LynOaken Farms ceasing most of agricultural operation after this year

‘We’ve hit a number of roadblocks,’ family says, citing higher operating costs, lower revenue and weather challenges

Photo by Ginny Kropf: Several members of the Oakes family pose in the tasting room of Leonard Oakes Estate Winery on Ridge Road, Medina, after confirming they are exiting the wholesale apple business and closing the winery. From left are Darrel Oakes and his wife Linda, daughter-in-law Katie Oakes and Darrel’s sister Wendy Oakes Wilson.

MEDINA – An agribusiness with deep roots in the community will be discontinuing most of its farm operation after 105 years.

When Leonard Oakes bought land in Lyndonville in 1919, he made many smart decisions. He planted orchards and vegetables, raised chickens, worked hard and raised a family, in whom he instilled his love of agriculture and a hard work ethic. When Leonard passed away in 1951, the farm was passed on to his four children.

As the family grew, so did their interests, acquiring land on Ridge Road. When they purchased the Ridge Road property in 2004, it was already a controlled atmosphere cold storage and they invested in transforming the property into a winery tasting room and planted a U-pick orchard with more than 350 varieties.

“In 2018 we added a new packing room and apple packing line onto the cold storage that would allow us to expand our brands throughout Central and Western New York,” said general manager, Wendy Oakes Wilson.

The Oakes family also planted six acres and 14 varieties of grapes at their farm in Lyndonville in 2003. This expansion created a winery that opened in 2008, and in 2011, another expansion brought the birth of SteamPunk Cider. Their wines and cider earned awards and were hot-sellers on the market.

Through the years, some of the extended family didn’t want to be in farming. The original four family members left their stock to their spouses and children, many of whom did not live or work in the area, said Darrel’s wife Linda Oakes, who ran the Gift Shop. “They are far removed from the farm operation,” she said.

In spite of making some sound business decisions during the years, there were two things the Oakes could not control: the weather and the national apple market.

“During the last two years, we have had frost and hail, which devastated our crop,” said Darrel Oakes, who was honored as the national apple grower of the year in 2004 by the American Fruit Grower magazine. “In order to keep going, we borrowed money. That is added to the money we borrowed to buy this property and expand.”

But the real culprit was in 2023 when the state of Washington flooded New York state’s market with their biggest crop of apples ever. This caused a 50 percent drop in prices for certain varieties, which means LynOaken Farms didn’t earn enough revenue to cover their costs, said daughter-in-law Katie Oakes, who runs the U-Pick operation.

“With the two years of bad weather, that created the third year of losses, while our expenses increased 25 to 30 percent,” Wendy said.

“At the same time, third-party packing companies were taking much longer to pay for packed apples,” Wendy said. “In fact, we are still owed for four different varieties from the 2023 crop. There is no guarantee of revenue, and no recourse for growers to demand more. In this business you have to be a climate expert, market expert, legal expert, finance expert and accounting expert.”

Darrel also added that agriculture is heavily dependent on labor and those costs have also risen 20-25% in the last five years.

“We’ve hit a number of roadblocks, including Covid,” he said.

Additionally, three spouses of the original four owners have passed away this year and have left their shares to their children. Because of all these events, the family had a shareholders’ meeting in August and made the decision to close down LynOaken’s wholesale production.

With several of the family members pointing out that the farm’s debt load was too large and apple production not profitable, new shareholders believed the time was right to sell assets to pay off their loans and have funds available to pay shareholders, Wendy said.

 “The non-working shareholders have been very supportive of us, but also understood the market and how difficult it would be to carry on,” Wendy said.

Darrel said they have sold all of their productive land, to a buyer he is not yet ready to disclose.

Katie will continue to manage the U-pick operation.

“The sad part is two of our sons and Wendy have to go find a job,” Darrel said.

“I never thought at the age of 58 I would be looking for a job,” said Wendy, fighting back tears. “I thought I’d retire from the farm in due time.”

“We are exiting the production of apples for the wholesale market, and it’s hard to give that up,” Darrel said. “But we are doing it with honesty and respect. We will not owe anybody.”

The Oakes’ don’t know yet what will happen to the wine and cider operation. Customer tastes have changed since Covid, and people are not coming out for tasting parties or a glass of wine like they used to, Wendy said. Next Friday, Saturday and Sunday they will have special hours to sell the rest of their bottled wines.

They are looking ahead to things that will be hospitality and event-based, such as weddings, meeting spaces, private parties and showers, Darrel said

He and Linda came out of retirement to help this fall and look forward to continuing back down that road.

Katie praised the community and their customers for the support they’ve shown LynOaken Farms and Leonard Oakes Estate Winery.

“We have a very loyal customer base who have been very supportive of us,” Katie said. “We hope that will continue.”

She added, “This is one chapter ending. It is not the end of the book.”

File photo by Tom Rivers: Members and some employees of the Oakes family gathered for a photo under the pavilion at the winery on July 21, 2019 to celebrate the farm’s first 100 years. From left include: Dan Thurber, Diane Thurber, Jerod Thurber, Jonathan Oakes, Chris Oakes, Steve Songer, State Assemblyman Steve Hawley, Darelyn Songer, Linda Oakes, Darrel Oakes, Wendy Oakes Wilson, Wanda Oakes, Jeff Oakes, Dawn Oakes and Katie Oakes. Hawley presented the family with a proclamation in recognition of a century in business.