Bedford Hills, NY—Westchester Land Trust (WLT), a nationally accredited land conservation nonprofit headquartered in Bedford Hills, NY has been awarded a $42,000 grant from the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets (NYSDAM) as part of the SNAP-Ed Community Growers Grant Program. The funds will support WLT’s food pantry farm garden at its Sugar Hill Farm headquarters, as well as the organization’s food justice efforts.

“Access to healthy, nutritious produce is crucially important for everyone and this grant will help support our efforts to address food insecurity and improve local food systems,” said Kara Whelan, president of Westchester Land Trust. “Growing food for our neighbors and learning how to best meet their needs makes all of our communities stronger and more sustainable. We’re grateful to NYSDAM for supporting Westchester Land Trust’s food pantry garden”

WLT has partnered with local food banks since 2012 to grow and distribute over 79,000 servings, an average of 8,000 servings annually, of fresh produce to local families in need in Westchester. The land trust currently grows food for thirty-eight communities in northern Westchester through the Community Center of Northern Westchester (CCNW) and in southern Westchester, the 7th Day Adventist food panty and soup kitchen in Mount Vernon. The demand for fresh, nutritious produce has increased greatly over the past several years, with CCNW reporting a 75% increase in the number of children needing assistance from 2022 to 2023.

“Expanding our garden program will help us better meet the urgent need for food in our communities, particularly in Westchester’s urban centers,” said Ruby Olisemeka, director of urban engagement at Westchester Land Trust. “By growing more food at Sugar Hill Farm, we’re able to feed the people who need it most and supply fresh, nutritious vegetables, fruits, and herbs to our local food systems. My department is specifically interested in supporting smaller food pantries with strong community connections that desire fresh fruits and vegetables but require additional organizational capacity to compete for substantial grant funding to stock the pantry.”

WLT’s Bedford Hills-based farm is managed by Allison Turcan, founder of DIG Farm, who oversees WLT staff and teams of dedicated volunteers as they plant, weed, harvest, and package the food grown at Sugar Hill Farm, and deliver it to distribution partners where it’s given to over 10,000 low income, food-insecure individuals a year, including more than 3,000 children. Volunteers of all ages and abilities join with Allison twice weekly during the growing season to tend the gardens at Sugar Hill Farm. The program is open to all.

The grant will allow WLT to continue to expand the growing capacity of the gardens at Sugar Hill Farm to meet the increased need for produce, adapt to the pantry clients’ desire for greater food variety, and leverage existing farm infrastructure to reduce the cost per serving of produce. With an emphasis on food justice and sovereignty, WLT’s team works closely with distribution partners to identify the crops and produce favored by families receiving the food to ensure that those in need are part of the solution and the process of food selection. WLT plans to coordinate and host two cooking demonstrations to share healthy eating practices and provide hands-on experience with cooking techniques.

In addition to growing food, WLT emphasizes the importance of protecting farmland from the risk of development, with approximately 20 percent of the more than 9,250 acres that WLT has preserved being agricultural lands. WLT works with local farmers and landowners to facilitate farmland match opportunities and is also exploring ways to put land into production for urban and non-traditional farms.

We acknowledge that our region is within the traditional territories of the Lenape people and that their culture and traditions live on today. We strive to incorporate the priorities from Indigenous Peoples and underserved community members into our land conservation practices.