Location: Ancram, New York
Climate Zone: 5b
Size: 30’x90′
Application: Commercial, Community, Educational
Date Completed: 2021
Wally Farms, a 1,000-acre farm business incubator in Ancram, New York, is using its Ceres greenhouse as far more than a growing space. It’s the operational heart of the whole property.
Project Overview
Wally Farms doesn’t operate like a typical single-owner farm. Instead, it functions as an incubator: farmers with an idea for an agricultural business can apply for free land, infrastructure, and equipment access, then use that time to prove out their concept before taking it out into the world on their own.
The farm’s Ceres greenhouse was built five years ago on what was, at the time, an empty field. It was originally designed for a nursery client doing tree production. As the farm’s needs evolved, the greenhouse shifted into a shared, communal resource: any incubator business that needs greenhouse space can use it, splitting up benches and raised beds as needed.
Unique Facility Features
Wally Farms built a few things around the greenhouse that reflect how they wanted to use the space:
A poured concrete slab on the north side turns that area into a maintenance and staging zone. Vehicles and trailers can pull up, plants can be loaded, and the crew always has stable, dry ground to work from, which matters in a rainy climate where the surrounding areas can turn to mud.
A custom-built head house on the west side, built by the client rather than using one of Ceres’ standard inline or north head house extensions. It’s a good example of clients adapting the base greenhouse to fit their own workflow. Inside, it includes a shared bathroom, a “Cool Bot” walk-in cooler built from window air conditioning units (a favorite among farmers for being simple and efficient), general storage, and mini-split heating and cooling for a fully electric, climate-controlled shared workspace.
Overhead doors on both the east and west end walls, possible because Ceres greenhouse end walls are non-structural, so clients can add openings wherever their operation needs them.
Removable insect screens on the east-side intake vents, available for farms that want to keep thrips and other pests out even in a vented greenhouse.
Multi-Use Functionality
Because Wally Farms is working toward full electrification, running electric side-by-sides alongside some gas tractors and equipment, the greenhouse’s role changes with the seasons. In spring and summer, it’s dedicated to plant production for the farm’s incubator businesses. In winter, it becomes something else entirely: the farm’s vehicle maintenance shop, where equipment gets brought in out of the cold to work on.
Educational and Operational Value
For an incubator model built around helping new farm businesses prove out their ideas, that flexibility matters. The greenhouse isn’t a single-purpose asset sitting idle for half the year. It’s a hub that flexes to support whatever the farm’s businesses and infrastructure need next, whether that’s seedlings in May or equipment repair in January.
Watch our greenhouse tour below.
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