End of an Era
It’s a solemn time for LynOaken Farms. A quiet time. Gone are the rumblings of tractor engines, lumbering of trucks loaded with apple totes, playful jabs of harvest crews. And actually, never before has the farm been so quiet. Harvest 2024 is done, Upick is closed, long-term employees have received their last paychecks, and the next chapter for LynOaken Farms is coming fast. Our wholesale orchards – all 200+ acres of them -have been sold. The family members who have dedicated their careers to the farm and winery (Christopher, Jonathan, Wendy, Darrel, Linda) are spending their days tidying up, separating saleable equipment from junk, tying up loose ends. By January 2025, LynOaken Farms as we have known it for over a century will no longer exist. It’s heartbreaking. And completely life-changing for those of us who lived and worked here for decades.
It's been a century of working with the land, changing growing practices as time and science found new and better ways. Apple trees that once stood 30 feet tall have been replaced with dwarf trees, trellised on wire like grapevines. What started in 1919 by our great-grandfather Leonard Oakes as a poultry farm with vegetables and fruit grown on the side has evolved into 250+ acres of apples, peaches, and wine grapes. With a constant eye on the future, our family invested time and energy and passion in a winery, resulting in award winning wine and cider lauded across the region. We worked closely with Cornell University, participating in trials of growing systems, harvesting equipment, and integrated pest management. We expanded our packing line facility, with the intention of increasing the amount of apples we sold directly to suppliers under our own LynOaken Farms brand. We employed over twenty-five year-round local workers, providing living wages and steady, honest work to some of the best people in the world. Our work force swelled to triple that number during harvest – working with the H2A farm worker program to bring in hard-working migrant workers who helped get our crop off the trees while stimulating the local economy. And we are so proud of all of those things.
But a series of unfortunate circumstances (deaths of key shareholders, changing consumer tastes, saturation of the apple supply with a decrease in consumer demand, two years of severe weather events resulting in significant crop loss, downward trends in both apple and wine consumption) has forced us into a reality that is difficult to come to terms with, but simple enough to understand. We are not making enough revenue to cover our costs. And you don’t have to be a business whiz to understand that a company cannot operate in the red year after year.
So with heavy hearts, we are doing the only possible thing we can do. We are selling our wholesale orchards, settling debts, and closing the majority of our business.
Are we losing something? Yes, of course. We are all losing something here… we are losing our livelihoods, our ancestor’s lands. You all are losing the apples you loved at Tops Grocery stores and other local retailers. You are losing some of the best wine and cider NY state has ever produced. But 105 years of success and respect in the industry and the region can’t be seen as anything other than a win. 105 years of establishing relationships with our employees, our customers, our distributors is a win. 105 years of providing healthy, delicious fruit to the families of Western New York is a win. And we are going out with our heads held high – knowing we did our best.
We appreciate each and every person who ever was employed by LynOaken Farms and Leonard Oakes Estate Winery. You are the backbone of our businesses and we couldn’t have made it this far without you. We thank all of our fellow growers – apple farming in New York is less of a competition between producers and more of a collaborative effort with a shared goal- selling more New York apples equates to success for all of us. We are grateful for our industry partners – those who supported us and believed in the integrity of our business. And we are so very thankful for our customers -those of you who perhaps spent a little more money to bring home quality fruit and beverages produced locally.
So yes, this is a sad time… but we are reminded of all the good we’ve done the past 105 years, all of the lives we’ve impacted, all of the relationships we’ve established, all of the healthy food we put on tables. And while this chapter of LynOaken Farms is closing, the book isn’t finished just yet. We’re not certain what the future holds, but we are hopeful that this is not the last you’ll see of the Oakes family. We are hoping to be able to keep our property on Ridge Rd, where the Upick Orchard and the Tasting Room facility are. Don’t lose touch just yet! We’ll keep everyone updated as we know.
But for now, thank you for all of your kindness and support during such a difficult time. And remember to buy local whenever and however you can! You can truly make a difference.