TRENTON, N.J. (KYW Newsradio) — The Garden State needs some new blood to carry on its agricultural traditions, and lawmakers in Trenton recently advanced a bill that would create a loan program through the state’s Economic Development Authority that would help new farmers buy land and proper equipment.
Assemblyman Alex Sauickie, the sponsor of the bill, said it was also for those with less than 10 years farming experience and touted its checks and balances.
“If you want to finance land, you need to show that you have the equipment. If you want to finance the equipment, you need to show you actually have the land,” he said.
The average age of farmers in New Jersey is 59, two years higher than the national average. Ashley Kerr with the New Jersey Farm Bureau, said the program is a welcome first step to changing that aging reality in the state’s agricultural industry, and hopes it’s the first of many to come.
“It is important to get the next generation involved, especially for purposes of local food security here in a state with 9 million people,” she said. “We need to help everybody. Ag viability, economic viability of farms, is of the utmost importance for food security.”
Sauickie also pointed out that the costs of running a farm have risen significantly over the last five-plus years. Particularly, he pointed to the cost rising 35% between 2017 and 2022.
The bill has passed a committee vote and there’s no timetable on when it will be up for a full vote.