When Jennifer Milikowsky finished graduate school, she wanted to tackle a problem that has long vexed New England farmers and environmentalists alike: how to make conservation of forestland not just altruistic but profitable for landowners.
It was a topic she had explored at Yale, where she earned an M.B.A. and a Master of Forestry as part of a joint-degree program. One day, while walking in the woods at the Yale-Myers Forest, she found herself literally tripping over the answer: acorns.
Oaks are abundant in Connecticut and their nuts are ubiquitous on forest floors. While acorns’ bitter qualities make them unappealing as human food, pigs go hog wild for them. Spain is world famous for its acorn-fed pork, considered the finest in the world for its exquisite taste and healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Why couldn’t New England farmers get in on the game?
In 2014, Jennifer founded Walden Hill, a company that partners with New England farms to produce acorn-fed pork that is sold to restaurants and direct to consumers.
The idea was innovative but posed some immediate challenges—how to collect acorns in bulk, for instance, and accounting for yearly variations in acorn crops.
“Someone needed to create a brand around acorn-fed pork, educate people about it and figure out the best products to produce with this premium pork,” Jennifer says.
Walden Hill’s model has three prongs: they collect acorns and supply them to pig farmers; they purchase and slaughter the pigs; and they market and sell the finished acorn-fed pork. It’s a win-win: farmers get a higher price for their pork while deriving value from their undeveloped forestland.
The monumental task of collecting enough acorns—Walden Hill farmers use 100,000 pounds a year—begins with data collection to identify areas experiencing a bumper crop. Walden Hill then drapes huge nets to passively collect acorns or harvests them using machines designed to pick up golf balls from driving ranges. Jennifer’s husband, Tylan Calcagni, who is also her business partner, has designed a sorting machine that removes sticks and leaves from their harvest, vastly improving efficiency.
Walden Hill is currently redesigning its website to enable online sales, particularly of charcuterie—dry-cured salamis, coppas and, someday, hams.
“It’s been exciting to talk about forests and food systems all over New England. And sampling our own product is an added perk of the job!” Jennifer says.
This article was originally published in the spring 2019 issue of Foote Prints magazine.