Shannon Hayes

- Nationally recognized sustainability researcher, pioneer & author with a deep commitment to regenerative agriculture, small business entrepreneurship and rural community development with book sales exceeding 100,000 copies, over 138 podcast episodes, and public appearances across the United States, Canada and Ireland.

- Twenty-five years’ experience as co-owner of one of the most innovative sustainable livestock farms and farm-to-table venues in the country, as recognized by the USDA. As CEO, quadrupled the farm’s income, created enterprises and revenue to support three generations of the farm family while working almost exclusively within the Northeast regional food and fiber system.

- Skillful educator with experience teaching home-schooled students, high school students, undergraduates, adult learners, and a wide variety of alternative learners in conventional classrooms, hands-on workshops, one-on-one settings, and online.

- Winner of a Nautilus Book Medal for Sustainable Business, and an Axiom Business Book Award.

Radical Homemakers

Traveled the country conducting in-depth interviews and home visits investigating the role of unpaid domestic labor, food production, and do-it-yourself skills in household financial resilience and sustainability. Examined resource use, gender roles and power dynamics, quality of life and economic well-being. This self-funded research turned into my best-selling book, Radical Homemakers: Reclaiming Domesticity from a Consumer Culture, which has become one of the seminal texts sparking the modern homesteading movement. The research has been featured in The New York Times, New York Times Magazine, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Atlantic, National Public Radio, Yes!, Al Jazeera, Katie (Katie Couric) and the national newspapers of Germany, Turkey, Canada, The Arab News and The Pakistan Observer. It has been widely taught in college sustainability and eco-feminism classrooms across the country, and landed me a place as an Appalachian writer of note in The University of Kentucky’s anthology, Writing Appalachia. My radical homemaking research was featured most recently in December 2025 in FoodPrint as a critique of the modern Tradwife and MAHA movement.

Pasture-Raised Meats

Conducted historical cookbook review of pre World War II texts dating back to the 1700s, examining how recipes could be adapted to accommodate for farming practices and locally-available ingredients. Used these texts (and a lot of recipe testing!) to develop techniques for successfully cooking the pasture-raised meats that have become integral to the modern sustainable food and farming movement. Partnered with Cornell’s meat lab to run tenderness tests and flavor comparisons on factory farmed and grass-fed meats. This work turned into a series of cookbooks that have become the go-to resources for successfully cooking pasture-raised meats, as well as workshops that I’ve presented at organic and regenerative farming conferences across the country. Most recently, in 2023 I was contracted with The School of Traditional Skills to develop a 34-part video series called Mastering Pastured Meats in the Kitchen.

Sustainable Agriculture Community Organizing

My dissertation research at Cornell University involved studying the struggles of the then-emerging group of alternative agriculturists that would now be recognized as regenerative, organic, or sustainable farmers. I conducted the qualitative study here in Schoharie County, examining how these farmers worked to be included in the broader, more conventional agricultural community so that they could represent their interests to county government and extension, as well as secure markets for their products. This research inspired me to postpone entry into conventional academia and invest myself fully into my own family’s regenerative farm.

Agricultural Entrepreneurship in Schoharie County

My masters research at Cornell University involved conducting focus groups and interviews with our region’s farmers and agricultural support services, including educators, bankers, accountants, extension and soil and water services, to name a few. The intent was to examine the barriers and opportunities facing a new generation of agriculturalists in our region. This research was eventually published in The Journal of Sustainable Agriculture.

Lansing Community Food System Project

Served as research assistant to Dr. Jennifer Wilkins, a researcher of nutritional sciences through Cornell’s School of Human Ecology. Conducted, transcribed and analyzed interviews on one rural community’s understanding of their role in a sustainable food system. Used the research to assist in the development of curriculum to help students and families better understand what it takes to bring local food to the table, and why it matters.

• ACRES USA
• American Dietetic Association National Conference, Philadelphia, PA
• Citizens Alliance for Responsible Ecofarming annual meeting, Lancaster, PA
• Common Ground Fair, ME
• Cornell University
• Cornell Cooperative Extension Nutritional Concerns Conference
• Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA
• Dublin Climate Gathering, Dublin, IE
• Eno-Terra Restaurant, Kingston, NJ
• Ecological Farmers of Ontario
• Flux Regina, Saskatchewan, Ca
• GRAZE-Fest Alabama, U.S. Grassfed Society
• JUST FOOD- Knauer Theater, Uptown Speaker Series, West Chester, PA
• Mansfield University
• Nearing Center
• New York City Watershed Agricultural Council Farm to Market Conference
• New York State Grasstravaganza Annual Conference
• Northeast Organic Farmers Association – NJ Annual Conference
• Northeast Organic Farmers Association-NY Annual Conference
• Northeast Organic Farmers Association-VT Annual Conference
• Organic Valley Kickapoo Country Fair
• State University of New York at Albany
• State University of New York at Cobleskill
• State University of New York at Geneseo
• State University of New York at Oneonta
• Vermont Grassfarmers Annual Conference
• Virginia Independent Farmers and Consumers Farm-Food Voices annual meeting
• Washington College
• Whole Earth Center, Princeton New Jersey
• Williams College
• Wisconsin Graziers Annual Conference
• Wisconsin Grassworks
• Weston A Price Foundation