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Where does New Jersey rank? The terms truck farming, "Jersey Fresh," and even the slogan "Garden State" would seem to indicate that New Jersey is a national leader in agriculture. However, a quick trip to the United States Department of Agriculture website reveals a very different image of New Jersey. The leaders in agricultural production are California, Texas, Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, North Carolina, Florida, and Wisconsin. On a Northeast regional basis, New Jersey is number three behind New York and Pennsylvania. In terms of exports, New Jersey tends to rank anywhere from 13 for fruits to 28 for soybeans among states for value of agricultural goods. The number one export trading partner is Canada. The New Jersey Department of Agriculture is actively pursuing export relationships with European Common Market countries. The acclaimed Jersey tomato accounted for only 3.1% of national tomato sales and 3.4% of New Jersey’s state receipts in 1995. Blueberries, which were first cultivated in New Jersey, fare somewhat better with 21.9% of total U.S. receipts generated by New Jersey grown blueberries. Greenhouse and nursery stock generate 33.2% of New Jersey’s total agricultural crop receipts, yet contribute only 2.4% nationally. In 1995 New Jersey’s top five agricultural commodities, excluding horses, were greenhouse and nursery, dairy products, chicken eggs, tomatoes, and blueberries. Although the cranberry was first domesticated and commercially grown in New Jersey, cranberries barely make the top ten agricultural commodities. New Jersey is one of five states that has the climate, acidic sandy soil, and wetlands needed to cultivate cranberries on a commercial scale. Cranberry farming in New Jersey has met with stiff opposition from environmentalists who feel that the cranberry monoculture disturbs the biodiversity of sensitive wetlands. Although cranberries were specifically exempted from state clean water legislation, federal wetlands management regulations have tended to slow the development of new cranberry acreage. The unique status of cranberries in clean water legislation is under review. Although agriculture generates $15 billion each year, it is not even the largest industry in New Jersey. According to information on the New Jersey Department of Agriculture homepage, agriculture in New Jersey ranks third behind pharmaceuticals and tourism in economic benefits to the state. How did New Jersey become the Garden State? Abraham Browning is given credit for first suggesting that New Jersey be called the "Garden State" during a speech delivered on August 24, 1876. In 1954, the General Assembly passed a bill to add the slogan to New Jersey license plates. It was vetoed by Governor Robert B. Meyner, who objected to any slogan appearing on license plates. The bill was sent back to the General Assembly which passed it overriding the Governor’s veto. Since it first appeared on license plates, the New Jersey Department of Agriculture has successfully blocked any attempt to change the state’s slogan. What is a farm? The definition of a farm has changed since 1950 when a farm was defined as "a place of 3 or more acres that produced farm products whose value amounted to $150 or more, exclusive of home gardens. Places of less than 3 acres which had sales of $250 or more were also considered farms" (source: New Jersey Agriculture, 1995). From 1954 to 1974, farms were considered as places with 10 acres or more of land producing $50 or more of agricultural products, or a place of less than 10 acres producing annual sales of $250 or more. Since 1975, the sales figure has been $1,000 per year of agricultural products. What are the trends in farming? The majority of farms in New Jersey are small, family run operations. The average farm in 1995 was 94 acres. That’s compared to a national average of 469 acres per farm. The average farm size has varied from 66 acres in 1950 to 124 acres in 1970. Total acres of landinfarms in New Jersey has declined from 1,770,000 acres in 1950 to 850,000 acres in 1995. On a national basis, during that time period, landinfarms dropped from 1,202,019,000 to 972,253,000 acres. The number of farms in New Jersey has decreased from 26,900 in 1950 to 9,000 in 1995. Nationally, the number of farms has also decreased from 5,647,800 to 2,073,320. Although the number of farms and acres of landinfarms have decreased, both in New Jersey and the United States, productivity per acre has increased. According to New Jersey’s Secretary of Agriculture, Art Brown, New Jersey farmers have responded to consumer needs. They grow what the customer wants. "Diversity has made New Jersey strong in agriculture." New Jersey’s key farm commodities are: vegetables, fruits and berries, meat animals, milk and dairy items, nursery, greenhouse and forest products, horses, eggs and poultry, and grain and hay. What’s a typical New Jersey Farm like? Hallock’s UPick Ocean County is a leader in the production of cranberries, clams, and field crops. Just a few miles from Six Flags Great Adventure theme park lies some of the best farmland in New Jersey. Hallock’s UPick, located near New Egypt, is a third generation farm. A sign at the entrance announces that 139 acres of land have been preserved under the Farmland Preservation Act grant program. Hallock’s began in 1949 with 90 acres of land. The family also had a farm in Jamesburg. The stresses of managing two geographically distant farms led the family to sell the Jamesburg land and focus on the New Egypt farm. In addition to the 90 acres owned by the family, the farm included another 90 acres rented on a yeartoyear basis from a farmer across the road. The Hallocks grew hay, wheat, and potatoes on land that had been a farm since at least 1850. As time went by, other crops were added including strawberries. The UPick business started accidentally when someone stopped to ask if they could pick and buy strawberries from the field. Word spread and more cars showed up to pick the strawberry crop from the field. The following year more strawberry plants were added and a thriving strawberry operation began. As time went by tomatoes and peas were planted, increasing the UPick operation to 50 acres. Sensitive to supplying customer needs, brothers Charlie, Bobby, and Doug Hallock experimented with Southern crops such as okra, blackeyed peas, and butter beans. There were some trial and error results as they learned the temperature, water, and fertilizer needs of these new plants. Sweet potatoes and white potatoes were added to the fields. In 1996, Hallock’s UPick offered 37 different crops to consumers. The only crops that are not part of the UPick operation are watermelons, sweet corn, and cantaloupes. These are harvested and sold at the farm produce store. According to Doug Hallock, the best corn comes from Ocean County. He cited the soil as the major factor in the flavor of the vegetables grown in Ocean County. The sandy acidic soil has just the right texture for roots to spread, and it drains well so that root rot is not a problem. The one drawback to the soil is that it must be irrigated. The farm uses several water cannons that spray a 250foot diameter circle with 420 gallons of water per minute. The cannons can water 1200 square feet with 3/4 inch of water in 4 1/2 hours. About 52 million gallons of water are pumped annually. The cannons cool the plants and soil as well as provide water to the roots. A solid pipe set, much like a yard sprinkler system is also used. In early spring, this is vital to saving the strawberry crop from late frosts. A continuous flow of water keeps plants from freezing and warms up the sandy soil that loses heat quickly once the sun goes down. During the summer, the sprinkler system keeps the plants cool. All that water could add to the cost of farming, but the water for irrigation comes from ponds and wells on the farm. The farm sits on one of New Jersey’s best aquifers (underground water). This requires the farmers to be aware of the impact of farming practices on the environment. Pesticides are expensive. Spraying bills can run around $13,000 per month even with conservative use. By using integrated pest management, the farmer can use less pesticide which saves money and reduces environmental stress. A private company sends a scout to visit the farm and to count the population of insect pests. If a population exceeds the normal ecosystem number, the farmer sprays the field. This means that instead of automatically spraying every three days, a farmer may be able to spray at five day intervals during peak months. Soil conservation is also extremely important since the sandy soil tends to move easily in water. The Hallocks have created a system of terraces with raised berms that slow down water and soil. The grassy covering on these long mounds traps soil. At the end of the terraces are grass ponds, large fields of grass that further trap soil. Cover crops are also planted in winter to hold the loose soil in place for spring. The cover crop returns nutrients to the soil. This helps reduce the amount of fertilizer that must be used. The sandy soil lets fertilizer leach into the underground water. Using less fertilizer saves money and reduces the amount of artificial nitrogen entering the ecosystem. Terracing and cover crops are examples of agricultural best management practices. Land speculators saw New Jersey’s population growing and moving into the more rural areas. They began buying relatively cheap farmland in the hopes of selling it later to developers at a profit. The 90 acres of land rented by the Hallocks was purchased by a speculator. They continue to rent it on a yeartoyear basis. Development interest in the New Egypt area has declined in recent years, so the land has not been developed and is still available for farming. The Hallocks expanded their farm ownership from the original 90 acres to 139 acres in 1980. They farm about 300 acres of land and hire about 30 workers. A greenhouse and nursery business accounts for about onethird of their farm income. They stopped going to the farmers’ market as their UPick business increased. It didn’t make sense to pay someone to haul produce to a retail market where it sold at wholesale prices when people were willing to come to the farm and pay retail prices. On a good day 300 cars pass through the checkstand. Unusual products have been added such as corn stalks in the fall. The corn stalks were just waste material after the corn harvest, but customers expressed an interest in buying them for fall decorations. Pumpkins and field corn also became seasonal products at the produce store. Good management skills and marketing skills are needed to stay competitive. Management strategies include crop rotation, planting by row count to avoid planting too much, advertising in newspapers and distributing flyers, and conservative use of pesticides and herbicides. The Hallocks have consistently responded to consumer requests, including bringing in outofstate products when New Jersey produce is outofseason. Sometimes serendipity leads to income. When the farm brought in mounds of large granite rock for a landscaping project, people would pass by the scrap rock pile and ask if they could buy rocks for their gardens. Doug Hallock stuck a sign on the rock pile "50 cents a rock" and found a way to get rid of the leftovers while making money. The Hallock’s UPick received the Agricultural Society’s New Jersey Fresh marketing award. Farm life is demanding. Seeds for the greenhouse operation must be started in January. Equipment needs to repaired during the offseason to be ready for the next planting. The farm day begins before sunrise and ends after sunset. Pesticide spraying for example must be done between 5 AM and 7AM. With farm equipment repair charges running around $50 per hour, the Hallock brothers learned to care for their own machinery. There are constant worries such as late and early frosts, droughts, too much rain, pests carried up from the south by hurricanes and severe weather, pesticide and herbicide management, and produce theft. Crops must be planted and harvested at exactly the right time. Vacation time finally comes in December when the produce stand closes down. Emery’s Blueberries Emery’s Blueberries was established during the 1940s by a North Carolina farmer who decided to grow blueberries in New Egypt, New Jersey. In 1985, the farm was purchased by Dan and Diane Passoff who had been tomato farmers in the Englishtown area. Today Diane Passoff manages 30 acres of six different varieties of blueberries. She has kept the Emery name since it had a wellrespected reputation and name recognition. Ocean County is not usually associated with blueberry farming. That claim is made by Burlington County and Hammonton which calls itself the Blueberry Capital of the World. But the sandy, welldrained, acidic soil of Emery’s is perfect for smallscale blueberry farming. Emery’s operates a farm stand from Memorial Day through Labor Day. Blueberries come into flower in the spring. The plants are selfpollinating. Because most of New Jersey’s native honey bee population has been killed by a mite infection, commercial beehives must be rented to pollinate the flowers. Renting hives is a common practice all over New Jersey. The thirty acres of blueberries require about 50 hives. Emery’s buys back the honey and sells "Blueberry Honey" at their farm stand. Blueberries are relatively low maintenance. They require annual pruning from February to March before the growing season to encourage branching that produces more berries the next year. Pesticides are applied by aerial spraying when needed. Herbicides are used to keep weeds that might compete for soil nutrients under control. Watering is done by irrigation. Blueberries can yield an income of $10,000 an acre with 50% of that as profit. High bush blueberries are the most common type of blueberries grown in New Jersey. There are many varieties of blueberries that ripen at various times from early July through August. July Fourth has become a traditional time to celebrate the start of the New Jersey blueberry season. Emery’s employs local and migrant field workers to harvest the blueberries by hand. Larger operations in Burlington County use mechanical pickers. The blueberries are picked, cleaned, sorted, and packed for sale at the farm stand. Loose sorted berries are sold to Shop Rite through the Jersey Fresh program. There is also a pickyourown operation at Emery’s on the weekends. How do you tell if a blueberry is ripe? It sinks in water. Blueberries are brought in from the field and washed in large tubs. Ripe berries sink, unripe berries float. Expansion of the blueberry acreage at Emery’s ran into a problem with wetland regulations. Land that had been cleared but allowed to undergo succession was designated as wetlands that could not be developed for any purpose. Emery’s currently has 10 of its 40 acres in wetlands. Nut sedge, a plant that has done well along the irrigation channels has become a problem in the blueberry rows. It resists herbicides, dulls the tiller blades, and just can’t be pulled up fast enough. Ringed by trees, the blueberry acres provide easy food for birds who use the woods as nesting grounds. This might seem like a problem, but the bushes are productive enough that they yield enough for the farmer and the birds. Smaller operations resort to using netting to protect the berries. Large operations in Burlington County may actually be contributing to an increase in New Jersey’s bluebird population. The bluebirds thrive in the habitat provided by the blueberry farms. (No, the blueberries do not make the birds blue!) Terhune Orchards When Gary and Pam Mount returned from working in Africa with the Peace Corps, they decided that they wanted to be farmers. It was a decision that met with some skepticism from their family members who felt that there was no future in farming. The first obstacle that faced Gary and Pam was finding the money to buy enough land to make a farm economically viable. Historically, farms are not good financial risks for banks. A farmer’s expenses are mostly up front with money tied up in land, seeds, pesticides, fertilizers, equipment, and employee wages. The revenue isn’t generated until the crops are harvested and sold. A single night of freezing weather at a critical moment can wipe out a year’s investment and leave the farmer with a mountain of debt and no income from the ruined crops. Farmers in New Jersey today, often find themselves with land worth more than what they can produce on the land. This is one reason Gary and Pam’s families were not ready to see them make such a risky move when accounting or some other business pursuit seemed so much more secure. The Mounts found land in the Princeton area on Cold Soil Road. The climate, location, and soil were perfect for an orchard, and it included a mature stand of apple trees. To finance the land purchase, the Mounts applied for benefits under the Farmland Preservation Act. They sold the development rights to 500 acres of their farm to the state. This meant that they retained ownership of the land, but that the land could never be sold for any purpose other than agriculture. A visit to Terhune Orchards is an introduction to many agricultural best management practices (BMPs). Although the BMPs are environmentally beneficial, they wouldn’t be used unless they also provided economic benefits to farmers. Although the farm came with an old established orchard, the romantic rows of trees are not as productive as newer intensive cropping methods using dwarf apple trees. The Mounts added rows of dwarf apple trees that stand sidebyside in straight rows. They produce more apples per acre than the traditional spreadingtree orchard. To control insect pests, the Mounts use integrated pest management. By spraying a specific pesticide only when it is needed, they save money and reduce stress on the ecosystem. To reduce accidental contamination of the soil and ground water, the Mounts built a special shed for pesticide storage and preparation. The pesticides are loaded and handled on a concrete slab that protects the soil from accidental spills. The orchards are irrigated using a water conserving method developed in Israel. A water pipe runs along the orchard rows with a small popup spigot at the base of each tree. When the water is turned on, each tree is individually watered at its base. Less water is lost into the atmosphere and more water is delivered to the plants. Field crops, raspberries, and blueberries are watered using drip irrigation. Long rows of plants are grown through a black plastic covering. Water lines run under the plastic. The plastic keeps weeds out of the rows and prevents water from evaporating. The plastic ground cover replaces the use of chemical herbicides which could contaminate ground water. The Mounts try to control wildlife invasion of their farm with fences and netting. Fences are need to keep deer out of the apple orchards and netting is needed to keep birds from eating the berries. Farmers must expect a few loses to wildlife. Terhune Orchards allows people to come in and pick their own apples and berries. They also run an extensive school farm tour operation. To add interest to the farm tour they have developed a small petting farm with Guinea hens, sheep, goats and other animals. The Mounts have received awards and recognition for their agricultural education efforts and marketing skills. They feel that the open space provided by their farm is essential to the quality of life in an area undergoing rapid development. Pam Mount stated that farms provide open space, habitat, aquifer recharge, and jobs. What’s the bird’s eye view of New Jersey? Airplanes shuttle back and forth between Washington, D.C., and Newark, New Jersey, almost hourly. The low flight on a cloudless day offers a breathtaking bird’s eye view of New Jersey. As the plane crosses Delaware Bay, the first thing one sees is the Salem nuclear power plant. This large concrete and metal structure dominates the flat green landscape that can be seen from the airplane window. As the plane cuts across Cape May, the dark lines cut by the rivers emptying into the Delaware Bay become visible. The water flowing from the Delaware River and the smaller outer coastal plain rivers mixes with the salt water of the Atlantic in a swirl of gold, green and blue. As the plane continues over Salem county, a patchwork of fields and orchards spreads out from horizon to horizon. In early spring, the quilt is a mix of browns and greens, bare fields and budding trees. Later in the year, shades of green, fields of green stripes on brown, and colorful flowers create the illusion of a giant bedspread thrown over the southern part of the state. Around Princeton, a huge sprawling gray development of condominiums jarringly breaks up the green and brown of field and forest. Moving northward, the colorful landscape becomes crisscrossed with roadways. Parking lots, ball fields, and houses stand at the edges of brown and green fields. Suddenly, open space dwindles and every square inch of land seems to have something built on it. Car traffic becomes a steady stream. At night the headlights blur into a white tubelike snake along the Garden State Parkway and New Jersey Turnpike. Tall buildings, sidewalks, blacktopped roads crowd together ending at the edge of marshes and landfills. There the plane lands at New Jersey’s largest city, the Gateway to New Jersey. What will New Jersey look like in 2010? Will it still be the Garden State? Will farms yield to development? Where will the growing population go? You decide. Information Sources
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