N.J. Could Ax Entire Ag Department

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Another creative way to solve the anti-raw milk bias in state government

agencies... :-)

http://lancasterfarming.com/node/1121

N.J. Could Ax Entire Ag Department

Submitted by Editor on Fri, 02/29/2008 - 1:41pm.

Farm Bureau President: NJDA ‘Touches All Citizens’

Cranston

New Jersey Correspondent

New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine this week announced his 2008 budget proposal

to lessen the state’s $32 billion debt. In mid-February the governor

indicated that no state programs were off limits for budget cuts and

elimination. Included in the list of state departments that could be done

away with is the New Jersey Department of Agriculture (NJDA).

Headed by Secretary Kuperus, the NJDA runs programs that deal

with soil, water and land use issues, as well as resource and

conservation education. The department also protects and monitors

livestock for disease and other threats, provides child and adult food

programs and emergency food assistance, and protects New Jersey from

invasive plants and pests like the gypsy moth. The department also

manages the state’s farmland preservation program.

The state Farm Bureau defended the importance of the department and is

lobbying to keep it intact.

“(The NJDA) touches all citizens in N.J.,” said Nieuwenhuis,

president of New Jersey Farm Bureau. “I mean that very seriously. In a

state like New Jersey, the department of agriculture is more than a

cabinet position. It’s a part of our farmers’ lives.”

Losing the NJDA would significantly affect the confidence New Jersey

farmers have in their state and if they lose the support structure, many

will leave, he said.

“Closing the NJDA saves the state budget very little money, since most of

its vital services will need to be transferred to other state agencies,”

Nieuwenhuis said in a statement this week. “After all the essential

functions are reassigned, this could mean a savings of as little as

$300,000 or $400,000.

“We feel very strongly that this is unjustified and an error in judgment,

let alone being hugely demoralizing to everyone in agriculture,” he said.

“NJDA has always been an exceptional agency, which operates efficiently

and delivers vital support services to the farming community, as well as

to the public.”

Farmers enjoy significant public support in the Garden State. A

NJFB-sponsored survey on farming in New Jersey, conducted by Fairleigh

Dickinson PublicMind, revealed that residents prefer locally grown fruits

and vegetables to produce from out of state.

Another disadvantage of losing the department, according to Nieuwenhuis,

is that many of the NJDA’s state programs are matched by federal dollars.

“If the state programs aren’t there, the federal money isn’t there,” he

said. “I don’t think that the administration has really looked at the

program and what it provides to the state.”

Nieuwenhuis predicted that there’s a 50-50 chance chance that the ag

department will be eliminated, but added that the NJFB has been on the

phones contacting legislators on both sides of the aisle and finding

substantial support.

“Some legislators that we have already talked to are saying, ‘No way,

this will never happen,’” Nieuwenhuis said. But stranger things have

happened in politics, he added.

The fact remains that the state is millions of dollars in debt and the

money to pare down that debt has to come from somewhere. Other

possibilities offered by the governor’s office include toll increases and

cutting property tax rebates, and neither option has been received

particularly well by the populace.

As of the Friday, before Corzine released his budget proposal, both the

NJFB and the governor’s office resisted making a major comment. For its

part, said Nieuwenhuis, the NJFB will continue, “going out and reaching

out to all our legislators and letting them know what (the ag department)

does for the urban legislator as well as the rural legislator. The

department touches all constituents in this state.”

A spokesman in the governor’s office last week said, “The governor has

said all along that there may be some cuts, possibly severe cuts ... he

is open to all options; nothing is off the table.”

Don Neeper

Senior Software Engineer

SofTechnics, a METTLER TOLEDO Company

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