By Maria Prato-Gaines, The Packet Group
Gov. Jon Corzine has proposed eliminating the state Department of Agriculture as part of his 2008-2009 fiscal year budget, bringing objections from area farmers as well as officials.
The Montgomery Township Committee stated its opposition to abolishing the department and voiced support for funding of the department’s essential programs in a resolution adopted Thursday.
Area farmers say abolishing the department will affect every farm in the state and handicap farmers’ ability to market their goods.
The department’s responsibilities include administering the state’s farmland preservation programs; monitoring adequate child nutrition in school and food safety; marketing and promoting agricultural efforts; researching and applying of biological control programs; inspecting and eradicating pests; preventing and controlling infectious disease in livestock and humans; conserving and developing water, soil and other natural resources.
The state’s projected savings in eliminating the department would be $525,000 annually, said Tom Vincz, spokesman for the state Treasury Department.
”All of the critical functions of the Department of Agriculture will continue to exist,” said Jim Gardner, spokesman for the governor’s office. “They will just be in existing state agencies.”
Lynne Richmond, agricultural department spokeswoman, said some of the department’s functions are federally mandated and that it is likely that a large portion of the employees and programs will be shuffled to other departments.
She said the advertising budget for Jersey Fresh also would be cut in half, something local farmers say could hurt.
”Jersey Fresh is one of the most widely known trademarks,” said Bob Von Thun Jr., of Von Thun’s Country Farm Market in South Brunswick. “We depend on advertising.”
After 24 years of Jersey Fresh promotion, farmers could take a hit, Ms. Richmond said.
”The state does export quite a bit,” Ms. Richmond said. “Promotion has allowed farmers to reach markets they couldn’t possibly reach on their own.”
She said a recent study by Rutgers University showed that up until 2000, every dollar spent on the Jersey Fresh program resulted in $5,449. Ms. Richmond said the decrease in revenue could trickle down, leaving related industries like fertilizer companies or farm equipment sales vulnerable.
Mr. Von Thun said he fears the department’s elimination could stunt the growth of large farmers markets with multiple vendors. Ms. Richmond said there are about 100 of these markets statewide.
The department also provides technical guidance to farmers, and acts as a liaison between the produce suppliers and market organizers.
”They’ve worked with communities to get these markets off the ground,” Mr. Von Thun said. “We participate in these (markets) and now we wouldn’t have as many outlets.”
One part-time Monroe farmer who grows a variety of vegetables said his livelihood depends on the success of these markets.
”That’s the only thing we do,” said Robert Balz. “Farmers markets give us an avenue for selling our products and making money.”
Under Gov. Corzine’s proposal the position of the state secretary of agriculture, a cabinet-level post held by Charles Kuperus, would be eliminated. Mr. Von Thun thinks that’s a bad idea.
”To keep our industry sustained we need the position of the secretary of agriculture,” Mr. Von Thun said. “He’s our voice to the government.”
According to the New Jersey Farm Bureau, a nonprofit organization of farmers and supporters, the department is the closest thing to a one-stop shop for regulatory issues, said Liz Thompson, a research associate for the group.
”I think we are worried about the financial implications but also the loss of services and efficiency,” she said.
The department’s elimination may have implications for outside government entities as well and at this point there are far more questions than answers, Ms. Thompson said.
She said that since the Department of Agriculture’s annual convention would be canceled, elections to name which farmers sit on the state’s Fish and Game Council are up in the air.
Another hard function to replace could be the department’s organic certification program. She said it would take two years to approve another department to provide certifications, Ms. Thompson said.
Whether certain contracts between the state and federal government will be upheld or how the state plans to funnel federal funds that would normally go to the state’s Department of Agriculture remain unanswered questions as well, she said.
One Cranbury farmer is particularly concerned with how the change could affect farmland preservation.
”I think the biggest thing is the investment we’ve all made as taxpayers in farmland preservation,” said 30-year veteran farmer Alan Danser, who also is member of the state’s Agricultural Development Committee and chairman of the Middlesex County Agriculture Development Board. “That investment requires the support of the Department of Agriculture in order to remain productive.”
Mr. Danser said the Middlesex County Agriculture Development Board has passed a resolution opposing the elimination of the department and is encouraging municipalities in the county to follow suit.
”Agriculture, it’s an evolving industry and it requires support to stay current and up-to-date,” Mr. Danser said. “It’s a big economic factor in the state’s economy and it doesn’t need a tremendous amount of handholding, but it does need support. It’s absolutely the wrong place to think you’re going to economize.”
The department’s programs that train farmers to accept certain aid checks like senior and WIC checks, a nutritional program for women, infants and children, will be a thing of the past if the department dissolves, Mr. Balz said.
He said this would be financially crippling for newcomers in the farming industry.
”It’s a big part of our business,” Mr. Balz said. “A lot of those programs would just disappear.”
In terms of savings, Gov. Corzine’s proposal offers little financial benefit when dissecting a department with a state appropriated fiscal budget of $26.7 million for 2008, Ms. Thompson said.
”For a $500,000 savings is it really worth demoralizing the agricultural industry?” she said.
Ms. Thompson said the New Jersey Farm Bureau is taking a number of actions to see that the department stays intact including meeting with state legislators, promoting a letter writing campaign and holding a rally at Trenton’s State House Annex on April 1.
