presents
REGIONAL GRAINS WORKSHOPS
for food industry professionals
Workshop Participants
Andrew Dixon is the lead crescent wrench at Here and There Grain Project which offers a mobile harvesting and food-grade finishing service for small grains in southern New Hampshire and coastal Massachusetts. Alleviating the equipment bottleneck for community-scale grain growing while promoting collaboration, on-farm rotational diversity, joy, justice, and dignity in a shared agricultural and ecological future was not what he set out to do when he became a part-time farmworker. Andrew grew up working in restaurants, earned a degree in mechanical engineering at UMass Amherst, and worked as a full-stack software engineer before pivoting towards wood-fired baking and gardening. Following his curiosity in microbiology while improving as a metal fabricator and prototyper, Andrew worked in commercial-scale compost facility construction with Black Earth Compost and as a farm crew member at Alprilla Farm in Essex, MA where he got his start growing grains. At the heart of his project is a commitment to elevating the work of small farmers.
Stuart Farr was brought up on the family farm in England in the 1970’s where they grew wheat, barley, potatoes, fava beans and oilseeds and raised beef cattle. Stuart studied Agriculture at University and went on to advise farmers for five years. After moving to the U.S. in 2001, Stuart started farming again in New York’s Hudson Valley in 2014. At Hudson Valley Hops and Grains he grows wheat, rye, einkorn, oats, sunflowers, canola, flax, dry beans, buckwheat, and hops in a certified organic system on 380 acres.
Joel Kodish began his baking career in 2012, selling naturally leavened bread at Farmers Markets in South Florida. Since then, he has established himself as a respected voice in the artisan bread community, known for his commitment to fresh, stone-milled, locally sourced grains and his intuitive approach to sourdough fermentation. Joel has worked with acclaimed bakeries such as She Wolf Bakery and Chickadee Bread, where he was among the first in New York City to mill whole-grain flour using a large stone mill. He has led workshops on sourdough baking and consulted for several restaurant bread programs. He was also a contributing baker for the NYC Rye Week festival, where he shared his knowledge and passion for regionally grown rye. He currently heads the bread program at Foxface Natural, a Michelin-recognized restaurant in the East Village.
Johanna Kolodny has worked in the food industry at large for almost 25 years, where she has held a wide range of positions. Her overarching goal is to effect change throughout the food system. Based in New York City, she started her consultancy, Food Systems Consulting, in 2013. Clients and services range from ingredient and product sourcing for all types of wholesale buyers, event production, strategy and business development for farmers, to aiding food companies in bringing their products to market.
June Russell is the Director of Regional Food Programs at the Glynwood Center for Regional Food and Farming, specializing in small grains and staple foods. June has acted as a value chain coordinator and strategist for the revival of grains, beans and other crops in the Northeast for more than two decades. June previously spent 17 years with GrowNYC where she spearheaded GrowNYC Grains, an initiative begun in 2007 that utilized a multi-sector strategy to develop a market for regional grains. The initiative has supported the development of dozens of regionally adapted small grain varieties, including dry beans and other staple crops that have come to the consumer market in the Northeast, along with an explosion of craft food and beverage innovations. The initiative has helped provide farmers with opportunities to diversify crops, rural economies to invest in infrastructure and jobs, and strengthen our regional food system. In her role at Glynwood, June continues to work with stakeholders to build markets for emerging crops in tandem with climate adaptation strategies that improve our soils, our health and our communities.
Patrick Shaw-Kitch as been working in the food industry for 20 years. He started baking at Columbia City Bakery in Seattle and made New York City his home in 2013. Since then, he worked at Bien Cuit, BKLYN Larder, Franny’s, and Frankies Spuntino in the city. He then spent five years stone milling whole grain flours and baking with them as head baker at Blue Hill at Stone Barns, where he also ran the Bakery Lab for Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture. This allowed Patrick to interact directly with farmers and explore the beauty of individual varieties of grains. These experiences left him wanting to broaden the market for these products and stone milling, ultimately motivating him to open Brooklyn Granary & Mill (BGM). BGM will be New York City’s only stone flour mill sourcing grains from regenerative farms in the Northeast and Mid Atlantic. With Brooklyn Granary & Mill, Patrick will sell and make regional grains available to restaurants, bakeries, and home bakers and will run a bakery using BGM’s own stone milled flour. Patrick will be opening BGM in Gowanus, Brooklyn in 2025.
Tyler Sorce is a New York-based chef and 15 year industry veteran. His most recent positions include Executive Chef of the Michelin-starred Casa Mono in Gramercy Park and Baker at the acclaimed Blue Hill at Stone Barns. At the latter, his exposure to the crafts of stone milling, whole grain baking, and regional grain production led to a philosophical shift in his culinary approach. Ditching imported white flour for this exciting “living” product, Tyler plans to marry his love of local whole grains and regional Italian pasta into a new restaurant venture in the Hudson Valley. As a dual citizen of Italy and the United States, he believes there’s nothing more authentically Italian and authentically American than using the resources of your region, minimizing waste, and embracing local industry.
Kate Woods began her farming career after following a personal interest in human health & nutrition, only to discover just how many parallels exist between the gut microbiome and the soil microbiome. That led her to a deep dive into agriculture and understanding how impactful the way food is grown really is on the nutrient density of food and how soil and ecosystem health are directly related to human health. Kate has farmed at Siena Farms in Sudbury MA, worked at Cornell University under mentorship of seed breeder and professor Michael Mazourek, and managed the field growing space at Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture. Kate Woods is currently the Farm & Food Creative Director at Beetlebung Farm in Chilmark, MA where she manages a small no-tillage vegetable production and has led the development of a whole grain/unsifted bakery that is committed to celebrating and valuing grain farmers first and foremost.
Joel Kodish began his baking career in 2012, selling naturally leavened bread at Farmers Markets in South Florida. Since then, he has established himself as a respected voice in the artisan bread community, known for his commitment to fresh, stone-milled, locally sourced grains and his intuitive approach to sourdough fermentation. Joel has worked with acclaimed bakeries such as She Wolf Bakery and Chickadee Bread, where he was among the first in New York City to mill whole-grain flour using a large stone mill. He has led workshops on sourdough baking and consulted for several restaurant bread programs. He was also a contributing baker for the NYC Rye Week festival, where he shared his knowledge and passion for regionally grown rye. He currently heads the bread program at Foxface Natural, a Michelin-recognized restaurant in the East Village.
Johanna Kolodny has worked in the food industry at large for almost 25 years, where she has held a wide range of positions. Her overarching goal is to effect change throughout the food system. Based in New York City, she started her consultancy, Food Systems Consulting, in 2013. Clients and services range from ingredient and product sourcing for all types of wholesale buyers, event production, strategy and business development for farmers, to aiding food companies in bringing their products to market.
June Russell is the Director of Regional Food Programs at the Glynwood Center for Regional Food and Farming, specializing in small grains and staple foods. June has acted as a value chain coordinator and strategist for the revival of grains, beans and other crops in the Northeast for more than two decades. June previously spent 17 years with GrowNYC where she spearheaded GrowNYC Grains, an initiative begun in 2007 that utilized a multi-sector strategy to develop a market for regional grains. The initiative has supported the development of dozens of regionally adapted small grain varieties, including dry beans and other staple crops that have come to the consumer market in the Northeast, along with an explosion of craft food and beverage innovations. The initiative has helped provide farmers with opportunities to diversify crops, rural economies to invest in infrastructure and jobs, and strengthen our regional food system. In her role at Glynwood, June continues to work with stakeholders to build markets for emerging crops in tandem with climate adaptation strategies that improve our soils, our health and our communities.
Patrick Shaw-Kitch as been working in the food industry for 20 years. He started baking at Columbia City Bakery in Seattle and made New York City his home in 2013. Since then, he worked at Bien Cuit, BKLYN Larder, Franny’s, and Frankies Spuntino in the city. He then spent five years stone milling whole grain flours and baking with them as head baker at Blue Hill at Stone Barns, where he also ran the Bakery Lab for Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture. This allowed Patrick to interact directly with farmers and explore the beauty of individual varieties of grains. These experiences left him wanting to broaden the market for these products and stone milling, ultimately motivating him to open Brooklyn Granary & Mill (BGM). BGM will be New York City’s only stone flour mill sourcing grains from regenerative farms in the Northeast and Mid Atlantic. With Brooklyn Granary & Mill, Patrick will sell and make regional grains available to restaurants, bakeries, and home bakers and will run a bakery using BGM’s own stone milled flour. Patrick will be opening BGM in Gowanus, Brooklyn in 2025.
Tyler Sorce is a New York-based chef and 15 year industry veteran. His most recent positions include Executive Chef of the Michelin-starred Casa Mono in Gramercy Park and Baker at the acclaimed Blue Hill at Stone Barns. At the latter, his exposure to the crafts of stone milling, whole grain baking, and regional grain production led to a philosophical shift in his culinary approach. Ditching imported white flour for this exciting “living” product, Tyler plans to marry his love of local whole grains and regional Italian pasta into a new restaurant venture in the Hudson Valley. As a dual citizen of Italy and the United States, he believes there’s nothing more authentically Italian and authentically American than using the resources of your region, minimizing waste, and embracing local industry.
Kate Woods began her farming career after following a personal interest in human health & nutrition, only to discover just how many parallels exist between the gut microbiome and the soil microbiome. That led her to a deep dive into agriculture and understanding how impactful the way food is grown really is on the nutrient density of food and how soil and ecosystem health are directly related to human health. Kate has farmed at Siena Farms in Sudbury MA, worked at Cornell University under mentorship of seed breeder and professor Michael Mazourek, and managed the field growing space at Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture. Kate Woods is currently the Farm & Food Creative Director at Beetlebung Farm in Chilmark, MA where she manages a small no-tillage vegetable production and has led the development of a whole grain/unsifted bakery that is committed to celebrating and valuing grain farmers first and foremost.