Ben Paletsky took over his family's 150-acre South Farms in Morris, Connecticut in 2009. He is working to reinvent the farm by embracing agricultural technology and innovation. Some innovations include automated water and fencing systems for his grass-fed beef operation. Paletsky's vision is to create an agricultural technology incubator on the farm to support food and technology startups. He is building a commercial kitchen to help early-stage food businesses produce and market their products. Paletsky aims to redefine what Connecticut agriculture means through collaboration and innovation at South Farms.

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TheDawnoftheFarmpreneur
A 4th-Generation Morris Farmer Embraces the Intersection of Agriculture & Technology
STORY & PHOTOS TONY VENGROVE
FOOD ENTREPRENEURS
A
s I pulled into the South Farms parking lot, an assem-
blage of black wooden structures standing in the mid-
dle of the driveway immediately grabbed my attention.
The roughly 25 uniformly shaped rectangular objects
each stood just over a yard tall and resembled a collec-
tion of enormous, lowercase letter Ns planted firmly in the stone gravel.
They were reminiscent of a modern art installation.
I couldn’t take my eyes off them, as I walked toward the front en-
trance; my curiosity piqued. It took Ben Paletsky’s deep-voiced greeting
to jolt me back into the present moment. “Welcome, don’t mind the
mess,” he said with a grin. “We’re trying to re-create Stonehenge – just
another typical day here at South Farms.”
It turns out the objects were table legs for several custom-built pine
tables under assembly for their successful event space, The White Barn
at South Farms. Instead of staining the tables, Paletsky’s team chose
to utilize an ancient Japanese wood-burning technique, shou sugi ban.
Charring the wood preserves it and creates a beautiful, artistic finish. It’s
just one example of the creativity and experimentation happening on
this bucolic farm.
Sam Paletsky, Ben’s grandfather, purchased the 150-acre homestead
in the early 1950s, where he operated a successful dairy and cattle farm
for several decades. When Ben’s father passed away in 2009, he was
faced with a binary decision: keep it or sell it. He chose to keep it. By
2011, he completed a partnership with neighboring Dorset Farm and
created the present day’s South Farms, a venture aimed at reinventing
Connecticut agriculture.

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Paletsky believes the future of farming is in AgTech (Agricultural
Technology). “We want to create the future tools of farming,” he says.
“Farmers are stuck doing a lot of jobs that don’t add value to their en-
terprise. If we can replace some of those tasks with productivity innova-
tions, we’ll enable farmers to focus on building their business.”
Industry data appears to back up Paletsky’s claim. According to
AgFunder, an agricultural investment marketplace, nearly 500 AgTech
companies attracted $4.6 billion in investments in 2015 – that’s almost
double the $2.36 billion from the prior year. It’s clear that the invest-
ment community recognizes fertile opportunities for innovation in the
agriculture value chain.
Paletsky may be AgTech’s perfect poster child. Having grown up on
a working farm, he has that “make it happen” entrepreneurial spirit im-
planted in his DNA. His undergraduate and master’s engineering man-
agement degrees from UMass and Tufts landed him in the Cambridge,
Massachusetts, tech industry, where he gained first-hand experience
working with technology startups and driving innovation in a faced-
paced industry.
With a blend of critical skills and experiences in hand, Paletsky
started his South Farms journey by embracing design thinking and in-
novation to solve problems and generate new revenue. One of the first
questions he challenged himself with was, “How can we design a farm
centered around ethical grazing and best rotational practices, where two
people can manage a herd of 50 cattle?”
The answers eventually led to a successful grass-fed beef operation
branded as Galloway Beef. What makes Galloway Beef work economi-
cally is the behind-the-scenes innovations employed by Paletsky’s team.
They installed underground water systems that operate on auto feed-
ers that automatically turn on when water levels get low. They installed
thousands of feet of remote-controlled electric fencing, which allows
one person to move an entire herd to different parts of the farm in less
time.
Today, South Farms raises both beef and pork, has innovated in the
production of hay products, and is home to commercial hops producer,
Pioneer Hops of Connecticut. “There’s more agricultural production
taking place on the farm now than 30 years ago,” Paletsky notes. There’s
even more coming down the pike.
Paletsky’s vision is to create a full-service AgTech center that caters
to food and agricultural entrepreneurs’ need to incubate and accelerate
early-stage ventures. South Farms certainly has the land and buildings
to accommodate a host of ideas and technologies. “My role is to con-
nect, build networks, help gauge the quality of their idea, and provide
the space to test and develop the product concept,” says Paletsky. He is
actively scouting for AgTech entrepreneurs with compelling ideas who
are interested in collaborating at South Farms.
Plans are also underway for building a full-scale, rentable commer-
cial kitchen to support Connecticut’s early-stage food businesses. The
venue will allow entrepreneurs to incubate new food products, produce
product for test marketing, and, if viable, help bring those products into
commercial production.
As we stood in the cleared-out barn that will be the kitchen’s future
home, Paletsky concluded, “If South Farms can enable businesses to
scale a very successful product, we want to be there to support them.”
It’s evident that Paletsky’s motivation is driven by the challenge of it
all. While he’s an astute businessman, he clearly loves the creativity and
problem solving associated with the vision. “Every day, there is a com-
pletely new, unforeseen challenge we take on, for better or for worse.”
He’s one who clearly embodies the saying, “the joy in learning is doing.”
Paletsky thinks big and articulates a compelling vision, and it’s
hard to doubt him. He exudes a humbleness and gregariousness
that immediately invites camaraderie. It’s a dynamic combination of
strengths that will no doubt facilitate South Farms’ success. “We’re
trying to build something the community will be proud of,” Paletsky
says as he surveys the expansive fields of South Farms. “We can rede-
fine what Connecticut agriculture really means. We can enable impor-
tant things to happen here.”
For more information about South Farms’ products, to learn about their
White Barn event facility, or to inquire about collaborative business
opportunities, visit South Farms online at southfarms.org.
> South Farms: 21 Higbie Rd., Morris; 860-567-9847; southfarms.org
Tony Vengrove is Founder & CEO of Miles Finch Innovation in New Milford.
He’s passionate about fostering creativity and entrepreneurism in Connecti-
cut. Follow him on Twitter @Tony_Vengrove.

3. ediblenutmeg.com Summer 2016 31
Intro: Ben Paletsky.
Clockwise: Ben Paletsky surveys
the Pioneer Hops field; The White
Barn event space, set up for a
wedding.