By Kristine Snodgrass, Staff Writer
WEST WINDSOR — A fourth generation of family farming in West Windsor will continue, with the township’s purchase of the development rights to Appelget Farm along Conover Road.
And under the contract, a minimum of one1 acre of the 10-acre farm will be used for the benefit of the entire community.
The Appelget family moved to West Windsor in 1919, when it was simply a farming community, said Charles Appelget, who still works the land. But after the development of Route 1 and the resulting building boom in the 1970s and 1980s, his father sold all but 10 acres of the 160-acre farm for development, he said.
Mr. Appelget has since continued farming the remaining land, which grows grains, as well as other local plots, he said.
”I was fortunate we kept our ten10 acres,” he said. “I’m just happy we can keep a small part of it because there isn’t that much of it in the township.”
With the township’s purchase of the development rights last month, the family will still own the land, but it will be preserved as open space and farmland forever, Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh said.
Township Council approved the move last month, passing ordinances that authorized the township to enter into a contract to purchase the development rights to the parcel. It also approved a bond ordinance that appropriated $787,500 for the purchase.
The sale was closed Dec. 29, Mayor Hsueh said.
”We missed the boat with the first part, but we wanted to do something for farm preservation,” Mr. Appelget said of the purchase.
Farmers in the past sold their farms off for housing developments because it gave them a good opportunity to retire well from the hard-working profession, he said.
”With a farmer, your retirement is with the land,” he said.
He cautioned that he is in favor of progress, but he likes to see a balance between open space and housing.
”I just like to see open space,” he said. “You can’t have wall to wall houses.”
Kevin Appelget, Charles Appelget’s son, now lives at the farm with his wife. An employee for the state Department of Environmental Protection, he will take over work on the farm, he said.
”We’d love to continue the tradition and see family on the property,” he said.
Mr. Appelget, 35, said the purchase will preserve the farming tradition for not just his family, but for the entire community. He remembers West Windsor when it was more farmland than suburbia, he said.
”We used to be able to see for miles, and see thunderstorms coming across the fields,” he said.
The township Agricultural Advisory Committee and the family will decide together on the future use of the community part of the property, Mayor Hsueh said.
”Our intention is to eventually dedicate the entire property to that use,” Mr. Appelget said.
People are becoming more and more interested in locally grown produce, and may support a community supported agriculture program, he said. Residents would buy shares in the farm and receive part of the produce, he said.
The farm could also be used educationally, by allowing children to tour the operation, he said.
”The fact that they are willing to open that for community use, to me, that is very important,” Mayor Hsueh said.
Staff photo by Kristine SnodgrassCharles Appelget, left, and his son, Kevin, right, represent their family’s third and fourth generation of farmers in West Windsor.

