We have an update on Soil Health in NJ – read the latest news regarding preserving our State’s important soil resources, written by Jay Watson, Jr.’ the Co-Executive, Director of the New Jersey Conservation Foundation.

    Don't treat soils on preserved farms like dirt!

Think of a farm, and you may picture rolling fields with rows of vegetables, orchards of fruit and nut trees, and bucolic pastures with cows and sheep.

But farms in the Garden State often include a whole lot more: roadside stands, greenhouses, corn mazes, hay wagon rides, markets selling everything from baked goods to gourmet cheeses, farm animal petting displays, tasting rooms for farm-made beer, cider and wine, and parking for all these activities. 

It’s widely recognized that such amenities – often called “agritourism” – give farms an economic shot in the arm. But how much is too much on land that is permanently preserved for agriculture using taxpayer dollars?

That’s a question New Jersey’s farmland preservation program has grappled with for many years. The answer has to do with safeguarding the fertile soils that made the farms worth preserving in the first place – and a New Jersey Supreme Court mandate to set a limit on soil disturbance.

Approximately 2,800 farms have been permanently preserved in New Jersey since the state’s farmland preservation program began 40 years ago, using over $1.8 billion in public funds. One big reason these farms were preserved is because their soils are the best quality for growing local foods.

Speak out for protecting soils on preserved farms! All New Jerseyans are affected by these soil standards, since we all have to eat. Let’s safeguard the fertile, preserved soils that can feed our state, now and in the future.