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Passing It On:
The Context -- New Jersey, The Garden State
New Jersey's nickname "the Garden State" was coined in an era when much of the state functioned as a sort of backyard garden to nearby urban centers. In colonial times, New Jersey farms supplied markets in New York and Philadelphia with fresh produce. In the mid-nineteenth century, the opening of the railroad made more distant markets accessible, and for a century New Jersey farms provided the nation with eggs and poultry, dairy products, berries, orchard fruits, tomatoes, green vegetables, white and sweet potatoes, corn and other grains, as well as flowers, shrubs, and turf, making agriculture an important part of the state economy and farming a widespread lifestyle.
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But after World War II, the picture began to change in much of the state. The automobile made rural areas accessible to city workers, and gradually farmlands sprouted suburban developments. Today, only a few farms remain in the western portions of northeastern counties such as Essex. With the expansion of the highway system, even rural Sussex and Warren counties in the western part of North Jersey are accessible from New York. Recently, counties in Central Jersey and the Delaware Valley have become especially attractive to corporations, and areas of Middlesex, Mercer, Burlington, and Gloucester that once were farms are now corporate parks and suburban developments. As prices skyrocket in North Jersey, the housing market in South Jersey becomes more attractive. Land values rise, and many farmers sell out and move elsewhere to farm. In the southernmost counties, the growth of the Atlantic City casino industry has created housing needs. The completion of Route 55 foreshadows more growth. Development puts pressure on the environment, and regulation for both environmental protection and agricultural practice complicates farming. Although New Jersey farmers have been masters at adaptation, still maintaining one of the highest national per-acre production rates, the "Garden State" has indeed changed in the last thirty years.
Agriculture in Cumberland County has changed, too, but it is still an important part of the landscape, economy, and lifestyle. Before the railroad most farming in the county was for subsistence. Farmers used their livestock, poultry, and produce to feed their families first and then bartered or sold the remainder at nearbv markets. In the latter part of the nineteenth century, the diversification of both crops and populations contributed to the growth of agriculture, especially in the eastern portion of the county which is part of the band of excellent soil that runs up the state through several counties.
In the area around Vineland, Jews who were drawn to the Alliance colonies and Italians who were recruited by Charles Landis established many small farms. Because of their hard work, the soil that had always been thought too sandy to be productive became fruitful. The Italians introduced "new" vegetables such as peppers, eggplant, and greens to the markets. Large vegetable and fruit crops attracted "canhouses" (processing plants) to the region.
In the 1920s, hatcheries proliferated around Vineland, which soon began calling itself the "Egg Basket of the East." In the same decade, fruit and vegetable farmers banded together in cooperatives to sell their crops at auctions in Cedarville and Rosenhayn. These auctions gave farmers more control over pricing and payment. With the old consignment system, farmers shipped their crops to buyers in Philadelphia and New York without knowing exactly what or when they would be paid. In an auction, farmers can withdraw their produce if prices are too low.
Buyers resented the system initially. It required them to travel to the auctions and to bid more competitively. However, they profited by being able to see and choose the best of the proffered produce. Eventually, other produce auctions opened in Glassboro, Hammonton, Landisville, Swedesboro, and Vineland.
The fifties and sixties saw the decline of two agricultural pursuits that had greatly influenced Cumberland County. In the late forties, many survivors of concentration camps had joined the Jewish community and concentrated on poultry and egg farming, contributing to the vitality of the industry. But in the sixties egg farming succumbed to competition from the South. Soon after, Seabrook Farms, which had pioneered mass growing and processing techniques in the western portion of the county and brought a diverse range of immigrants to the area, was also being broken up.
Despite these setbacks, and the suburbanization of the northwestern portion of the county, the economy and lifestyle in Cumberland County are still highly dependent on agriculture. The county still has one of the largest agricultural economies in the state, and it is a leader in the production of many crops. In the western townships, farms are larger, and nursery and turf farming are important. Dutch families that came to staff the Seabrook nurseries now have their own businesses.
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Around Vineland, small farms of Italian families still predominate, and keep pace economically by adopting intensive methods such as multiple cropping. Traditional crops such as tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, squash, broccoli, and greens have been joined by yet another new generation of produce, such as Chinese vegetables and newly popular varieties of lettuce. As agriculture has changed, so have the settlement patterns and occupations of the second and third generations of the Jewish and Italian families. Around Vineland, for instance, some areas that used to be farms have become suburban neighborhoods, housing the children of farmers who have entered professions and service occupations. Many of the brokers who now bid at the Vineland Auction are the sons of farmers who first formed the cooperative. |
Other residents of these communities are city-bred, coming to the area from Philadelphia and urban North Jersey for jobs or marriage. For them, the farms and agricultural lifestyle, though nearby, are nevertheless unfamiliar.
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