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Ken Migliorelli's Orchard, His Family's Legacy, and the Search for the Right Buyer

Episode 64: Ken Migliorelli's Orchard, His Family's Legacy, and the Search for the Right Buyer

Ken Migliorelli on putting his 210-acre Red Hook orchard back on the market, why he's chasing the right buyer over the highest bid, and farming's future.

Show notes

Ken Migliorelli has spent his entire life farming, and after 50 years he's ready to slow down. He's put his 210-acre orchard on Guski Road in Red Hook back on the market, the second time he's tried to sell it, hoping this time he finds a buyer who'll care for the land the way he has.
Walter Mullin talks with Ken about what led to the decision, from the punishing hours of peak season to the liabilities that wear on him more than the physical work does. Ken explains why he walked away from a cannabis deal a week before closing, what the orchard's hillside topography and air drainage mean for its future as a farm or even a vineyard, and why none of his six children want to take over the production side of the business.
They also talk about what could come next for the property, from a pick-your-own operation to an event venue in the old barn, and about the larger forces reshaping Hudson Valley agriculture: rising labor costs, new state retirement mandates, and the robotics Ken expects to remake farm labor in the coming decades.

Produced by Emily Sachar, Walter Mullin, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud at the Radio Free Rhinecilff studio

Hosts


Guests

Kenneth Migliorelli

Kenneth Migliorelli

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