Samuel
Garrison, New Jersey's Assistant Secretary of Agriculture,
has announced his retirement effective November
1, 2001, after 42 years of service to the citizens
of the state. "Sam has been a valued and knowledgeable
advocate for the New Jersey Department of Agriculture
and for the state's ag industry," said Agriculture
Secretary Art Brown, Jr., who will leave NJDA in
December. "It will be difficult to replace his
expertise and vast experience in many critical
areas related to agricultural policy and department
programs in support of our agriculture industry." Garrison
joined NJDA in 1959 as an agricultural economist
and was named Assistant Secretary of Agriculture
in 1985 after serving for 12 years as the agency's
director of the Division of Administration. During
a career that spanned five decades, Garrison played
a key role in the development of a number of critical
agricultural policies that have helped the Garden
State retain a thriving agricultural sector, despite
dense urbanization around the state. Garrison served
as part of the team that helped to develop the
original Farmland Assessment Act, a piece of legislation
that Brown has said was the single most important
law passed in support of production agriculture
in New Jersey, and worked on a variety of other
agricultural tax issues as well. He was also instrumental
in the development of New Jersey's Right to Farm
program and of 1994 amendments to the Right to
Farm Act which served to extend the protections
of the law to a larger segment of the state's production
agriculture industry. In addition, he was involved
in many farm labor, natural resource and rural
development programs during his tenure with NJDA.
Garrison served as a member of the Blueprint Commission
on the Future of New Jersey Agriculture and on
the FARMS Commission. The latter developed the
strategic planning agenda which has guided NJDA
and the state's agriculture industry since the
early 1990s. Garrison was one of the architects
of the Agriculture Economic Recovery and Development
Program that sprang from the report of the FARMS
Commission, creating numerous economic development
programs to enhance the economic viability of producers
and other agribusinesses. Garrison has also been
an active member of numerous land use, rural planning
and zoning groups including development of the
State Plan and creation of the Farmland Preservation
Program under the State Agriculture Development
Committee. In addition, he served as NJDA's designee
to the Pinelands Development Credit Bank Board
and the Transfer of Development Rights Bank Board
and represented Brown on many interdepartmental
committees and task forces. An area of particular
interest was the stewardship of New Jersey's soil
and water resources leading Garrison to play an
important role in NJDA's soil and water conservation
cost-sharing grant programs, drought relief activities
and non-point source pollution control efforts.
A strong advocate for agricultural education and
rural youth development programs, Garrison has
received both the Honorary State FFA degree and
the American FFA degree from the national FFA organization.
He was also honored by the Burlington County Board
of Agriculture with its Distinguished Service Award.
Garrison currently serves as president of the Princeton
Agricultural Society and as a member of the Board
of the New Jersey Agricultural Museum. He is also
an active member of the New Jersey Farm Bureau,
the New Jersey Agricultural Society, the New Jersey
Forestry Association and the Cook College and Rutgers
University Alumni Associations. A retirement dinner
will be held in his honor at Forsgate Country Club
in Jamesburg on October 22.
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