This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Politics & Government

Farmer's Markets' Bounty Touted as Benefit of Preservation Program

County Board of Health sees deed restrictions on farmland as 'tremendous program'

Merchants were still unpacking the produce they would offer Wednesday at the Farmer’s Market at Huddy Park in downtown Toms River as Ocean County officials assessed a program that is helping keep farmers on the land in the county.

Ten similar markets operate in the county, most fed by food from farms where farmers have been able to continue raising crops by avoiding the temptation to cash in on big offers several years ago from developers, opined Freeholder Gerry P. Little.

There will be more of the markets, including one in the sprawling Holiday City and Silver Ridge retirement communities in Berkeley Township, if Anthony DePaolo, a member of the county Board of Health has his way.

Find out what's happening in Berkeleywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“A lot of seniors don’t drive,’’ he explained, saying the chance to buy fresh produce in one of the retirement village clubhouses would be welcomed by many of them.

“We have a long and rich history of farming,’’ Little told Board of Health members.

Find out what's happening in Berkeleywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Since 1991, he said the county and state have partnered to buy the development rights on 49 farms, most of them in Plumsted Township, keeping 3,300 acres in agriculture at a cost of $32 million. He explained farmers are paid for those rights in exchange for a deed restriction to keep the land as farms.

Henry Mancini, a member of the board who is a real estate appraiser, said during the real estate boom a few years ago developers were making huge offers for farmland, and farmers were able to offset those offers by cashing in on the state and county program.

“It’s a tremendous program,” Mancini said.

“How many homes could have been built on that 3,300 acres? How many schools would that have meant?’’ asked Carmen Amato of Berkeley Township, a member of the board.

Public Health Coordinator Daniel Regenye said a federally funded nutrition program administered by the Ocean County Health Department provides vouchers to mothers and children so they can buy fresh produce at farmer’s markets.

With Ocean operating the third busiest Women, Infants and Children supplemental nutrition program in the state, that translates into a lot of opportunities for people to buy fresh produce at the markets, he said.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?