Cranbury’s own Don Patterson named Farmer of the Year

Don Patterson was named the Farmer of the Year. He was selected for the award by the Middlesex County Board of Agriculture. Mr. Patterson has been a farmer for 32 years. For him, it’s something that runs in his blood. At age 55, Mr. Patterson shows no signs of slowing down.

By:Craig Sernotti

"photo"
The
wind blows through Donald patterson’s hair and through his fields.

Staff


photos by John Keating

"photo"
Mr.


Patterson Works the control panel for the center pivot irrigation
system.

"photo"
The


soy fields are irigated durring gay periods.

   Donald Patterson’s house is a half-mile back from Plainsboro Road.
   In-between are a thousand acres of corn and soy beans.
   It is in these quiet and serene fields of crops that Mr. Patterson makes his living.
   "You have to like it to do it," he said. "I enjoy it."
   During much of the year, Mr. Patterson wakes early to work in the fields. Sometimes he climbs into one of his four large tractors and works the land. Or he spends the day irrigating the crops, sometimes on and off until 11 or 12 at night. Or he works on maintenance jobs around the farm.
   It is for this dedication that Mr. Patterson was named the Farmer of the Year at the County Fair Monday.
   "I really appreciate this," he said. "I am very grateful. Thank you."
   He was selected for the award by the Middlesex County Board of Agriculture.
   "I’m glad I was nominated for the position," he said. "It’s a compliment. It’s your peers, your fellow farmers, that put you up for this, so it certainly means something."
   At the of age 5, Mr. Patterson moved from Yardley, Pa., to Cranbury. In 1979 he and his wife purchased the Plainsboro Road farm.
   For 32 years, Mr. Patterson has been a farmer. For him, it’s something that runs in his blood.
   "My grandfather was a farmer, my father was a farmer," he said. "In a lot of ways things haven’t changed."
   Mr. Patterson farms the land full time with the help of his wife, Linda, and their sons Mike and Tom.
   "They are both grown up and have off-farm jobs and they help on the weekends," he said.
   The corn and soy beans grown and collected on the farm are sent to mills in Pennsylvania and Maryland. It is then processed and becomes chicken feed for companies such as Perdue chicken.
   Mr. Patterson is a member of the Middlesex County Board of Agriculture and the Cranbury Zoning Board of Adjustments.
   He also has a spinach business, A.H. Lowe & Son, with two other Cranbury farmers, Harvey Davison and Robert Barnes. The spinach is on other owned and leased land, all in Cranbury Township.
   At age 55, Mr. Patterson shows no signs of slowing down.
   "I don’t think Don has any notions of ever retiring," Ms. Patterson speculates.
   But years from now, whenever he does, Mr. Patterson said the farm will be given to his sons.