Family-Owned Chester Farm Set Back By Pandemic Gets Grant

CHESTER, NJ — It’s harvest season, making it perfect timing for Lebensfreude LLC, the farmland firm on which Chester Township’s famous Alstede Farms operates, to reap a $15,000 Morris County Small Business Grant.

Alstede Farms, like many other small businesses, struggled during the pandemic, but the long-running establishment recently received the good news.

Farmers were forced to cooperate for months under restrictions ranging from requiring farmworkers to wear protective masks even while working in the fields to distancing guidelines requiring farmers to find alternative housing arrangements for employees who live on-site, officials said.

“This grant is very helpful. It’s been over two years since (the pandemic start) and people forget, we were sweating bullets trying to figure out every week what we would do,” Kurt Alstede said, noting farming operations throughout New Jersey were hit with strict operating guidelines by the Department of Agriculture and Department of Environmental Protection.

After touring the Alstede Market in Chester Township and the neighboring property housing Lebensfreude LLC, Morris County Commissioner Deputy Director John Krickus presented the check to Kurt and Mary Alstede earlier this week.

“It certainly must be noted that the Alstede family did everything to keep their people working and retained their staff throughout the height of the pandemic and afterward,” said Commissioner Krickus as he visited the property.

Alstede Farms has been serving the Chester community since its inception in 1982. The family-owned company has made a long-term commitment to sustainable agriculture in Chester and throughout New Jersey.

Morris County Commissioners committed $10 million in federal funding to its small-business grant program, which will assist small businesses and nonprofits in recovering from pandemic setbacks.

The funding comes from the county's share of American Rescue Plan Act monies.

Federal guidelines governing the grant program will determine which expenses are eligible for reimbursement and which applications will be approved. The grants are limited to a total of $15,000 per applicant.

Business owners and nonprofits, on the other hand, are encouraged to submit applications that include all costs they believe may be eligible for the grant, even if the total amount of a single claim exceeds $15,000, officials said.

The last chance to apply for a grant is Sept. 30, click here for more info.