The Peru Gazette

The New York Beef Producers Association and New York Beef Council have awarded the 2025 Environmental Stewardship Award to Ben Wever Farm in Willsboro, New York.

The award, given annually, recognizes outstanding stewardship practices and conservation achievements of Beef Producers across New York. The hope is to recognize operations with a desire to leave the land better than they found it for the next generation.

Ben Wever Farm is a diversified Angus Beef cow-calf operation owned by the Gilliland family and is located within the Adirondack Park — a destination that sees over 12.5 million visitors every year. The 495-acre farm produces beef, lamb, pork, poultry, compost, eggs, mushrooms and honey, all carrying the character of their farmland. Ben Wever Farm believes that truly local food carries the “terroir” (a French winemaking term that essentially conveys character and taste) of the place and the stewards who raised it.

Essex County Farm Bureau President Shaun Gilliland, a US Navy Veteran and retired Town of Willsboro Supervisor and Chairman of Essex County Board of Supervisors, likes to say that the farm is “grass-based,” with the majority of grazing happening out in their pastures rather than feeding primarily hay.

“We’ve been practicing rotational adaptive grazing since 2005. Based upon a belief that trying to develop a farm that’s regenerative means actually working with natural cycles of the environment. We want to be a full-cycle farm, that’s why we concentrate so much on soil health,” said Gilliland.

Gilliland said Ben Wever Farm always looks to the soil as the basis of their management decisions, which translates to more vibrant grasslands and thriving livestock.

“Through regenerative grazing, composting materials, and then using a manure and compost mix to place back on the land helps to regenerate after taking things off of it,” said Gilliland. “We’re giving things back to the land after taking from it. Keeping to the water and carbon cycles in the environment is in the vision of what we want to do on the farm.”

Ben Wever’s ancestors had worked the farm since its establishment in 1829, creating a diversified ecosystem throughout each generation and putting their own management style into the craft. The Gilliland family started with the farm under Ben’s instruction. He taught them about the farm, the work, the animals and the love of the vocation. While Ben slowly transitioned out, the Gilliland family took on more and more tasks until they took the reins fully.

Gilliland was honored to receive the award, but said he was stunned.

“It was very much a surprise to me,” said Gilliland. “I was invited to be on the board of directors of the NY Beef Council, and this was my first meeting. The event was in conjunction with the [New York] Beef Producers Association. We were all having dinner, and they suddenly were announcing that Ben Wever Farm had won the award.”

Ben Wever Farm had previously won the Hugh Hammond Conservation Producer Award from the National Association of Conservation Planning Partnership in 2024. 

“These [awards] have been really, really just humbling, you know, that people recognize this. We don’t feel that we’re doing anything special. We’re just trying to do the right thing. To be quite truthful, the whole community of farmers in Essex County are all in the same mind and pursuing the same goals. It’s great being in this farming community.”

Being in community with like-minded people is essential for small-scale farms. Gilliland said relationship-building and collaborative efforts with agriculture service providers are key to improving the climate resiliency of farms in the North Country region.

“One thing I want to emphasize is that we’ve partnered with Essex County Soil & Water Conservation District (SWCD) and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) closely for as many years as we’ve been on the farm. With them, we’ve been participating in conservation programs that work with the farm environment.”

Gilliland said that Essex County SWCD and NRCS have been fantastic partners on projects and initiatives, and have just finished programs on climate resiliency, composting facilities and grazing management.

Ben Wever Farm is increasing its agroforestry initiatives on the farmland. Gilliland said they’re already doing forest regeneration cuttings to encourage new growth. They’re starting to develop silvopastures, the practice of mixing forestry with grazing pastures. NRCS has been assisting them in identifying and eradicating invasive plants, such as barberry, to be able to implement these forested pastures.

The next step for Ben Wever Farm is giving veterans a second career in farming. Gilliland plans to call the initiative the Corporal Harry Weaver Project in honor of the late World War I veteran who once owned the farm. Their goal is to renovate the original 1800s-era farmhouse on the property to provide housing for participants of the initiative, getting them hands-on farming experience within the region.