Farmers in New Jersey brought tractors and animals to downtown Trenton, N.J. last week to protest the state’s plan to close the Department of Agriculture. Organized by the New Jersey Farm Bureau, the state’s farmers want their lawmakers to know it’s important to “Keep the garden in the Garden State.”
The proposal to eliminate the Agriculture Department is part of Gov. Jon Corzine’s plan to cut $2.7 billion in state spending. State officials have said shutting down the department and having the environmental protection and health departments take over agriculture department functions would save $4 million.
Protesters say the move would jeopardize grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and threaten a host of programs, from the Jersey Fresh marketing campaign that promotes Garden State produce to the popular farmland preservation program. Some also fear that without a chief gardener in the Garden State, loss of farms to development will be accelerated.
“We need to preserve our agriculture heritage in New Jersey,” Barbara Byrnes, a protester, said
A brigade of farmers in tractors, front-end loaders and pickup trucks some full of hay rolled into Trenton late Tuesday morning. Some horse breeders brought their prized possessions to the steps of the capitol. Others carried baby lambs in their arms.
“We grow carrots for Campbell Soup. We grow tomatoes for Dom Pepano tomato sauce. And we grow wheat and grain for Perdue. Without the department of agriculture, you know, what next?” Byrnes said.
Corzine didn’t respond publicly to the protesters.
(AP Photo/Mel Evans)
3 Comments on “Protesters in N.J. Keep Garden Here”
Are you sure this is not a late April Fool Joke?
If not, this has got to be one of the most shortsited proposals I have ever heard. You would think that the State Secretary of Agriculture would have the ear of the Gov. Corzine.
Are you sure this is not a late April Fool Joke?
If not, this has got to be one of the most shortsited proposals I have ever heard. You would think that the State Secretary of Agriculture would have the ear of the Gov. Corzine.
Are you sure this is not a late April Fool Joke?
If not, this has got to be one of the most shortsited proposals I have ever heard. You would think that the State Secretary of Agriculture would have the ear of the Gov. Corzine.