Peter Ten Eyck II lauded by Agricultural Society

— Photo from the New York State Agricultural Society

Distinguished Service: Peter Ten Eyck II received the 2016 Distinguished Service Citation from the New York State Agricultural Society at its 184th Annual Forum. The award is the society’s highest honor, and is sponsored by the New York Farm Bureau Member Services. From left are: Jeff Kirby, executive director of the New York Farm Bureau; Laura Ten Eyck; Rose-Marie Ten Eyck; Mike Haycook, committee chairman of the New York State Agricultural Society, Peter Ten Eyck II; Richard Ball, commissioner of the state’s Department of Agriculture and Markets; and Hans Kunze, president of the New York State Agricultural Society.

Peter Ten Eyck II of Indian Ladder Farms in New Scotland was awarded the Distinguished Service Citation at the New York State Agricultural Society Forum in early January. It is the highest honor bestowed by the society.

The annual forum brings together all sectors of the food system to explore topics critical to the future of New York agriculture, and to recognize the unique contributions of its stakeholders. At the 184th Forum on Jan. 7 in Syracuse, which drew a record-breaking 549 people, Richard Ball, commissioner of the state’s Department of Agriculture and Markets, presented the award to Ten Eyck.

The president of Indian Ladder Farms, an apple orchard, storage, cider mill, and retail farm market, Ten Eyck is the 10th generation of his family living in the Capital District with the farm in its 99th year. He manages the farm with the assistance of his wife, Rose-Marie; son, Peter G. Ten Eyck III; daughter, Laura Ten Eyck; and several key employees.  

Very aware of the importance of maintaining the connection between consumers and the food on their plates, Ten Eyck has been active in helping maintain the vibrancy of farming in the Hudson Valley, the agricultural society said in announcing the award; Indian Ladder farms is a regular stop for local school children to learn about agriculture and the farm also hosts summer day camps as a means of bringing the farm back into the lives of today’s youth. 

Ten Eyck’s 100-acre farm, which stretches along both sides of Route 156 under the Helderberg escarpment was founded by his grandfather, a congressman and state agricultural commissioner, in 1916. “It was more of a country-gentleman thing,” Peter Ten Eyck told The Enterprise in August, of his grandfather and father’s role on the farm.

The farm has been a lifetime of work for Ten Eyck, 77,who left to earn a degree at Cornell’s agricultural college and to serve in the Army, as a guided missile repairman, but otherwise has been hands-on at Indian Ladder Farms.

“We grow our own food in the fabric of the community. That’s what this is all about,” Ten Eyck said.

Ten Eyck, who served for a dozen years as a Cornell trustee, also said, “We’re trying to keep agriculture viable. We have to empower small to medium farms to be productive. Americans have to stop waving money in the air and hope someplace else in the world will meet their needs...We have to have not just sustainable farming but sustainable cuisine. People who eat have to take responsibility for how things are grown.”

To succeed as a small farmer, Ten Eyck said, “You’ve got to be a destination place. You’ve got to be in the entertainment business.” He explained, “People eat four or five times a day for a recreational experience; it’s not to sustain themselves.”

People come to his farm by the droves in the autumn —  “We get 5,000 or 6,000 on one day in the fall,” said Ten Eyck — seeking some primal connection with harvest. Ten Eyck said of human beings, “We have a sense we want to be centered on something fundamental and profound — to stand in an orchard and look at the mountains.”

In 2003, Indian Ladder Farms became the first farm in Albany County to retire its development rights in an effort to preserve its prime agricultural land. Ten Eyck said at the time: “Having a place where people can observe and participate in the process of growing food is worth doing.” 

Ten Eyck is a respected leader on the local, state, and national stage, the society said, noting that he serves on the Apiary Industry Advisory Committee as well as New York’s Apple Research and Development Program.  He also serves as a member of the advisory board of the New York Center for Agricultural Health and Medicine, a delegate to the Council of Agricultural Organizations, and a trustee of the New York State Farm Bureau Foundation. In 2001 Peter was named “Trustee Emeritus” after 12 years of service as a trustee of Cornell University.

Additionally, Ten Eyck has served as a member of the Voorheesville School Board, trustee of the Albany Academy, member of the New York State Commission on Constitutional Revision, member and chairman of the Dean’s Advisory Council of the New York State College of Agriculture and Life Science at Cornell, director of the New York State Agricultural Society, president of the New York State Horticultural Society, trustee and vice chair of the Albany Institute of History and Art, director of KeyCorp from 1979 to 2010, and trustee of the Holland Society in New York.

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