Eh, Who Needs Food?

Farmers worry proposal to cut Agriculture Department could take garden out of Garden State


By Tom Hester Jr.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
1:40 p.m. April 1, 2008


TRENTON, N.J. – New Jersey farmers are starting to worry that their state lawmakers are about to take the garden out of the Garden State.


Gov. Jon Corzine is proposing to make New Jersey the third state without a Department of Agriculture as he looks to slash spending amid chronic state budget problems.


Some argue the move will chase away farmers who persevered for generations while New Jersey grew into the nation's most densely populated state.


“Ultimately, the quality of life of all of New Jersey's citizens will suffer,” said William Griffin, president of the New Jersey State Board of Agriculture.


New Jersey would join Alaska and Rhode Island as the only states without an agriculture department, said Charles W. Ingram, spokesman for the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture.


In those states, he said, agricultural services are handled by environmental agencies, and that's part of what Corzine is proposing.


His administration contends the move would save $4 million by having the environmental protection and health departments take over the agriculture department's functions.


Those savings would hardly put a dent in the state's $33 billion budget and “would send the worst kind of signal,” said Mary Jo Herbert of the Hopewell Heritage Farm.