Lower Connecticut River Valley Region Farms
Featured Farmer | Nick DiGioia | Sycamore Farm & Sycamore Farm Meats
No one farming system alone will safely feed the planet. It will take a blend of innovative and integrated farming systems-- organically-inspired, agroforestry, precision and conservation agriculture, and advanced agriculture technology-- to provide future food and ecosystem security. No one on the ground understands this better than Nick and his family. Their farm goes back five generations and has changed over the decades to reflect what works, what doesn’t work, and the opportunities to do what feels right.
Nick, the 5th generation, majored in Environmental Energy Technology at SUNY Cobleskill. Seven years later, the farm has evolved into a true business. He owns the Meat Division while his parents and sister all have roles to play in other aspects of farm management. The family compound on 90 mostly wooded acres includes pasture, barns, outbuildings, horse facilities for training and breeding, the meat shop and butchering facilities, and homes for all the family. Nick is getting married next year, so another home will be built before long.
At present, the farm is concentrating on developing their meat business. Supported by Herefords and Hereford crosses, 20-30 pigs, sheep, goats (raised for auction), and lots of chickens (800-1000 for meat and 100 layers), Nick’s is a one-stop meat market. The shop, open 7 days a week, works on the honor system (cash or check only). He sells meat by the cut, including ½, ¼ and 1/8 sides of beef. Packaged meat and poultry from his self-serve freezer case looks exactly like packages from the supermarket. Orders can also be placed over the phone. This year he’s taken up smoking, a simple sugaring process producing bacon and sausage. The entire operation, start-to-finish, ensures that the meat is not only fresh or appropriately aged, but the animals are not overly stressed. This is an organically-principled business very close to Nick’s heart.
Chickens are pastured from May onward in ‘tractor cages’, basically light-weight mobile chicken cages. The roofs are retractable and there are no floors to the cages. Sunshine and scratching around on rotating pastures allows the chickens to engage in their normal behavior on grass, while safe from predators, and improve the land at the same time. This attention to detail and humane practices results in the tenderest meat you are ever likely to enjoy.
Nick also does custom-butchering for other farms and for hunters in the fall. When processing deer meat, nothing else is butchered that day in a manner called single-streaming. There are not enough custom butchers or processing facilities in most regions, and many of them are booked months or even years in advance. Nick would like to provide transport in the future for animals intended for slaughter at Sycamore Farm. Right now, farmers bring their animals to him. This will be another income-generating stream, one of several Nick has in mind including bee-keeping.
Speaking of pasture, one of Nick’s plans is to intensify pasture rotation so that he can increase his herd size. Currently he has between 13 and 30 Herefords and 4 Hereford-Angus crosses on the farm. Their manure is for sale for $5 per bag. Cartilage is ground down to create pet food mix in a spirit of waste not, want not.
The principal of reducing farm waste has led to the dream of operating a biodigester in the future which would incorporate other farms’ waste and brewer’s waste, too. So-called ‘brewer’s grain’ consists of left-over oats, barley and hops that settle to the bottom in beer-making. This is a useful addition to his cattle feed. There’s no dairying at Sycamore Farm. Nick explains that his friends are into dairying and he doesn’t want to compete with them. This same spirit of mutual enterprise also means he sells local producers’ honey, flowers and maple syrup. He’s completely integrated into the community and engaged in building relationships.
Nick has academic relationships developed through his commitment to educational outreach. Middlesex Community College students regularly visit as do local school children. Tufts University veterinary students in North Grafton, MA come to the farm to learn about large animal handling. The idea of agro-tourism would extend his participation in meaningful farm promotion with the public and deliver yet another revenue stream. Somehow, Nick will find the time to rebuild the outbuildings to better suit his plans. He takes particular delight in working with his hands, having renovated his butchery building from the ground up. A full, modern farm shop is part of his future vision.
Nick’s parents have never been full-time farmers. Although the farm was founded in 1922, it was originally an apple orchard. This was followed by a period of growing, harvesting and bailing hay. It was during this time that 5-year-old Nick discovered his love of farming while rolling bales of hay out of the way for the farm-workers. When he confessed to his parents some years later that he wanted to take over the farm eventually and run it as a full-time business, his parents asked him “Are you sure”? They needn’t have worried.
Nick’s total involvement in every aspect of Sycamore Farm-- with evident joy, expansive-thinking and total commitment-- shines as an example for the present and the future. The pace is intense but he has youth, preparation and energy on his side as well as the support of his family. He has inherited a legacy which means everything to him, and five generations feels like just the beginning.
By Sandra Childress | July 2024
About the Author: Sandra Childress tends to her herbs on 1/3 acre in Essex. She is reluctantly moving toward growing them exclusively in pots above ground as an appeasement to her creaking joints. If it's edible and medicinal, Sandra is willing to give it a try. If they have a perennial inclination in an east-facing exposure, she's a dévotee for life. Hello sage, rosemary and thyme.