Black Squirrel Farms Receives 2026 Manufacturing Business of the Year Award

Press Release originally posted on the SBDC Facebook page.

Celebrating Black Squirrel Farms, the SBDC 2026 Manufacturing Business of the Year!

The New York Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Manufacturing Business of the Year recognizes a business using innovation and manufacturing to create new opportunities for growth. Earlier this week, the Annual Client Awards Roadshow stopped in Penn Yan, where Black Squirrel Farms and Sara Tyler were recognized with this year’s award.



Black Squirrel Farms has found opportunity in an underused natural resource: black walnuts. The business processes locally collected walnuts into value-added products, including walnut oil, granola, soaps, and BBQ smoking chips, while building a regional collection network that supports its manufacturing and provides local property owners with a new outlet for harvested nuts.



Following this week’s celebration, our State Director Sonya Smith shared, “This is what entrepreneurship and manufacturing innovation look like. Small manufacturers don't simply make products. They solve problems, create new markets, strengthen local supply chains, and find opportunities where others may not have thought to look.”

Black Squirrel Farms has worked with Jean Carolus, Assistant Director and experienced Business Advisor at the Southern Tier Small Business Development Center hosted by Binghamton University, as the business continues to explore new opportunities for growth. That includes collaboration with Cornell around expanded food-grade processing, building on a model that brings together agriculture, manufacturing, sustainability, and a distinctly regional supply chain rooted in New York’s Finger Lakes and Southern Tier.



Thank you to everyone who joined us at Black Squirrel Farms to celebrate Sara, the Black Squirrel Farms team, and this achievement!



Among those who joined us to recognize Black Squirrel Farms were:
• Virginia Smith, U.S. Small Business Administration
• Ed Hickey, Office of Representative Claudia Tenney
• Liam McMahon, Southern Tier SBDC Regional Director
• Robin Alpaugh, Southern Tier SBDC Business Advisor
• Sara Tyler, the Black Squirrel Farms team, industry partners, and community supporters

Congratulations again to Sara Tyler, the Black Squirrel Farms team, Jean Carolus, and the Southern Tier SBDC on this well-deserved recognition!

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The New York Small Business Development Centers is hitting the road for its 2026 Annual Client Awards Roadshow — a statewide celebration honoring standout small businesses and entrepreneurs from across New York.

This year's honorees were chosen from more than 27,000 small business clients the NY SBDC served over the past year. Rather than one big ceremony, the Roadshow brings the celebration straight to local communities, with events held at various locations including many right at the clients' own businesses. Each stop gathers elected officials, business leaders, SBDC staff, host institution leadership, and the honorees' friends, family, and community to celebrate their success and the real impact of the SBDC network close to home.