NJ Taking Garden Out of Garden State?

Gov. Jon Corzine is proposing to make New Jersey the third state without a Department of Agriculture as he looks to slash spending amid chronic state budget problems.

Some argue the move will chase away farmers who persevered for generations while New Jersey grew into the nation's most densely populated state.

"Ultimately, the quality of life of all of New Jersey's citizens will suffer," said William Griffin, president of the New Jersey State Board of Agriculture.

New Jersey would join Alaska and Rhode Island as the only states without an agriculture department, said Charles W. Ingram, spokesman for the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture.

In those states, he said, agricultural services are handled by environmental agencies, and that's part of what Corzine is proposing.

His administration contends the move would save $4 million by having the environmental protection and health departments take over the agriculture department's functions.

Those savings would hardly put a dent in the state's $33 billion budget and "would send the worst kind of signal," said Mary Jo Herbert of the Hopewell Heritage Farm.

"I am a third-generation farmer and I, perhaps naively, believed that our state government was committed to preserving our farming heritage," she said.

Jim Giamarese, whose family has farmed in New Jersey since the 1920s, adds that the elimination of the position of state agriculture secretary would cost farmers a key advocate on the governor's Cabinet.