Laurie McBride, a familiar face at Wickham’s, takes helm of Long Island Farm Bureau

On busy weekends at Wickham’s Fruit Farm in Cutchogue, Laurie McBride can often be found answering customers’ questions about what’s in season or helping run the farm stand.

Now, the fourth-generation farmer will be speaking for growers across the region as the new president of the Long Island Farm Bureau.

The 44-year-old McBride — an advocate for the East End’s agricultural industry — was nominated for the position last year and started in October. She is the second woman in over a decade to take on the role, following Karen Rivara who served as president in 2013.

“It really is an honor,” Ms. McBride told the Riverhead News-Review. “It kind of validates a lot of my efforts throughout the year, and it really makes me want to make the whole community proud about what I’m doing and how we’re moving the Farm Bureau into the future.”

Ms. McBride, whose grandparents farmed potatoes and other vegetables in Riverhead, didn’t plan on following in the family business. After college, she became a high school math teacher, but said she quickly realized it wasn’t the long-term career for her.

She stumbled upon a more ideal position as a technician in the Suffolk County Cornell Cooperative Extension’s agricultural stewardship program, where she was able to meld her love for both farming and science with her education background. For 11 years, she helped farmers adapt to emerging technologies that became available. During her time at CCE, she simultaneously ran her own flower-cutting business.

After leaving CCE, Ms. McBride became manager of Wickham’s, where she has worked for nearly a decade. When she’s not managing the farm’s retail sales and wholesale stands, she finds peace in weeding and playing around with fruits and veggies — time that she calls her “therapy session.”

“I actually enjoy the challenge of it,” Ms. McBride said about her love for farming. “No two years are the same for growing conditions, growing styles, what customers want, so you’re always having to think and plan and pivot, and it really makes an exciting challenge to it.” 

Tom Wickham, owner and operator of Wickham’s Fruit Farm, credited Ms. McBride for being a “great asset” to the historic 300-acre farm in Cutchogue, which traces its roots to the late 1600s.

Over the last 10 years at Wickham’s, he said, she has become a “public face,” managing the farm stand and added “a whole dimension” by enhancing its bakery section.

Her extensive knowledge of labor law and pesticide regulations has also been helpful to Mr. Wickham, and he believes the Long Island Farm Bureau will benefit from this expertise as well.

“She’s the real thing. She can convey to the public what farming on Long Island is really like, and what the issues are to be dealt with,” Mr. Wickham said. “I don’t know anybody else who I think would be a better president of the Long Island Farm Bureau.”

Her involvement with the Long Island Farm Bureau began nearly 20 years ago with an interest in the organization’s Young Farmers & Ranchers committee. The program works with growers and people in agriculture under the age of 35 and focuses on leadership growth within the industry. 

She joined the Farm Bureau’s board of directors about 10 years ago. Previous president Juan Micieli-Martinez, who was the first winemaker to hold the title, asked her to be vice president for the 2024-25 term. 

Now entering 2026 steering the board, Ms. McBride said her ultimate vision for the Long Island Farm Bureau is unifying the agricultural community. Land accessibility for new and interested farmers poses a significant challenge, especially for younger people looking to break into the business. 

Maintaining legacy farms on the North Fork and encouraging the next generation of these established farmers to carry on the family business has also been tough, Ms. McBride said. 

With development encroaching on farmland in Southold and Riverhead towns, and no signs of it slowing down, Ms. McBride said it is even more vital to have “a strong, unified voice” representing the interests of the agricultural community. 

“We’re not making any more ag land; any land not in production is typically going into housing developments, or even open space, which is taking it out of our food production cycle,” she said. “Keeping food production here and local is a necessary part of Farm Bureau’s mission — this is what we were founded on, to be a voice for local farmers, and we want to have farmers here as long as possible.”

Ms. McBride not only keeps tabs on town code changes that could impact local farmers, she advocates for them at the state and federal level as well. There are two pieces of state legislation on her radar: the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) bill and the Temperature Extreme Mitigation Program (TEMP) Act. 

The TEMP Act is designed to protect workers from extreme temperatures by setting mandatory indoor and outdoor workplace standards, while the EPR bill is more of an environmental initiative encouraging farmers to create more sustainable, recyclable product packaging. Critics of the bills argue that they create unreasonable costs and responsibilities for the farmers.

“We’re trying to get word out to our locally elected officials of how negatively those items would impact our businesses,” she said. “The Extended Producer Responsibility act is something that has absolutely great intentions, but executing it would definitely add another burden onto agricultural and small businesses.”

Long Island Farm Bureau executive director Bill Zalakar complimented Ms. McBride’s diverse background and said her farming roots, passion for farming, educational experience and concentration on community engagement have prepared her to lead the nonprofit’s mission forward.

“The year 2026 is the year of women in farming,” Mr. Zalakar said, referring to the United Nations’ declaration. “It’s so impressive to see the strength the women have brought to this industry and built in here … it’s just such a pleasure to work with Laurie.”