How does a farm survive if it decides, from day one, never to sell anything? Sky High Farm's (SHF) answer: start an entirely separate apparel company to fund it.
Located in New York's Hudson Valley, about a two-hour drive north of the city, SHF began as a grassroots project in 2011 before transitioning into a nonprofit five years later. By 2023, the farmland had expanded to 560 acres—roughly twice the size of the Tokyo Imperial Palace grounds. Its operating logic is simple yet radical: every crop grown and every animal raised is given away 100%, with nothing entering the market and no revenue in sight. Last season alone, SHF donated about nine tons of fruits and vegetables, 2.7 tons of chicken and beef, and 4,180 dozen eggs, all delivered directly to local food-relief organizations.
Founder Dan Colen was a highly successful visual artist in the mid-2000s. He later came to realize that while art could raise social questions, it couldn't actually solve them—so he turned to farming instead. Beyond SHF, he founded a separate apparel-focused company, using its profits to sustain the farm's operations. This "fashion funding agriculture" financial structure is far rarer than a simple charitable-donation model. Describing how his creative practice has evolved alongside SHF, Colen says it no longer "belongs to any existing category of art."
More Than Just Giving Away Vegetables: It's About "Food Sovereignty"
SHF's ambitions go beyond simply donating surplus produce. Its goal is "food sovereignty"—empowering people to decide for themselves how food is grown, distributed, and consumed, rather than passively accepting whatever the existing food supply system offers. The farm practices regenerative agriculture, which prioritizes soil health and nutritional value over yield efficiency, and has built its own cold-chain logistics to deliver certified organic produce and livestock products directly to suburban and urban low-income communities that typically can't afford such food.
Even what gets planted is carefully considered: SHF grows crops tailored to the culinary traditions of the communities it serves, favoring open-pollinated and heirloom varieties that can be seed-saved, rather than relying on supply from large seed companies. Cattle, sheep, and semi-free-range chickens on the pasture provide meat and eggs, but they also play a role in soil regeneration and pest management—functioning as an integral part of the farm's ecosystem.
In recent years, SHF has also expanded into supporting new farmers—offering an incubator program that includes housing, land, and equipment—while providing roughly 82 million yen in grants to organizations promoting "access to quality food for all," alongside environmental art and food education initiatives. From spring through fall, the farm opens its doors once a month for volunteer days, where participants can help out in the fields and join farm tours to learn how the whole system works.
Current information about SHF's operations is centralized on its official website, skyhighfarm.org. Details such as the specific breakdown of donation allocations and the actual scale of the apparel company were not covered in the available materials.
