November 22nd, 2024
By Maya Rappaport
AFT New England Team Spotlight: Max Breiteneicher
Max Breiteneicher is an apprentice conservation planner for Western and Central Massachusetts with the Western New England Regenerative Agriculture Project (RCPP). A farmer himself, Max brings hands-on experience to AFT, helping farmers navigate contracts that provide funding for their operations through the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).
This work is personal for Max. While establishing his dairy and cheesemaking operation, NRCS funding allowed him to build a barn for his cattle, significantly improving the comfort of his animals and the productivity of his operation. Today, Max helps other farmers work through the complex process of completing projects funded by the NRCS.
Read more about the farmers Max works with and the projects they are planning, which will save precious time and resources while contributing to a healthier farm system.
A Brief Jaunt through Max’s Story, with Notable Stops for Cheesemaking and Teaching on the Other Side of the World
Max Breiteneicher’s journey into agriculture started at 14 when he began working on cranberry bogs south of Boston. Always drawn to farming, his career has taken many twists and turns, from decades of growing vegetables to teaching English in rural China. After returning home from China, Max found passion in a craft that combines farming, artistry, and chemistry during an internship with cheesemakers at Jasper Hill Farm in Vermont:
“…I was like, this is it! This is what I want to do! Cheese farming is such a special mix, with the riotous wildness of grazing, and the almost scientific, controlled environment of cheesemaking. The possibility that both of those could exist in an agricultural context was just a revelation to me.”
In 2012, Max and his wife, Amy, purchased property in Cummington, which at the time had nothing on it but an old, broken-down house. Slowly, they began to build a cheese facility, starting with just three cows and no barn. In 2015, Max and Amy received funding from NRCS to build a pack-bedding barn, providing shelter for their cattle. This allowed them to more intensively manage their herd and increase the size of their operation.
Max reflects on how this experience links him to his current position with AFT:
“What an opportunity to be that person for another livestock farmer. It can be invaluable, and it can make the difference between someone being able to keep going or having to stop. And our barn was that for us – it was so hard to manage a herd of dairy cows without any structure! And had I had to keep going with that level of intensity, I would not have been able to sustain it”
Today, Max runs his own cheesemaking operation in addition to working in his role with AFT. Gaining the knowledge he needed to succeed at both of these complicated vocations depended on the relationships Max made with farmers across New England.
Max learned about grazing and dairy husbandry from Mark Fellows of Chase Hill Farm, a “vanguard grazer,” who operated the first all grass-fed farm in Massachusetts in the 1980s. Max’s relationship with Mark and other mentors is part of a continuum of mentorship that has guided him in his role as a bridge between NRCS and AFT as a conservation planner. This has enabled him to successfully help farmers like Rachel and Matt of Meadowfed Lamb, whose story you can read here.
Max fondly recalls conservation planners and engineers Bruce Howlett and Jonathan Cote from the NRCS-MA Office, who guided him through the barn-building process. Their mentorship fueled Max’s motivation to help farmers navigate NRCS programs.
Today, Max and other New England’s RCPP Conservation Planners, alongside the New England team of Implementation Specialists—all current or former farmers themselves—help farmers access funding that can sometimes make or break a livestock operation.
Max, alongside fellow RCPP conservation planners Jennie Kapszukiewicz and Bill Fosher, supports farmers through the entire timespan of a project, from application to completion. They provide guidance, direct support, and help farmers stay on track. Busy farmers in the field might not have the time, resources, or access to technology needed to navigate complex electronic systems like NRCS contracts. With a planner who knows how to work these systems, farmers can access critical funds that enable them to better manage and grow their operations.
For Max, helping farmers make their goals a reality is the most satisfying part of the job.
“Most people don’t get the opportunity to serve other people that much. In dairy farming, I was serving the animals, the land, and people, too, secondarily, through all this delicious cheese. Cheese is such a joyful part of life! But to be able to serve people directly—and my community of practice at that—I just can’t get over it.”
AFT New England’s RCPP, the Western New England Regenerative Agriculture Project, supports livestock farmers in the Connecticut River Valley in adopting regenerative agriculture and conservation practices. It offers multiple streams of financial assistance, conservation planning, education, and advanced technical assistance to producers in the watershed counties. AFT staff like Max, who work in conservation planning, are key to widening the RCPP’s impact through direct, on-the-ground assistance to farmers.
