Staying Jersey Fresh

While New Jersey is called The Garden State, few people across the country and even those who live in the state, would think that it is the home to a thriving agricultural community.

Even though New Jersey is most often thought of as an urban or suburban region, sandwiched between New York City and Philadelphia, two of the nation’s top five largest metropolitan areas, the state produces more than 100 different varieties of  produce products, from asparagus and eggplant to sweet corn and, of course, Jersey tomatoes.

In fact, nationally, New Jersey is one of the top 10 producers of blueberries, cranberries, peaches, tomatoes, Bell peppers, eggplant, cucumbers, apples, spinach, squash and asparagus. According to the New Jersey Department of Agriculture, the state is first in the nation in the production of eggplant, second in the nation in Bell peppers, and third in spinach and tomatoes production.

At the very top of the state’s many farming attributes is the well-known Jersey Fresh promotional campaign, which was started by the Department of Agriculture in 1984. The popular program is designed to remind consumers and the retailers that serve them in the eastern half of the country — about 35 percent of the nation’s population — that New Jersey farming products can reach their store shelves in as little as one day as well as the broad range of produce available from the state.

State farming officials, distributors and farmers themselves are quick to note that trucks from New Jersey can reach from the northern New England states to Georgia in the south and Michigan and Illinois in the west within 24 hours.

Another big plus for New Jersey is the fact that the state has fertile soil and good weather, normally with enough precipitation, from April to early November that allows farmers to produce the wide range of products the state is known for.

But, make no mistake about it, farming in the Garden State is not easy and it is not cheap and it is becoming harder and harder to make a living doing so in the state. Land and labor costs are among the most expensive in the country, and the New Jersey state government is known for implementing among the most stringent — and expensive — laws and regulations on the farming industry in the nation.

The cost of doing business in the state has many farmers concerned about the future of the business. Some have already cashed out to real estate concerns who are replacing farms, especially in the northern and central part of the state, with vast tracts of new single homes and townhouses. Others are simply seeking relief to cut costs and, in the words of one farmer, “keep the lights on while we try to keep the quality of our products at levels people have come to expect.”

All told, the state’s more than 9,000 farms, using more than 720,000 acres of land, register well over $1 billion in annual sales. While the number of farms in the state has declined by about 10 percent over the last decade and experts predict that it will continue to decline in future years, they also say that annual sales from farming in the state should continue to increase through the rest of the decade.