GUEST COLUMN
By Charles M. Kuperus
New Jersey recently celebrated a farmland preservation milestone with the announcement that 150,000 acres of farmland have been preserved statewide.
This is an accomplishment made possible by a number of partners: voters who approved a stable source of preservation funding, legislators who created the Garden State Preservation Trust as the financing vehicle and appropriated needed funding, the countless individuals at all levels of government and nonprofits who work to permanently protect our agricultural lands, and the landowners themselves who made the commitment to preservation.
The permanent protection of 150,000 acres of farmland, however, is much more than a numerical achievement. It is a major step toward maintaining a local and secure source of food and other farm products, the character of our communities, the many contributions agriculture makes to our local and state economies, and the quality of life we all enjoy thanks to our long-standing farming heritage.
It is a heritage appreciated by the thousands who annually visit Lee Turkey Farm in East Windsor Township, Mercer County, from the time the first strawberry is picked in June until the last turkey is sold for Christmas. The Lee family has farmed their land since 1868, so it is not surprising that many visitors to the farm are following family traditions begun generations ago. Though it is located within a half-hour drive from the state capital and amid suburban development, Lee Turkey Farm represents not a vestige of the town’s rural past but rather a vital part of today’s agriculture. The county’s preservation of the farm earlier this year, and the protection of many others, will help ensure our children and grandchildren are able to maintain our connection to the land and longstanding family traditions.
The Alstedes in Chester Township, Morris County, are relative newcomers to agriculture, having established Alstede Farms in 1982. Nonetheless, the impact of their farming operation is just as far-reaching. The Alstedes farm about 450 acres of farmland, most of it approved for preservation. They sell their fruits, vegetables and other farm products at their own farm stand and at a number of community farmers markets a total of 17 this year including those in East Orange, Jersey City Journal Square, Elizabeth and Kearny. At these urban markets, vouchers issued by WIC (the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children) and the Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program sometimes account for more than 75 percent of the Alstedes’ sales. For those who are nutritionally at risk and may never set foot on a farm, the Alstedes and other farmers who regularly attend New Jersey’s more than 80 community farmers markets, in essence, bring their farms to them, providing needed access to fresh, healthful foods.
Locally produced farm products also provide us with a sense of security whether it is peace of mind from knowing the farmers who grow the fruits and vegetables we buy, the assurance that the Jersey Fresh label on a package indicates a high-quality product inside or even the sense of independence we maintain by growing farm products that enable us to meet our own food, energy and other needs. When the Food and Drug Administration lifted its recent spinach advisory in non-implicated states, the Jersey Fresh label on packages of spinach grown on Dan Graiff Farms including its preserved acreage in Franklin Township, Gloucester County and on other farms throughout New Jersey helped reassure consumers the spinach was safe to eat.
Our farms contribute more than $857 million annually in farm-gate sales to the state’s economy and are a cornerstone of our $82 billion food and agriculture complex, so by preserving our farms we also are investing in a strong economic future. At the local level, farmland helps communities hold the line on property taxes by typically generating far more in property taxes than it requires in municipal services. Additionally, because preserved farmland is privately owned, it requires no public maintenance costs.
When we preserve farmland, we preserve all these benefits and more. So when we pause to mark the preservation of 150,000 acres of farmland, we are celebrating much more than protection of the land. We also are celebrating the promise that agriculture will remain an important contributor to the Garden State and our quality of life here for generations to come.
Our work is far from over, but we are committed to continuing to work together with all of our partners to achieve many more milestones on the way to realizing that goal.
Charles M. Kuperus is New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture.

