The state will auction township farmland this week.
By: Scott Morgan
EAST WINDSOR In an effort to maintain farmland space throughout New Jersey, the state Agricultural Development Committee will auction three permanently preserved township farm properties next week.
As much of the state continues to develop, many local governments, including East Windsor, are aggressively seeking ways to preserve some of what’s left. In fact, Mayor Janice Mironov, in her public address at the Township Council’s Jan. 7 reorganization meeting, said open space and farmland preservation are two of the township’s primary concerns for 2003.
The state agrees.
"Preserving our working landscapes is an essential part of building a strong agricultural industry in New Jersey," said Agricultural Secretary Charles M. Kuperus, chairman of the State Agricultural Development Committee, or SADC, in a press release on the farm auctions. "We are pleased to be able to offer these productive lands for sale and to ensure that they will forever remain devoted to agriculture."
To that end, the SADC, which owns the three township farms (and nine others slated for public auction between November 2002 and January 2003), will offer the 125-acre Lenox Farm on Cedarville Road, the 166-acre Cedarland Farm at the intersection of Windsor-Perrineville Road and Route 539, and the 77-acre Cedarland/Krystal Farm on Windsor-Perrineville Road for sale next Friday, Jan. 24.
According to Charles Roohr, agricultural resource specialist for the SADC, the committee purchased these farms in recent years with the express intent of reselling them on the condition that the purchaser use them exclusively for farming. Mr. Roohr said all the township farms are operable.
"They’re pretty decent farms," he said.
According to the SADC Web site, the Lenox Farm allows for one dwelling on the grounds. Mr. Roohr said this means a place for the farmer to live and nothing else. The minimum bid for this farm is $415,000.
The 166-acre Cedarland Farm also provides a place for one dwelling, Mr. Roohr said. The minimum bid is $585,000. The Cedarland/Krystal Farm, which actually is part of the Cedarland property, will be sold separately but has no allowance for a dwelling. The minimum bid is $255,000.
All farms will be auctioned at the John Fitch Plaza, in the Capital Complex in Trenton. Visit the SADC Web site at www.state.nj.us/agriculture/sadc/sadc.htm, or call 1-800-474-5314.

