More
than 1,200 acres of farmland will be preserved
in Salem County in May, a record monthly figure
for the county that will bring its total amount
of protected farmland to approximately 9,000 acres,
Agriculture Secretary Art Brown, Jr., announced
today. Brown made the announcement at the farm
of Arthur J. Griscom, Jr., and his wife Ruth, in
Mannington Township. The New Jersey Farmland Preservation
Program today closed on the purchase of development
rights on the property -- one of six farms that
have been or will be permanently preserved this
month. "It was only a little more than a decade
ago when 1,000 acres was the Farmland Preservation
Program's sum total for the entire state for the
entire year," said Brown, who chairs the State
Agriculture Development Committee (SADC). "We've
come a long way since then B and certainly we've
made the greatest progress under Governor Whitman's
million-acre open space initiative." "Our million-acre
initiative calls for the preservation of 500,000
acres of farmland over the next decade," said Governor
Whitman. "I applaud every landowner who chooses
to preserve his or her farm so that our children
and grandchildren can enjoy the Garden State as
we do today." All of the farms have been or will
be preserved under the SADC's traditional county
grants program. Under this program, the SADC provides
counties with grants to fund 60-80 percent of the
purchase of development rights on farms. Other
farms preserved or expected to be preserved this
month are the Myers Farm in Upper Pittsgrove Township
(96 acres); the Sickler Farm in Upper Pittsgrove
and Pilesgrove Townships (319 acres); the Flanegan
Farm in Upper Pittsgrove Township (216 acres);
the Catalano Farm in Pilesgrove Township (234 acres);
and the Cassaday Farm in Upper Pittsgrove Township
(317 acres). Additionally, the SADC last week approved
preservation funding for an additional 30 Salem
County farms totaling 3,057 acres. That funding
is conditional on county, Garden State Preservation
Trust and legislative approvals. The State Agriculture
Development Committee administers New Jersey's
Farmland Preservation Program. To date, 423 farms
totaling 63,072 acres have been permanently preserved
under the program, with an additional 13,848 acres
approved for preservation.
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