Tri-Corner Market

Photo by Debra A. Aleksinas, © The Lakeville Journal. Reposted with permission. (left to right): Director of Food Programs Blake Myers & Tri-Corner Co-founder Linda Quella

Our current food system is Shaped by Government policies that favor commodity cropping over local diversified farming, while A handful of corporations dominate production, distribution and retailing. Farmers GROWIng nutrient dense, healthy food On a smaller Scale cannot compete at the cash register with food produced by thIS industrial food system. Until these dysfunctionalities are addressed systemically, those who are committed to equitable food access must invent new models to serve EVERYONE IN THEIR local communities.

We are fortunate to have several food markets in the upper Hudson Valley that are Working to providE nutritious food to everyone regardless of financial means while at the same time offering a fair price to the farmers who grow that food. In this first of a Hudson River Flows series on these community-based models, we profile Tri-Corner F.E.E.D. market in Millerton.

After she left the corporate world in 2016 to raise pastured livestock on a farm in Sharon CT, James and Linda Quella began to reflect on the irony that much of the high quality food she and other local farmers were producing was being transported to markets in the city to feed well-heeled urbanites, when many in her local community of more limited means could not afford to buy it. She founded Tri-Corner F.E.E.D. in 2023 to bridge that gap between local farmers and local eaters.

Mapping A Strategy to Address the Challenge

Quella and Jordan Schmidt, Food Programs Director at the North East Community Center in Millerton, New York, in conjunction with CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute began by conducting a feasibility study to help them map out a strategy for addressing food insecurity in their area. The goal would be to create a farm store under the umbrella of a not for profit that would provide just compensation to the farmers who were producing nutrient rich, soil-healing food in the region, while making that food accessible to everyone, regardless of financial means. Numerous surveys and focus groups were held with community members and farmers to find out where the local food system was breaking down for them. The farmers spoke of the cost and logistical challenges of transporting produce to far-flung markets, and the waste and spoilage that inevitably occurred.

Tri-Corner celebrates its farm partners in visible ways throughout the store.

Community members spoke of the high price of food and distance they had to travel to purchase more affordable food. “They asked us, could we build a system to combat that?” Blake Myers, who grew up in a Central Illinois farming community and became Tri-Corner’s Director of Food Programs in 2024, reports.

Beginning in the summer of 2024, to better understand the barriers to healthy local food access, Tri-Corner operated a pilot mini-market for seventeen weeks every Monday in Millerton’s North East Community Center garden. “We offered a wide range of local products,” Myers says, “with everything sold on a sliding scale.” They learned that the sliding scale was initially confusing to frequenters of the market and also sensed they would have to address the potential stigma attached when a customer felt the need to opt to pay at a discounted tier. They knew they needed to find a way to make it possible for people to purchase at reduced rates that would be both effective and preserving of their dignity.

The question, upon which the success or failure of the Tri-Corner mission would hinge, also remained unanswered at this point. If the financial barriers were removed, would people choose local food? “Sure we could give people money and they could go to Freshtown,” Myers says, “but our goal with Tri-Corner was to support farmers and grow community relationships.”

The Farm Stop Model

When the retail space across the street from NECC went up for sale, Tri-Corner secured a Food Access Expansion grant from New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets to purchase the store. While the buildout was taking place, Myers traveled to Ann Arbor, Michigan, to attend the Farm Stop Conference hosted by Argus Farm Stop, whose mission is “to bridge economic restrictions, transportation gaps, and time poverty to ensure all members of our community have equitable access to fresh, local food.”

Blake Myers visited Argus Farm Stop in Ann Arbor before Tri-Corner opened its doors and continues to consult with this mission-driven store organization committed to equitable food access.

“I was able to tour their stores, and took a kind of crash course on how they operate,” Myers explains. “Over the two-day conference I learned more about the growing movement of Farm Stops.” Tri-Corner continues to consult with Argus and to take inspiration from local, mission-based food store models, including Rolling Grocer in Hudson and The Grocery on Broad in Hartford.

How The Tiered Pricing Structure Works in Practice

Tri-Corner's three tier price system is executed in a way that honors the dignity of all its customers.

From the day it opened for business in June 2025 Tri-Corner has been sourcing as much as possible from local producers and farmers, along with a couple of local distributors. While some farm stops in our area sell only what is grown locally and in season, Tri-Corner has a more flexible model, with the goal of making it possible for people to conveniently purchase all their food needs in one location. “It is important to have the core things that people need produced locally like eggs, dairy, meat, pasta,” Myers says. Tri-Corner is fortunate to have one local hydroponic farmer who supplies the store with what would otherwise be out-of-season greens. But the store does sell staples like avocados, lemons and limes, doing their best to source sustainably.

After much deliberation, Tri-Corner devised a transparent, sliding-scale price system, based on their costs to procure goods. Farmers sell to the store at an agreed-upon price and customers then have three options to pay. The top “green” tier represents a 30 percent markup from the amount paid to the farmer; the second “orange” tier is discounted 30 percent from the green tier (or is equal to what the store pays the farmer); and the third “yellow” tier is discounted by 60 percent from the top “green” tier, representing a 30 percent discount from what Tri-Corner pays the farmer. That discount is supported not only through donations but by those who pay the full price.

When someone shops at Tri-Corner and pays at the “green” or top tier price, they are contributing in a real way to a more equitable food system. As Myer explains: “70 percent goes to the farmer and 30 percent enables someone else to buy who can’t afford full price.”

Registration for the tiers is an easy process. People simply give their first and last names and choose a tier that is comfortable for them. When they return to the store they are already registered and pay at the tier they requested, no questions asked. “Sometimes people will switch to a lower tier if they have lost a job or need to replace a roof,” Myers says. “Or they will pay up to a higher tier if they get a better job.”

Myers offers a fitting relatable analogy to illustrate how food access can be fraught with anxiety. She describes walking into stores during Covid and the anxiousness she felt seeing the shelves half empty. “That is what someone who is financially strapped feels every time they walk into a store because they can’t afford what is on the shelf,” she says. To ease that anxiety, Tri-Corner displays the three tiers of price for almost every item in the store. “We want to avoid the pain points however we can,” she reports.

Tri-Corner’s experiment in tiered pricing seems to be working. Although not everyone who shops registers (this includes both those who buy at full price and those at the discount), by the stores calculation, on average, about 40 percent of goods sold are purchased at the full market price, 20 percent at the 30 percent discounted price, and 40 percent at 60 percent off. In the winter months, when more affluent weekenders or second home owners leave town, the majority of purchases are made at the yellow, 60 percent discounted tier.

Without any margins from the sale of food, the store is operated as a nonprofit requiring donations to support the operations of the store. Quella explains: “In order to demonstrate that a sliding scale model can improve access while preserving dignity, choice and community connection, we have secured enough funding to operate for many years. We hope that this investment will help our community see what is possible when food security is approached as a shared responsibility.”

Recycling Produce in the Commercial Kitchen Minimizes Waste

The store also houses a commercial kitchen, making it possible to recycle produce that would otherwise be wasted into soups and value-added products. On Saturdays, a local baker makes bagels there. In the kitchen, the store transforms wilted kale into grain bowls or soups and freezes unsold mushrooms to make cream of mushroom soup for weekend sales. The kitchen also provides a platform to help new producers incubate ideas and host educational community programs.

Two Supporting Tri-Corner Programs

Tri-Corner also operates two other programs, The Food Sovereignty Fund, and Rooted Resilience for Farmers. The Fund pays farmers for produce and proteins and donates it to three food pantries: The Food of Life/Comida de Vida Pantry at St. Thomas in Amenia, The Food Pantry at Northeast Community Center in Millerton, and the Corner Food Pantry in Lakeville.

Rooted Resilience, provides grants and loans to local farmers. This year it has distributed almost $45,000 to projects like innovations for new crops, expanding season greenhouses and hoop houses, and replacing broken equipment.

Working and strategizing solutions with local farmers continues to be both a gratifying and eye-opening experience for Myers. “I was raised in a rural area dominated by commodity corn and soybean farmers,” she relates. “The farmers of the Hudson Valley are so much more connected to the land and their community. And to be able to provide local food to people who would not otherwise be able to access it is always joyful.”

What Tri-Corner Means to Local Farmers

"I am pleased someone is doing something that works so well in providing a local market for local food," said Stuart Farr of Hudson Valley Hops & Grains, who sells sunflower oil, camelina oil and black beans to the store. “I deliver by pickup and get a direct deposit two times a month into my bank for products sold. It is good, fresh food going to a great cause.”

Frank Grisanzio and Julie McGanney of Little Forest Farm, Ancram, New York.

Mark Stonehill and Miriam Goler of Full Circus Farm, Pine Plains, New York.

Stuart Farr, Hudson Valley Hops & Grains, Ancram New York

Frank Grisanzio and Julie McGanney of Little Forest Farm in Ancram supply mushrooms to Tri-Corner. "I do the drop off and Julie does the communication," Grisanzio says. "It's nice to go to a local market and see other farmers and friends. And to have the flexibility to sell whatever mushroom variety we have, instead of a store saying they only want one kind."

Mark Stonehill of Full Circus Farm, an organic fruit tree and vegetable farm in Pine Plains, notes, "We have a big spike in tomato production in August. Tri-Corner is able to preserve our tomatoes in their commercial kitchen to be used all year." “When it is high tomato season that volume can be hard to sell,” Myers elaborated. “We are able to purchase them and prepare dishes right away or make a sauce that we freeze and can use in dishes or soups throughout the winter.”

Stonehill and his family do their weekly food shop at Tri-Corner, and he notes that it’s not just a place to buy food but to learn new skills, like cheese or sour dough making. “Or you can sit at a table and have a cup of coffee, catch up with a friend or solve a special hand-drawn, Tri-Corner-themed crossword puzzle that a customer created to share with everyone,” he said.

There's a really genuine sense of community forming there. That's worth a lot at a time when people are feeling isolated and disconnected."

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