Duncan Hilchey, an agriculture professor and consultant that I first met at Cornell, has worked with Fermata on a recent project in the South Mountain region of Pennsylvania. Duncan’s interest is the notion of Gout de Terroir – the taste of the earth. Duncan’s studies have extended from the green chiles of Hatch (New Mexico) to the grapes of northwestern Pennsylvania and New York. Although the term is most often applied to wines (special tastes only being available from specific regions), Duncan has expanded this to include foods that are placed-based as well (see this two-part report for details).