Hilltop Hanover Farm

This can only mean bad news for the Hilltop Hanover Farm project. When government holds “public visioning” sessions, that means they have an ideal. Do they want to sell off some of this land to developers to balance the county budget? I suspect that this farm is on the chopping block, because our local electeds are not tuned into the connection between climate change and food system collapse.

Here’s my public comment: Since most of our Westchester county electeds have not read the 2018 or 2021 IPCC report, I’ll summarize it for you:

The 2018 IPCC report calls for rapid, far reaching, unprecedented changes in all aspects of society.

The 2021 IPCC report states that our predicamant is widespread, rapid and intensifying. They say we are in a CODE RED situation

One of the first impacts of our escalating ecological emergency will be food security. Not just in other countries, but right here as well. We currently source between 30 and 50% of our vegetables from California. The west coast is facing increasing fires and seriously depleted aquifers, it is downright foolish to think that we can continue to rely on vegetables sourced from this region of the country.

Farms like Hilltop Hanover will play a key role in food security in the near future. They should be fully supported by the county. Farms, community gardens and school gardens must be considered essential infrastructure.

And while you’re at it, community gardens should be built on ALL county owned public property. Every golf course and every public park should have a community garden. This will be of extreme importance in the future as the current food system collapses. We are already seeing a sneak peak with supply chain issues.

Relocalizing our food should be a priority for Westchester County. Farms like Hilltop should not have to scramble for funds or fear of having their property sold off to developers. We already have food insecurity that is worse than the national average and has dramatically increased with the ongoing pandemic situation that shows no end in sight.

Focusing on outlets for fancy electric cars while ignoring the record number of private and corporate jets flying in and out of White Plains airport shows me that meaningful action on climate remains elusive in our county. It sends a signal that we will hit irreversible tipping points and feedback loops sooner rather than later, so food collapse system will also happen sooner than electeds are ready to realize.

Here’s hoping we wake up and start focusing on building local food hubs. Double funding for Hilltop Hanover. Put a tax on the fat cats flying in and out of our airport to subsidize it.

Dr. Susan Rubin