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Agriculture Secretary to Visit Prize-Winning Farm
to Cut Down First Official Christmas Tree of the Season
 

For Immediate Release: December 4, 2003

Contact:

Hope Gruzlovic
(609)292-8896
hope.gruzlovic@ag.state.nj.us

 

 

 

 

Agriculture Secretary Charles M. Kuperus will visit the prize-winning Spruce Goose Christmas Tree Farm in Chesterfield, Burlington County, at 11:30 a.m., Thursday, December 4, to cut down a Christmas tree in an annual event that heralds the start of the Christmas tree-selling season.

Spruce Goose Christmas Tree Farm is the winner of an annual contest held by the New Jersey Christmas Tree Growers’ Association for the best Christmas tree grown in the state. The farm is located at 194 Route 545 South.

New Jersey is home to 89 Christmas tree farms covering approximately 1,800 acres and generating more than $2 million in annual sales, according to the U.S. Census of Agriculture. In addition, dozens of smaller farms that are not counted in the U.S. Census are located throughout the state.

Spruce Goose Christmas Tree Farm will donate the tree to Fisherman’s Mark, a broad-based social service agency located in Lambertville, Hunterdon County.

Fisherman’s Mark serves more than 800 clients a month and is a participant in the Farmers Against Hunger Program, sponsored by the New Jersey Agricultural Society.

The 10-acre Spruce Goose Christmas Tree Farm is owned by John Benton and his family, who are celebrating their 10th year in the Christmas tree-selling business.

The New Jersey Christmas Tree Growers’ Association is a state organization of growers, professionals and industry leaders dedicated to the promotion and marketing of Christmas trees and related products. It was organized in 1950 and has 300 members.

To locate a New Jersey choose-and-cut farm and for more information on selecting and caring for a fresh-cut Christmas tree, visit the New Jersey Department of Agriculture’s website at http://www.state.nj.us/agriculture/.


Directions to Spruce Goose Christmas Tree Farm, 194 Route 545 S., Chesterfield:

From Trenton, follow Route 206 S. past the weigh station in the middle of the road. Turn left on Route 545, also known as Bordentown-Georgetown Road. Follow Route 545 for approximately 3.5 miles. The farm is on the right.