Produce Wasting Away Amid Middlesex Road Stalemate

Earlier this month, we told you about the farmers in Middlesex who’ve been struggling for over a decade to get their produce out of the village. For years, the roads leading from their farms have been practically impassable. And ever since a large portion of land was acquired by Silk Grass Farms, the need for a proper road has become even more urgent. Middlesex Chairperson Britany Roches says residents tried to open a road themselves, but the effort was halted by the Department of the Environment, even after getting the green light several times. Right now, the proposal is still under review because Silk Grass Farms raised concerns that the road could affect their goods. So, what’s the latest? Roches tells us that villagers were advised to seek an alternative route through Silk Grass Farms, but beyond that, there’s been no communication. Meanwhile, their produce continues to rot.

 

On the Phone: Britany Roches, Chairperson, Middlesex Village

“There has been no feedback whatsoever. It’s like people are not paying interest to the previous Zoom interview that was made and posted on the news because it’s not someone posing in a bath suit or anything, so it’s not relevant to them, but the farmers are still struggling and worse with the bad weather. They have no way to access the farm right now. And then they take really long to reach back there. So two hours walking, right? Their fruits are rotten, their produce is rotten, and I honestly don’t know how else to help them.”

 

Britney Gordon

“If you had to estimate about how much money, value-wise has been lost for these farmers?”

 

On The Phone: Britany Roches

“It would be in the thousands because they have a lot of them that have ginger that is ready to harvest and they cannot harvest it because of the same problem, and usually they would take it out in a hundred pounds sack and they can’t take it out because imagine walking two hours with one sack of ginger that weighs a hundred pounds and then they have thousands of pounds.”

 

Britney Gordon

“One of the main concerns that everyone keeps bringing up is the ness of the proposed road. Do you guys take this into consideration? Do you think that it’s too steep?”

 

On the Phone: Britany Roches

“Yes, it is very steep. However, we worked on it so much that it’s nothing comparing to how it was before. Literally it was a door to heaven. If you are at the middle point, which is the lowest point at the middle of the road and you look up, it looks like the road goes directly up, almost like a straight line. That is how it was before, but now it has a little incline. So it’s really mentally draining, financially draining, because we have to be up and down, losing days of work. , I honestly don’t know what we’re gonna do.”