A Club that Bridges Past and Future

Not too many organizations last more than 150 years, but the Bedford Farmers Club has done it.

The club was founded in 1851 by Judge William Jay (son of John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the United States) and formally organized in 1852 as a way for local farmers to get together for mutual support and education.

It is still doing just that, said Jim Wood, president of the club. However, now the emphasis is less on commercial farming and more on encouraging the preservation and proper use of open lands, as well as encouraging small farms and local horticulture.

"The club gradually morphed into dealing with concerns about everything agricultural: backyard farming, gardening, open space, and also farming to the extend that is still done here," said Wood. He has been a member of the Bedford Farmers Club, the oldest club for farmers in New York State, for about 60 years.

The first meeting of the Bedford Farmers Club was held in the old Bedford Court House, Wood noted. An early effort by the club resulted in the New York Central Railroad creating better freight and passenger fees on the Harlem Line. The club also held trials of early mowing machines. In 1927, club members celebrated its 75th anniversary with a photo of the group taken in front of the court house. When the club celebrated its 150th anniversary, they did it again in front of the same building.

Wood joined the Bedford Farmers Club because both his parents, who ran a dairy farm, were members. "At that time, in the 1950s, dairy farming was a big business," he said. Wood worked for many years as a stock broker, but the agricultural gene lives on in the Wood family. His son raises cattle, hay, and potatoes in Montana and his daughter raises sheep and cattle in New Zealand.

The club currently has about 80 members and holds five meetings a year; three in the spring and two in the fall. Meetings are often held at member's farms or gardens or may feature either trips to local environmental sites or a speaker. In October, club members traveled to the Westchester Material Recovery Facility in Yonkers to take a tour.

"We are concerned with public planning," Wood said. The issues around protection of the watersheds in the area are important to the members, he added.

There are still working farms in the Bedford-Katonah area, Wood stated, and gave a few examples. Rainbeau Ridge Farm in Bedford Hills sells goat's milk and cheese as well as produce. Hudson Pines Farm in Sleepy Hollow raises pure-bred Simmental cattle. Tanrackin Farm in Bedford predominantly raises horses, but also sells eggs and produce.

"When the Cows Came Home," an exhibit about the dairy industry in and around Bedford, is on display at the Bedford Hills Historical Museum on the lower floor of the Bedford Townhouse on Bedford Road, Wood noted.