Zwicker Bill Establishing Organic Farming Board Clears NJ Senate

SOUTH BRUNSWICK, NJ — The state Senate on Monday, passed legislation sponsored by Sen. Andrew Zwicker (NJ-16) that would establish an Organic Farming Board within the Department of Agriculture.

The Board is expected to develop, administer and oversee programs related to organic and regenerative farming in consultation with the DOA.

The Board will include seven members from the public who will serve without consultation.

“This new board will help us develop programs to better support organic farming, and in the process help us to ensure the state’s farmland remains healthy and fertile,” Zwicker, a South Brunswick resident, said in a media statement.

New Jersey has 10,000 farms and around 750,000 acres of farmland, according to the state’s 2021 Annual Report and Agricultural Statistics. These farms grow over 100 different crops.

In Middlesex County 17,000 acres of land is considered land in farms, of which over 11,000 acres are in croplands. The largest concentration of farmland are in South Brunswick, Cranbury, Monroe and Plainsboro, according to the Middlesex County Agriculture Development Board.

However, since 2008 non-certified organic farms transitioning to organic production dropped by nearly 71 percent in the United States according to the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service.

The USDA hopes to reverse this trend by investing around $300 million in the new Organic Transition Initiative.

The bill cleared the NJ senate by a 36-0 vote.

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