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| Ag Matters Online |
NJDA Secretary Fisher penned an open letter, reminding motorists to cooperate with agricultural vehicles on roads during the harvest season.
In an October 12 article for NJ.com, wildlife experts explain that deer are more likely to collide with your car now than any other time of the year.
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The top 6 NJ counties for deer-vehicle collisions from October-December 2018 were: Monmouth, Burlington, Somerset, Middlesex, Ocean and Morris.
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Anthony Russo, President and CEO, CIANJ says “for our state’s farmers, including many struggling small business owners and their hard-working employees, deer are a constant menace. Deer-related losses to high-value crops in New Jersey exceed $15 million per year. According to state wildlife experts, deer populations in some areas of New Jersey are perhaps 10 or 20 times as large as they should be” in a recent letter to the editor.
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Gene Huntington, an ecological land planner and the founder of Steward Green writes the the ongoing emergency of deer over-population will not improve without intervention that includes a science-based approach to ensure success.
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“The severely out-of-balance deer population leads to millions of dollars in economic loss from crop/landscape damage, automobile collisions, and disease in both animals and humans. Deer are rapidly depleting habitats that threaten New Jersey’s forest lands and other native wildlife. Ground nesting birds, such as ovenbirds and grouse, have much reduced habitat in some areas because the overabundant deer population have eaten it.”
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Click here to read the full piece, published in Northersey.com
Both houses of the NJ State Legislature passed legislation that would ban plastic and paper grocery bags and polystyrene “clamshell” style food containers. The bill would also make plastic straws available in restaurants by request only. If signed by the Governor, the provisions would take effect 18 months after enactment.
An OpEd written by Emile DeVito and Jay Kelly
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Emile D. DeVito is manager of Science & Stewardship for the New Jersey Conservation Foundation. Jay Kelly is associate professor of Biology and Environmental Science at Raritan Valley Community College.
The coronavirus pandemic has wrought unprecedented levels of personal and professional upheaval upon many employees. It may irrevocably transform how we work, communicate, eat, shop, date, and travel. Clearly, these are not “normal” times. And yet, society continues to move forward.
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A new look into the priorities for rural America of President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden is revealed in responses to a questionnaire distributed by the American Farm Bureau Federation. AFBF asked the Republican and Democratic candidates to respond with their stances on several topics directly affecting America’s farmers, ranchers and rural communities, including trade, labor, regulatory reform and sustainability.
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You can see the questions asked by AFBF, and read the answers from both campaigns here.
The US Department of Agriculture has developed a website specifically to assist farmers whose operations have been directly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. The site includes a lot of helpful information, specifically about the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) which provides direct relief to producers who faced price declines and additional marketing costs due to COVID-19.
Click here to visit farmers.gov/cfap
NJFB presented testimony opposing S2602 – a wide reaching farm worker protection bill at a Senate Committee hearing yesterday. Despite opposition from both Farm Bureau and The State Board of Agriculture, the committee moved the legislation forward. The next voting session of the full Senate is July 30; others are planned during August. A companion Assembly bill to S-2602 has already been introduced (A-4404) and is poised for review in the Assembly Labor Committee. A special appropriations bill for $5 million to off-set farmer expenses of covid compliance accompanies S-2602.
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Click here to read NJFB’s full testimony.
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