Oechsner Farms in New York: History, What It Raises, How It Makes Money and How to Contact It
Profile updated November 2026
Oechsner Farms in Newfield is a regenerative organic certified grain farm that now works over 1,200 acres and received the 2025 New York AEM-Leopold Conservation Award. It supplies organic food-grade and craft malt markets, and its owners also built a solar-powered flour mill and other local grain businesses.
| Location | Newfield, Tompkins County, New York (Finger Lakes) |
|---|---|
| Founded | Farmstead bought 1991; first crops 1998 |
| Sectors | Regenerative organic grains; flour; malt grain |
| Scale | Over 1,200 acres farmed |
| Why it is elite | 2025 New York AEM-Leopold Conservation Award recipient; regenerative organic certified |
| Ownership | Thor Oechsner and Rachel Lodder, with farm partners |
| Official website | Oechsner Farms official site |
History of Oechsner Farms
Thor Oechsner, a former diesel mechanic, bought a 15-acre farmstead in 1991. He grew his first crops in 1998 on 44 rented acres, reached about 400 acres in production by 2005 and left his other jobs to farm full time. Landowners later sought him out to farm worn-out ground organically.
Thor and his wife Rachel Lodder own and operate the farm with partners Dan Gladstone and Rye Lyczak. The Tompkins County Soil and Water Conservation District nominated the farm for the 2025 award, announced September 12, 2025.
What Oechsner Farms Grows and Raises
The crop list includes hard red spring and winter wheat, hulless oats, common and tartary buckwheat, polenta-type corn, rye, einkorn, soybeans, and grass-legume hay and red clover. Grain goes mainly to organic food-grade buyers and craft malt beverage makers. Valley Malt has featured the farm and offers its wheat as malt.
A seven-year rotation, year-round cover crops of peas, turnips, radish and crimson clover, and conservation tillage protect soil and break pest cycles. The farm keeps grassed filter strips and pollinator habitat, converted wet areas to permanent pasture, rested about 200 acres of long-leased cropland from grain for grazing, and joined the Bobolink Project with Audubon New York. It is also working with Cornell on organic no-till spring wheat.
Related ventures include a grain processing facility, a solar-powered flour mill, Wide Awake Bakery, the Farmer Ground Flour micro-mill supporting local organic growers, and a pollinator business with local beekeepers.
How Oechsner Farms Makes Money
Organic food grains
Wheat, rye, einkorn, corn and buckwheat go to organic flour millers and bakers, a premium market that rewards consistent quality.
Malting and brewing grain
New York legislation supporting local grain in brewing and distilling opened a market that now takes Oechsner wheat for malt.
Processing and value-added
Owning cleaning and processing capacity and linking to a mill and bakery lets the farm capture value beyond raw grain.
Farm Insight: What Other Operators Can Learn from Oechsner Farms
Build the market chain, not just the crop: local mills, maltsters and bakeries created demand the farm could grow into. Rotations with cover crops and hay reduce input costs and risk across many crops.
Starting small, renting acres and earning landowner trust is a realistic path to scale for beginning organic grain farmers.
Oechsner Farms grows buckwheat, einkorn and polenta corn, which means breakfast, beer and bread all start in the same Newfield field. farm.FM collects farm satire, farm humor, ranch humor and farm jokes, and even we have to admit nothing beats a farmer who built his own mill. Pass the pancakes, and please tell the bobolinks we said thanks.
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How to Contact Oechsner Farms
Website: https://www.oechsnerfarms.com
Official site found through the Valley Malt featured-farm article, November 2026. No street address, phone or email was found in the sources reviewed; confirm details on the site.
Oechsner Farms Sources and Agriculture Authority Links
- Oechsner Farms official site - The farm's own website
- Oechsner Farms award announcement - State announcement of the 2025 AEM-Leopold winner
- Valley Malt featured farm: Oechsner Farms - Malt buyer profile of the farm
- NY Agricultural Environmental Management - State conservation program
- 2022 Census of Agriculture, New York - NASS state profile
Oechsner Farms FAQ
Where is Oechsner Farms?
In Newfield, Tompkins County, in the Finger Lakes region of New York.
What does Oechsner Farms grow?
Organic wheat, rye, oats, buckwheat, einkorn, corn, soybeans and hay, sold for food and malt.
What award did it win?
The 2025 New York AEM-Leopold Conservation Award.
How can I contact Oechsner Farms?
Use the official website listed above.
Oechsner Farms shows how organic grain growers can build local markets in New York. See the New York farms guide for other grain, dairy and fruit operations.