searchable by business type (farms, wineries/vineyards, distilleries, breweries, cideries, specialty producers, farmers markets, food and beverage trails, restaurants, caterers, retail and grocery stores and distributors/wholesalers) as well as by county, method of production and products.  

“We are excited to share Hudson Valley Bounty as a resource with the great farms and farm-fresh businesses in Albany County. This is a intentional effort to reinforce that we are here to help all farmers throughout the watershed,” said Todd Erling, HVADC Executive Director. “The Bounty has been a bullhorn for the voice of our agricultural community and a vital gateway for farms and businesses to learn about and access the suite of programing available to them at HVADC like our Incubator Without Walls as well as all the grant opportunities that we learn about through our networking. With the help of our organizational partners we hope Bounty will soon be as successful in Albany County as it has proven to be in the rest of the region.”  

As the ball has gotten rolling over the past month, some exciting additions have been popping up on the Albany County section of the Bounty directory. Mountain Winds Maple Farm in Berne, New York, which offers a delicious line of syrup and maple products as well as chicken and eggs, was one of Albany County’s earliest listings.  

The city of Albany also boasts some great organizations that the Bounty can now help signal boost such as the Radix Ecological Sustainability Center.  The mission of the Radix Center is to promote ecological literacy and environmental stewardship through educational programs based around demonstrations of sustainable technologies. A great match for the Bounty and HVADC, the Radix Center teaches practical skills that can be applied to create environmental and economic sustainability. An emphasis is placed on issues of food security, health, and the remediation of contaminated soils. Hudson Valley Bounty is glad to be able to support their work, through promotion and updates.  

HVADC Program Associate Jennifer Bock has been coordinating and implementing the Bounty expansion and encourages farms and businesses interested in being added to the Bounty’s network to visit www.hudsonvalleybounty.com/join to include their listing and become a Member. It only takes a few minutes to complete, and the listing is free.  Interested farms and food producers may also email info@hudsonvalleybounty.com with any questions. Also visit the site to register for the newsletter.  

While Albany County registration in this busy season is just getting started, other HVADC organizational partners in the county have been enthusiastically and graciously helping to spread the word to their community networks. Albany County has been helping with the outreach to farmers and food producers, and Cornell Cooperative Extension Albany County has been vital to the expansion.    

For Albany farmers and agriculture businesses not yet in the know, Hudson Valley Bounty allows them to not just list contact information and product descriptions but also gives them the ability to post updates and market participation. They will also become included in the two weekly newsletters sent out by Hudson Valley Bounty. Updates such as events and farm tours can be included in the first newsletter geared towards the consumer audience and the producers themselves will gain access to the second newsletter filled with useful information about HVADC and non-HVADC programs available to them, funding and educational opportunities, policy updates and much more.  

Hudson Valley Bounty’s website is also currently in the early stages of being updated to improve usability features and create functionality where members will have direct control to manage their profile content themselves. This exciting update will make communication between producer and consumer on the site more immediate and seamless. It will be useful to bring Albany County into the Bounty’s sphere of influence before this new interface comes online.  

The work being done by Hudson Valley Bounty is an integral arm of HVADC and its mission, which is to strengthen the viability of agriculture in the region, with a belief that supporting local farms helps to create and maintain a strong, sustainable economy for the Hudson Valley. This outreach into Albany County is just the tip of the iceberg for the relationship HVADC hopes to strengthen in the northern end of the valley.

Check out all the bounty the Hudson Valley offers at www.hudsonvalleybounty.com or on social media:  Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (@hvbounty).