New Jersey's $1B agricultural industry threatened

Local farmers and officials have had strong reactions to Gov. Jon Corzine's plan to eliminate the New Jersey Department of Agriculture (NJDA) as a costcutting measure. Corzine also wants to eliminate the state's Commerce and Personnel departments.

The New Jersey Farm Bureau called on Corzine on Feb. 21 to reconsider any plan to abolish the NJDA as a budget-cutting move.

"We all recognize the need to streamline state government," New Jersey Farm Bureau President Richard Nieuwenhuis said, "but this goes too far and will dramatically undercut a $1 billion industry. The New Jersey Department of Agriculture provides vital support services to farmers across the state, and its elimination would be a severe blow to farmers across the state."

The 260-person NJDA is responsible for commodity promotion, animal health inspections, plant disease control, soil conservation and environmental programs, fertilizer testing, emergency food distribution, farmland preservation, agriculture advocacy and securing federal USDA grant funding, among other services.

"The governor wants to grow the economy and this is an agency that is directly involved with the annual growth of cash receipts by our farmers," he said. "The department is custodian of a mission and vision for the preservation of agriculture, and we fear there will be grave consequences if the NJDA is abandoned."

Upper Freehold goat farmer and veterinarian Dr. Joanne Bicknese said, "The dissolution of the NJDA would herald the end of a successful agricultural economy that has existed in New Jersey since Colonial times and result in further erosion of the overall economy of the state."

Bicknese said the NJDA provides critical animal health services that help New Jersey farmers keep livestock safe from life-threatening diseases and protects the public from unhealthy livestock in the food supply.

She also noted that the NJDAhas instituted anti-bioterrorism practices to help protect citizens and is directly involved with the economic development of existing and new agricultural businesses within the state.As an example of the latter, Bicknese said the NJDA worked with Rutgers University to start a meat goat development programthat has grown with the establishment of a model farm and outreach to nontraditional consumer markets.

"The NJDAtook the lead to develop this growing industry so that the New Jersey economy can directly benefit from in-state production of meat goats rather than those sales going to farmers from other states such as Texas," she said.

In addition, Bicknese said the NJDA works in partnership with the U.S. Department ofAgriculture to provide services that protect the integrity of animal and plant food products as well as the environment.

"Without the infrastructure that the NJDA provides, the federal partnership would be severely compromised and New Jersey would become an easy target for terrorists bent on damaging the food supply or infecting people with biological agents via animals, not to mention the impact on the environment," she said.

Upper Freehold's JoanHarper, a trustee of theHorse Park ofNew Jersey and a horse owner, said the abolition of theNJDAwould destroy the state's economy and the Jersey Fresh name that working farmers have made for New Jersey produce.

Harper wants to know what would happen to all of the land currently being used for farming if farmers start to leave the state.