Local dairy farmer builds community in Central New York

Mark Van Erden’s day started at 5:30 a.m. with his Caterpillar tractor engine roaring underneath a gray sky. Van Erden grinned as he stepped out of his pickup truck and into the front seat of his tractor. It was breakfast time for his cows. 

Van Erden, 32, is part owner and general manager of Fabius Greenwood Farm, a 1,700-acre dairy farm with 1,400 dairy cows just north of the village of Fabius, New York. 

Van Erden grew up on another dairy farm in Central New York, which inspired him to study animal science and agribusiness. After graduating from Cornell University in 2014, he started working at Fabius Greenwood. 

“This was a family thing,” Van Erden said. “I liked the business side of it and still do like the business side of it, especially, and was drawn to that.” 

There are fewer dairy farms in New York State each year. According to a Times Union article, there were 9,300 dairy farms in New York State in 1997, but by 2022, only 3,000 remained. Specifically in Onondaga County, the number of dairy farms has decreased from 71 in 2016 to just 41 in 2023, according to the Department of Agriculture. 

Van Erden is working to change this downward trend. Whether it’s using new technology to speed up farm processes, sharing the work of local farmers through social media or utilizing sustainable practices at his farm, Van Erden hopes his efforts can help bring awareness to local agriculture and make it more accessible to the public.

“Some of the more old-school farmers just kind of did their thing and wanted to hide everything away,” Van Erden said. “I don’t think that can be the mentality anymore, especially as farms get larger. We need to maintain that social license to operate.” 

Van Erden climbed into his yellow Caterpillar tractor. He used it to scoop thousands of pounds of feed ingredients into a feed mixer.  

The technology was important here: the tractor has a large digital screen on its side that gives instructions for how much of each ingredient should be added into the mixer. Based on a veterinarian’s recommendation, Van Erden customized the machinery for his farm, another one of his ideas to grow the business and optimize farm processes.

Other than finding the latest technology for his farm, Van Erden also manages 13 employees at Fabius Greenwood. Amanda Seamans, a calf manager, has worked for Van Erden for the past five years.  

“He’s always willing to teach me anything that I’m willing to learn and I really respect that,” Seamans said. “He’s always advocating for the dairy industry and really rooting and showing people that dairy is a good thing.” 

Van Erden also runs social media for five local dairy farms on top of his farm management duties. He uses social media to increase transparency in the local dairy industry and aims to encourage residents of Onondaga County to see the value of dairy farms.  

“People are a lot more supportive of us as a business when they know what’s going on,” Van Erden said. “It’s important to me and I think it needs to be important to all dairy farms that they get that message out and communicate with the consumers about what we’re doing, why we’re doing it, how we’re taking care of people, cows, the environment, everything.”  

Van Erden does not see himself stopping anytime soon. He hopes to continue farming and growing the local dairy industry well into the next decade. A large part of that is sustainable farming and building a cycle between the farm and the land, making sure the nutrients that leave the farm as food return to the fields as manure, Van Erden said.

“That balance is very close and makes us very sustainable and ensures that we’re not nutrient loading the land or making the land worse or less usable for the future so that this land can continue to sustain forever,” Van Erden said.

Although farming can be exhausting, Van Erden wouldn’t trade it for any other job. He loves the business side along with the day-to-day operations of the farm.

“It can be hard, but it also keeps me interested. When I wake up in the morning, I often have a very limited picture of what I’ll be doing that day because of the way things pop up,” Van Erden said. “I need to constantly adjust, constantly prioritize as problems rise up or as I get time, I can spend more time looking for opportunities. But I love the variety.” 

Van Erden keeps busy outside of work, too. After a day that started before sunrise, Van Erden spent his evening playing beach volleyball at The Nest Tavern in Tully, New York. His team of four lost their first two matches, but he wore the same grin he had that morning as he jumped and spiked the ball. 

That is just how Van Erden is, said his teammate Alexandra Wean. He is supportive and the life of the party, no matter what else goes on in his day. 

“He always makes connections everywhere he goes. And he always checks up on people, like [with] the storms that we had the other day, he checked up on people,” Wean said.

Van Erden sees community as the future of farming, and he goes beyond the duties of his job to help Onondaga County’s dairy farmers. He believes taking care of his cows and employees as best he can is one of the main reasons his farm thrives.

“He’s literally always there and always trying to help anyone with anything, even if it’s the smallest thing,” Wean said. “He should run for mayor.”