Inside Stone Barns: Regenerative Farming at the Highest Level

This week on American Family Farmer, host Doug Stephan sits down with Jack Algiere, Director of Agroecology at Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture in New York’s Hudson Valley.

Jack has been actively farming for more than two decades and was Stone Barns’ very first official employee back in 2004. Since then, he’s helped build one of the country’s most innovative four-season regenerative farming operations—bringing together multi-species grass-fed livestock, grains and field crops, greenhouse production, orchards, flowers, composting systems, and even wild landscape stewardship under one integrated approach.

In this conversation, Jack shares what it really takes to run a holistic farm system that supports biodiversity, soil health, animal welfare, and long-term resilience—while also serving as a training ground for young farmers, chefs, and changemakers. Doug and Jack also explore how Stone Barns is working with partners like the Rockefeller State Park Preserve to manage hundreds of acres of public land through rotational grazing and ecological monitoring.

From cover crops and seed trials to composting, conservation planning, and the future of sustainable farming, this episode is packed with real-world insight from someone doing the work at the highest level—every single day.

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