Agriculture may not be the largest or most obvious of Westchester County’s industries, but it is our oldest. Today, it occupies an intriguing niche that has adapted to changing and often challenging times. As people become increasingly conscious of the environmental impact of their food choices and more curious about the origins of what goes on their plates, many are turning to local farms for produce, dairy, and meat. But with this shift in thinking, why are farms across the country continuing to struggle?
Nationally, farming has been a sector in decline since peaking with 6.8 million farms in 1935. According to the most recent data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), there were 1.89 million farms in 2023, down 7% from the 2.04 million recorded in the 2017 Census of Agriculture. Farm acreage was also in decline with 879 million acres in 2023, down from 900 million acres in 2017. Not surprisingly, much of the downward spiral in national farming is traced to money. The USDA expects net farm income in 2023 to have decreased by 6.3% in 2024 (the numbers aren’t out yet). Due to the difficulty in earning a living as a full-time farmer, many smaller family-owned farms rely on other sources for most of their income.
Back in May 2004, the Westchester County Agriculture and Farmland Protection Plan, published by the county government, noted that only 17% of the regional acreage was considered of prime soil condition, and the land was mostly in Westchester’s northern towns. In the two decades since that plan was released, the number of working farms in Westchester has decreased. According to the most recent data from the USDA, there were 108 farms in Westchester in 2022, a 6% dip from 2017, and these farms encompassed a total of 6,311 acres, a 10% decline from five years prior. Livestock, poultry, and related animal products accounted for 58% of these agricultural operations while crops accounted for 42%. In addition, only 25% of Westchester’s farms sold their output directly to consumers, either through on-site stores or at farmers markets.
Despite the story these numbers tell, Westchester’s farms are managing fairly well, kept alive by strong community ties and a supportive consumer base. The popularity of Community Sourced Agriculture (CSA) programs and farmers markets is on the rise, thanks to residents who value eating locally produced food.
An Educational Experience
The county itself is in the agricultural industry thanks to its ownership of Hilltop Hanover Farm.
“We’re part of the Westchester County Parks Department, so we are Westchester County’s farm, and we are an active farm,” says Adam Choper, Farm Director at Hilltop Hanover Farm and Environmental Center in Yorktown Heights. “We grow all different varieties of produce, and we also grow native plants. We offer educational programs, public programs, and school programs.”
Hilltop Hanover Farm can trace its history back to the 1700s when its primary focus was cattle.
Choper notes that Hilltop Hanover can trace its history back to the 1700s when its primary focus was cattle. However, a little over 20 years ago, the county government stepped in to prevent the farmland from being swallowed up by suburban sprawl.
“In 2003, Westchester County bought this property—it was being sold to potentially become condos,” says Choper, adding that the 120-acre site also includes a wooded area that serves as watershed protection.
Hilltop Hanover sells its crops at an on-site farm stand. Produce includes tomatoes, onions, peppers, watermelons, summer squash, winter squash, eggplant, turnips, radishes and carrots. Residents on government food assistance programs can receive a 50% discount on purchases.
“Our farm stand is open during the season beginning in May to November, Thursday through Sunday, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.,” Choper says. “In the winter months, we are open on the first Saturday of each month from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.” While Hilltop Hanover Farm doesn’t sell their produce wholesale, they do sell their native plants both retail and wholesale.
The farm also donates produce to about a dozen local food access organizations. Among the recipients is Brewster-based Second Chance Foods, which comes to the farm to help collect leftover crops after the harvest and uses the food to prepare hot meals for food insecure people.
Choper says that interest in Hilltop Hanover is on the rise, observing that “we’re seeing more regular and returning customers to the farm stand, as well as people who are just coming to walk around the property.”
One of the key messages that Choper wants to get across to the farm’s visitors is the value of sustainability in agriculture and its impact on the environment. While acknowledging that Hilltop Hanover does not define itself as “a 100% sustainable farm,” he nonetheless stresses the need for modern agriculture to maintain a balance of ecology and economy.
“Our goal is to grow food while doing the least amount of damage as possible,” he explains.
The county has no plans to privatize Hilltop Hanover, and Choper cautions that the farm’s focus would change drastically if it operated as a private sector business.
“It would look very different,” he explains. “Right now, we’re donating 25% of everything that we’re growing—that would obviously be a challenge if we’re a private farm. We’d be prioritizing making more money every way we could, versus offering free programs and free classes and school trips here for a very reasonable rate compared to a private farmer/educational facility.”
A Sense of Community
The Twin Lakes neighborhood of Cortlandt Manor is home to Hemlock Hill Farm & Market, which has been family owned since 1939. The 120-acre farm offers pasture-raised beef, pork, lamb, poultry, and goat that is sold to the public from its on-site market and to local restaurants and chefs.
The farm also operates a CSA program for customers to purchase shares in the farm’s output.
“It is a membership for buying meat in bulk up front,” said farm owner Laurie Silva. “It is a three-month program where we distribute the meat every month for pick up at the store. You get about 10% off purchasing this way and you also get a mixed variety of cuts that maybe you wouldn’t normally purchase if you didn’t know of them. We give information on the different cuts and how to cook them in recipes.”
“I’m a farm boy to start with—I grew up milking cows every morning at 4:30 before school.”
The on-site market also offers a selection of goods from other independently owned and operated farms in the region. “All of the products that we sell in the store are sourced from New York State,” Silva says. “You’ll find produce, honey, dry goods, pasta, crackers, charcuterie, dried sausages, cheese, beer—all coming from within 50 miles or less.”
If there is a drawback to the farm, Silva admits, it is the location—not for topographical reasons, but because of the lack of nearby vendors who can repair or replace broken farm equipment. “We are the only farm in [our] area,” she says. “When it comes to certain farming equipment or machinery we might need, it is not so accessible. So, we may wait longer to get machines fixed.”
Later this year, the farm will be adding a USDA poultry facility that will enable them to process more chickens and turkeys. Hemlock Hill is receiving a federal grant for the equipment—this is one of the rare times it tapped into Washington for financial assistance and Silva predicts the new facility will expand its sales channels. “We will be able to open up doors for wholesale, maybe get these birds into some small markets like DeCiccio & Sons or Whole Foods and more restaurants,” she says.
A Sweet Story
White Oak Farm, the 24-acre Yorktown Heights-based agricultural operation is Westchester’s last remaining commercial maple syrup producer. The farm’s 2,400 trees process roughly 50,000 gallons of sap every season and produce about 800 gallons of maple syrup per year.
“We’re also the southern-most commercial producer in the state of New York,” says Bri Hart, who acquired the property in the mid-1970s. “I’m a farm boy to start with—I grew up milking cows every morning at 4:30 before school. I ran a 500-acre farm in the northeastern part of Connecticut, and I was just fortunate enough to find a very remote piece of property in Westchester County. This one fit the bill for me. Westchester has a large number of sugar maple trees, and Yorktown is just loaded with sugar maples. As we’re the only producer in the county, this makes us really the only one to go to if you want truly local maple syrup.” In addition to syrup production, White Oak Farm is also home to beehives that produce 400 pounds of honey annually—Hart sells his products to the public year-round from the farm’s store.
In establishing White Oak Farm, Hart faced several challenges. “[One] challenge was to be [recognized] as a legitimate farm, which we did through the Farm Bureau,” Hart says. “We became a member of the Westchester County Agricultural District, and we became recognized by the town as a farm; we became a legal entity with an LLC. The second challenge was to accumulate equipment and pay for that equipment through loans and different types of payments. And the third challenge was to get a get a customer base—any new business takes a while to get a customer base, which we did quite quickly.”
Hart adds that the only government support he has received was a pair of USDA grants during the Obama administration that were used to purchase larger equipment for making syrup. As White Oak Farm’s reputation grew, Hart says, the operation became financially self-sufficient.
Many of Hart’s biggest issues with the farm have come from forces beyond his control.
“Any farm is at the mercy of the weather, especially when making maple syrup,” he explains. “Maple syrup is totally weather dependent. If it warms up too early in the season, we lose $10,000 to $20,000 of maple syrup. Unfortunately, that’s what’s been happening over the last couple years. We have had very early springs—sometimes hitting 70 degrees in March.”
But when Mother Nature is cooperative, Hart insists his sugar maple trees produce the syrupy equivalent of liquid gold. “Our maple syrup is delicious,” he says. “It’s all natural—we put a lot of time into making sure that everything is clean, and no chemicals are added. The taste of syrup is dependent on what part of the country it comes from—the climate and the geology of the land affects the flavor. Our very remote location here on Turkey Mountain, one of the highest points in Westchester, contributes to that—it is a very secluded, clean, organic kind of area that is free of pollution. As a result, our syrup is just clean and clear and delicious.”
A Cider Celebration
Another Westchester farm focused on a single crop is Thompson’s Cider Mill and Orchard in Croton-on-Hudson. But unlike Hart who grew up on a working farm, Geoff Thompson came into agriculture due to a sense of monetary urgency during his twenties.
“I was a reporter and I made very little money,” he recalls. “So, I took a position at a nature center called the Tea Town Lake Reservation, which is in Yorktown. They offered me a job there as a part-time Jack-of-all-trades kind of person. The exchange was rent—I got my house for free, so I worked 50 hours a month.”
One of Thompson’s duties was to operate an antiquated cider press. He was amazed at the taste of the cider he produced—far different from the packaged apple juice he was used to. He remembers the cider he created tasted like “the nectar of the gods.” Thompson managed to secure funds to buy his own hand-operated cider mill to sell cider locally, although that strategy had a major disadvantage. “It was becoming very arduous to have to keep making this stuff by hand,” he laughs. “Oh, I was probably in the best shape of my life, better than going to the gym.”
Fast-forward a bit and Thompson eventually secured a mechanized cider mill and acquired an overgrown piece of property bordering the Tea Town Lake Reservation that was once an orchard. Over a 20-year period, he planted trees for all the heirloom apple varieties. In retrospect, Thompson says growing the apples was easier than initially selling cider.
“I offered it wholesale, and I picked up three local markets,” he recalls. “But they started calling me every two days needing more cider. I was delivering in the morning on my way into work, and it got to be so crazy—they’d call me at night saying, ‘Hey, we need 25 half gallons tomorrow morning.’ And so, I would run out and try to make it.”
Today, roughly a half-century later, Thompson’s sells its cider—both traditional and hard cider—to the public on weekends from mid-September into December.
During his years at the orchard, Thompson only needed to tap into federal assistance once to keep operations going, and that was a loan during Covid that he quickly paid back. Today, he works with up to 30 varieties of apples for his ciders and credits the Westchester topography for enabling the rich selection.
“I use the term terroir—it’s a French term you’ve probably heard used when describing where wine grapes grow,” he explains. “It’s a combination of the soil, the sunlight, the humidity, and various natural factors that can contribute to the growth of a plant. To me, the terroir of the Hudson Valley is perfect for apple growing. You’ve got humidity, and on the top of my hill the soil is maybe two and a half feet deep while the bottom is maybe seven feet deep. That soil has qualities and properties to it that seem to just be perfect for apple growing. So, I’m very happy to be a grower in the Hudson Valley.”
The Next Crop of Farmers
Thompson views himself as a link between the county’s agricultural past and present. But he ruefully acknowledges that too much of the past is gone forever. “If you look at an aerial photo of Northern Westchester in the 1930s, there were apple orchards everywhere—it was unbelievable,” he says. “Now we’re down to Outhouse Orchards [in North Salem], Harvest Moon Farm & Orchard [in North Salem], and Stewart’s Orchards [in Granite Springs]—those are the only commercial orchards left in Westchester, other than mine.”
Thompson theorizes that many people moved away from farming because it requires hard work and lacks instant gratification. “It’s not a get-rich-quick scheme,” he says. “Regardless of what you do, it’s seasonally focused. So, I always say to people that I’m reasonably intelligent in September, I’m a genius in October, fairly intelligent in November, and an idiot in December to stay out because it’s so damn cold. It’s a challenging business to be in as a full-time sustainable business.”
However, despite the obvious difficulties, David Kvinge of the Westchester County Department of Planning has seen what might be a new chapter in regional farming that came about through a once-in-a-lifetime crisis. “During the pandemic, people were starting to look at different ways to make money, either as a side gig or, ultimately, as a new profession. They were looking at agriculture, especially a lot of the younger generation because it ticks off a lot of the boxes on being better connected with nature, lowering impact on the environment, and the reward of providing fresh produce and other products to people who really desire them and need them.”
Of course, to pursue a business in farming you need land. The Westchester County Agricultural District is scheduled to be recertified again this year, and it is asking farmland owners to complete an online survey so they can be included in the recertified district. Depending on the number of responses, additional municipalities may be sanctioned for inclusion as new farmland.
“If you look at an aerial photo of northern Westchester in the 1930s, there were apple orchards everywhere—it was unbelievable.”
But while the limited amount of traditional farmland for sale might seem to be an obstacle for those seeking start-up agricultural opportunities, Kvinge says that the county government is beginning to look at urban agriculture to expand local farm production. He also cites the potential of duplicating the successful endeavors in New Jersey, where defunct industrial properties were transitioned into fertile agricultural operations. However, he adds that this concept is still in the research phase.
Despite a modern world where most of the population would rather stroll the aisles of a supermarket for their food, Westchester’s agribusinesses remain resilient. There is a growing sense of optimism for what’s to come, as many of our farms continue to innovate, expand, and change, with the potential for new business practices on the horizon. We as consumers have the opportunity to not only be more conscious of where our meals come from, but to continue to support these local businesses and encourage others to do so as well. With collaboration, creativity, and a commitment to progress, the future of Westchester’s agriculture will continue to nourish generations to come.
Related: These Hard Ciders Are Crafted in Westchester County
