| In terms of market prices, the remaining New Jersey farms are seemingly coveted by developers for their prime real estate, and the price of land, if sold, often yields a higher profit than having the land remain as a farm. This is part of the reason that the state subsidizes some of the farms still remaining, that is, to make up for lost cost if the land was on the market. As Hopeful put the cost in perspective in an August 2006 Blue Jersey diary:
Farmland preservation needs to happen now based on what I see driving north, and with what still are low long-term interest rates available the bond option seems favorable. Our local economy depends on farming.
This is one reason why it is vital that the open space preservation bill passed this month, though even that bond provides only $450 million to buy up every available parcel of open space and farmland in the state - not nearly enough. Many farms, such as Johnson Farm in Medford, can possibly make the transition into a large-scale commercial/family farm, but farmland will continue to be snatched up by private developers who see that available land as a marketable commodity unless more funds and better regional approaches to farmland preservation is taken. In the next town over from me, Cherry Hill, only one remaining farm, Springdale Farms, out of over 80 farms in the 1930s, remains; and the workers there with whom I've spoken are somewhat pessimistic about it remaining a farm in the future.
Two solutions involve issues of taxation and assistance from the federal government. Springdale Farms - and I'm only using South Jersey farms as my point of reference, but these issues apply to Central and North Jersey farms, too - is currently taxed not as farm space, but as commercial space, from what I understand, making it harder for those farms to pay the higher level of taxation for commercial rather than agriculture business. Tax breaks need to be given to farmers in the state, both by local communities where these farms remain and on the level of state taxation; of course, it would be dishonest to mention this without clarifying that this would mean more of a tax burden on the local community and state residents, since the revenue lost from tax breaks, despite what Republicans may argue, doesn't come out of thin air.
A second step that needs to be taken is that the federal government, in its subsidies and tax breaks to farmers, needs to give financial assistance to New Jersey farmers, and the Lautenberg-Lugar bill in the senate, part of the overall Farm Bill, needs to be pushed forward rather than postponed. The new bill would provide direct relief to New Jersey's fruit and vegetable growers, since:
6 percent of the nation's farmers get 70 percent of federal subsidies for commodity crops. Those are grown mostly in California, the Midwest and the South, and most New Jersey farmers don't qualify for them. Besides supporting this new Farm Bill, each of us should do everything possible to buy directly from New Jersey farms, either at farmer's markets or at their stores, should they have them.
Of course, besides land value, farmers often face the wrath of Mother Nature, whether it is in the form of the eastern drought that has caused Monroeville farmers to have to file for federal disaster relief or the recent spinach scare that hurt New Jersey farmers, one of the largest spinach-producing states in the nation.
I don't mean to paint a pessimistic picture of the future of New Jersey farms, and obviously some good measures, such as the Lautenberg-Lugar Farm Bill, are hopefully going to move forward. Our current governor grew up on a farm in Illinois, so he is especially attuned to agricultural interests; and, as Blue Jersey has noted in its interview with Agricultural Secretary Kuperus, we have a responsive, aware representative for farming interests in Trenton. But with the emphasis on urban issues, and the possible election of a certain mayor from Newark after Corzine, will New Jersey farming interests remain at the forefront of the state's collective consciousness? I remain part pessimistic, part hopeful. New Jersey, a state that has terrific peach crops, horse farms, spinach crops, blueberry and cranberry bogs, and other such agricultural gems, needs to do everything possible to preserve and maintain its remaining farms. |
