Bill > A5013

Introduced Session

This bill would create a grant program within the Department of Agriculture to provide matching grants to the owner or operator of (1) unpreserved farmland; (2) a farm for which pinelands development credits have been sold or otherwise conveyed pursuant to the "Pinelands Development Credit Bank Act," P.L.1985, c.310 (C.13:18A-30 et seq.); or (3) a farm that is located in a sending zone pursuant to section 13 of the "Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act," P.L.2004, c.120 (C.13:20-13). Contingent on available funding, the department would award grants of up to $200 per acre not to exceed a total of $20,000 per applicant for up to 50 percent of eligible project costs, which shall include the cost to purchase deer fencing, the maintenance costs of existing deer fencing, or any other costs established as eligible project costs as defined by the department. To be eligible for the program, the applicant would be required to have a minimum of $10,000 in gross sales in the preceding calendar year from agricultural or horticultural products grown or derived from the applicant's farm operation. The bill would define unpreserved farmland as a commercial farm, as that term is defined in section 3 of P.L.1983, c.31 (C.4:1C-3), on which a development easement has not been conveyed to, or retained by, the State Agriculture Development Committee, a county agriculture development board, a county, a municipality, or a qualifying tax exempt nonprofit organization pursuant to the provisions of section 24 of P.L.1983, c.32 (C.4:1C-31), section 5 of P.L.1988, c.4 (C.4:1C-31.1), section 1 of P.L.1989, c.28 (C.4:1C-38), section 1 of P.L.1999, c.180 (C.4:1C-43.1), sections 37 through 40 of P.L.1999, c.152 (C.13:8C-37 through C.13:8C-40), or any other State law enacted for farmland preservation purposes. The Department of Agriculture would be required to request annually, as part of its budget proposal, such amount as may be necessary to fund the deer fencing matching grant program. The department would also be required to work with the Division of Fish and Wildlife in the Department of Environmental Protection, the United States Department of Agriculture, and any other applicable State or federal agency, to develop any available federal, State, local, and private funding for the grant program. The department would be authorized to adopt rules and regulations to effectuate the program. Within the past 20 years, the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Environmental Protection have had programs to provide deer fencing to farmers to help protect their crops. In 2017, the Department of Agriculture launched a deer fencing program to provide matching grants to farmers for the costs of deer fencing and installation. These funds however are only available to farmers on preserved farmland. This bill would provide a mechanism to help farmers protect their crops on unpreserved farmland as well as on certain farms in the Pinelands and Highlands Region through a matching grant program.

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Eric Houghtaling (D)*, 

Introduced, Referred to Assembly Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee (on 02/07/2019)