If you are a parent with children in school, you have probably wondered why your child’s meals do not reflect the abundance of farms you pass every day. According to Heather Nieto-Friga, H for short, founder and CEO of SupplyChange, the answer is simple. The system that feeds our schools was built for national distributors, not local farms. And changing that system is exactly what she is doing. Spend even a few minutes talking with H and it becomes clear why she is abl

When I visited, that philosophy was visible in the simplest way: a mountain of ground mushroom compost alive with worms, insects, and pollinators, a living ecosystem with nothing artificial pushing it along. Sixteen acres stretch from the farmhouse down to the river. A geodesic dome keeps beets, kale, Swiss chard, and herbs growing year-round. Lemon trees thrive there too, over a hundred lemons last year, along with figs and even bananas.

Photo: Bill Winters Amy Wu is an award-winning writer for the women’s ag and agtech movement based in the Hudson Valley. She is an...