Opinion: To Take Root In Our Cities, New Jersey Must Unite To Expand And Protect Urban Agriculture

By: Jeanine Cava | New Jersey Food Democracy Collaborative

Trenton – On June 9, the New Jersey Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee voted favorably on Bill S4350, a critical piece of legislation that will expand, strengthen, and protect urban agriculture throughout the state. The New Jersey Food Democracy Collaborative (NJFDC) stands firmly behind this bill, sponsored and championed by Senate President Pro Tempore Shirley K. Turner (D-15). 

Since 2023, NJFDC has convened an Urban, Beginner, and Small-Scale Farmer working group, a committee that works tirelessly to advocate for policies that support urban agriculture, and NJFDC applauds S4350 as legislation that deeply aligns with its Urban Agriculture Policy Recommendations, and is grateful to see it moving through the efforts of Sen. Turner, Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-36) and their likeminded colleagues. While past legislation has been well-intentioned, no other recent bills have addressed the root causes of the difficulties New Jersey’s urban agriculturalists face, including issues with land access and a lack of funding for natural resource conservation.

As one of the most population-dense states, workable agricultural land in New Jersey’s urban environments comes at unattainable costs, if it is even available at all. Unlike other urban environments, such as Detroit, where urban agriculture is thriving and encouraged, land values in New Jersey make it difficult to acquire the property needed for a successful urban agriculture venture. 

Urban zoning also plays a role in deterring agriculture, and while some advocates have made inroads in their communities, local organizing in many cities has not yet developed and coalesced into effective action. Additionally, New Jersey’s state-level agricultural policies have nearly exclusively focused on farms that comprise five or more acres, the acreage necessary to qualify for Right to Farm protections. 

How would the bill remove these obstacles? 

The bill creates key programming with dedicated funding that would authorize the Garden State Preservation Trust (GSPT) to acquire urban parcels through a purchasing process that prioritizes agricultural and horticultural usage. This program would also create an eligibility and application process for buying parcels and leasing land to urban farmers. 

Such programming is not without costs, and so the bill would also create the “Preserve New Jersey Urban Agriculture and Horticulture Fund” with an initial investment of $25 million. After that, the fund would receive a 5 percent annual allotment of the state’s Corporate Business Tax (CBT) preservation funds. Because this is constitutionally dedicated funding, the program would be protected from annual budget battles, thereby protecting the fund’s long-term viability. 

In addition to using funding to acquire and preserve urban agricultural spaces, the bill would also create the Urban Agriculture and Horticulture Stewardship Grant Program. Grants awarded through this program would offer up to 90 percent of the costs of projects focused on stewardship, such as soil improvement, green infrastructure, climate resilience, and more. 

Why is this all so crucial? 

New frameworks and pathways for land access are vital for expanding and supporting the multi-faceted benefits of urban agriculture. Alongside the obvious boon of more immediate consumer access to fresh, local food, urban agriculture creates green spaces that promote a healthier environment and reduce urban heat islands. Urban agriculture also generates green infrastructure and green workforce development, decreases the environmental impact of ‘food miles’ (the distance that food travels from producer to consumer), encourages agricultural and horticultural education, such as teaching farms, and contributes to a circular local economy. 

The bill would also not interfere with municipal home rule, but empowers cities to acquire and preserve land for urban agriculture through their existing Open Space Trusts. The leasing model created by the bill helps prevent the loss of taxable land through dereliction of payment, protecting revenues for municipalities and counties. This usage also revitalizes these parcels, which in turn enhances neighborhoods and reduces the code enforcement burdens that often arise in unused and underused spaces. 

Doesn’t this disrupt traditional agriculture? 

The short answer is ‘no.’ Bill S4350 does not divert or remove any funding from traditional agriculture. What the bill instead does is broaden the geographic application of agriculture to extend funding to cover, per the state constitution, urban agricultural and horticultural activities. Currently, 31 percent of CBT preservation funds go directly to supporting agricultural and horticultural uses, administered through the “Preserve New Jersey Farmland Preservation Fund” by the State Agricultural Development Committee (SADC). 

While the bill would reduce the SADC’s ‘share’ to 26 percent, with 5 percent instead going to the “Preserve New Jersey Urban Agriculture and Horticulture Fund,” data shows that the SADC has only used 25 percent of its total allocated funds over the last decade, meaning there is more than ample capacity for the CBT funding to support both traditional and urban agriculture, maintaining the constitutional purpose of these funds for horticulture and agricultural uses. 

The allowances of Bill S4350 are not meant to encroach on traditional agriculture, but to expand the sector into new geographical spaces to create more opportunities for growth. And of course, with opportunities for growth come new opportunities for representation on state-level agricultural boards and committees, which have long been dominated by the political interests of traditional agriculture. The more voices that can be heard, the stronger New Jersey agriculture, be it urban or rural, will become. 

Bill S4350 needs support now

If urban agriculture is to benefit from the provisions of Bill S4350, every New Jerseyan needs to show their support. NJFDC encourages all urban growers, community members, mayors and councils, and food systems advocates to use their voices to contact their legislators and tell Trenton to say ‘yes’ to Bill S4350, because New Jersey’s food system urgently needs these programs, now more than ever. 

The New Jersey Food Democracy Collaborative (NJFDC) is a statewide food system organizing and advocacy initiative, inspired by the food policy council model and focused on building resilience and equity in the food system through fostering collaborative action, affecting structural change, and advocating for innovation of public programs.