New
Jersey Agriculture Secretary Art Brown, Jr., who
serves as chairman of the State Agriculture Development
Committee (SADC), today welcomed the donation of
the development easement on the East Amwell farm
of Frederick and Gael Gardner to the state' Farmland
Preservation Program (FPP). This is the second
such donation by an East Amwell farmer in the last
year. "1997 was a banner year for the Farmland
Preservation Program," Brown said. "We preserved
8,636 acres of farmland, the largest one-year total
in the program's history. "It was made an even
more noteworthy year by the generosity of the Gardner
and Rozenborg families whose love of the land and
belief in the future of agriculture in the Garden
State were clearly demonstrated by their easement
donations," Brown added. "I know that the Gardner's
hope their example will be followed by other landowners
who can afford to donate their land' development
rights to the Farmland Preservation Program. " Fred
Gardner noted that there were several reasons for
their decision to donate the development easement
to the FPP. "The final, and, for us, most important
reason is that, no matter who owns the farm years
from now, we and our children will always be able
to come back and recognize it as the home we have
loved. "Some years ago, Gael went back to the first
home she remembered, a farm in Connecticut, and
found that it had been turned into a housing development," Gardner
said. "We are glad that no one who has lived on
this farm will ever have that experience." The
Gardners raise sheep and hay on their 57-acre property
and also board and train several horses. Their
gift to the FPP was inspired by Suzanne Rozenborg,
who donated the easement rights on her farm to
the program last June. The Gardners'generosity
saved the FPP approximately $350,000 and insure
that the scenic property will remain farmland forever.
Brown added that the two donations together saved
the program approximately $700,000 which the SADC
was able to apply to other easement purchases.
As of today, 280 farms covering 43,479 acres in
15 counties had been permanently preserved under
the FPP. This total includes 37 farms on 5,069
acres in Hunterdon County, of which 12 farms on
1,410 acres are in East Amwell.
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