New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture Douglas H. Fisher today announced the New Jersey Farmland
Preservation Program is accepting new applications for farm owners wishing to permanently preserve
their land. The State Agriculture Development Committee (SADC), the agency that administers the
program, is accepting new applications through its State Acquisition Program in which landowners
coordinate directly with the SADC office to preserve their farms.

“The preservation program is fortunate to have the strong support from the public and more than
2,700 farms covering approximately 240,000 acres have been preserved under the State Farmland
Preservation Program. Through preservation New Jersey’s valuable farmland resources can be
SADC Regional Acquisition Coordinators (left to right) Stefanie Miller, Amy Mandelbaum, Katie
Mazzell C Outreach & Training
Coordinator Cindy Roberts

permanently protected,” Fisher said. “I encourage interested landowners to explore these
opportunities now, as program funding recently increased, allowing the SADC to accept a greater
number of farm preservation applications through the State Acquisition Program.

“Our regional acquisition coordinators are very customer-service oriented and eager to talk with
interested farmland owners to review their farm, their business needs, and the process,” SADC
Executive Director Susan Payne said. “Then, if a farmland owner is interested in applying, staff
will be there to help every step of the way.” Permanently preserved farms also have priority access
to SADC grants for farm improvements like irrigation, deer fence, erosion control, drainage, and
water control systems.

The SADC’s State Acquisition program accepts applications year-round. Farms are prioritized by
size and quality based on average census acres by county. If your farm has at least 50% of its
acreage tillable and the size is over the following acreage, it could be prioritized for
preservation through the State Acquisition program. Atlantic (48 acres), Bergen (10), Burlington
(78), Camden (35), Cape May (37), Cumberland (88), Gloucester (63), Hunterdon (47), Mercer (58),
Middlesex
(55), Monmouth (35), Morris (26), Ocean (24), Passaic (15), Salem (94), Somerset (59), Sussex (44)
and Warren (60).

If you are interested in exploring preservation, the SADC acquisition regional coordinators are
ready to help. Stefanie Miller (covers Hunterdon county) stefanie.miller@ag.nj.gov, Amy
Mandelbaum (covers Atlantic, Cape May, Burlington, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean, Camden,
Gloucester counties) amy.mandelbaum@ag.nj.gov, Katie Mazzella (covers Salem, Cumberland counties)
katie.mazzella@ag.nj.gov, Rachel DeFlumeri (covers Bergen, Morris, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex,
Warren counties) rachel.deflumeri@ag.nj.gov. You may also call the SADC’s main number at
609-984-2504 or visit the SADC’s website at www.nj.gov/agriculture/sadc/farmpreserve/.

Farmland not qualifying for the State Acquisition Direct Easement program may be eligible for
preservation through the SADC Municipal, County, and Nonprofit Grant Programs. SADC staff
will assist farmland owners in applying through these programs.