Officers and Directors

Jim operates Etsch Farms – a fourth generation family farm in Monroe Township, Middlesex County. He is involved in grain, hay, agritourism and education. Jim is a 1981 graduate of Cook College, Rutgers University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture Science. Jim has served on the Middlesex County Board of Agriculture since 1988, serving as president from 2000-2002. He has been a part of the NJFB Board of Directors since 2003, serving as Treasurer from 2012 to 2022. Jim has also been active in several other organizations and activities including: serving as a Middlesex County Fair Trustee since 1989; serving as a member of the Board of Managers 1998-2003 – serving as president 2001-2003 and emeritus member since 2010; serving as a member of the Princeton Ag Association; serving as a member and past president of the New Jersey Grain and Forage Producers Association; also serving as a member of the Ag Society Board of Trustees, National Hay Association and the Monroe Township Open Space Committee.  Jim is married to Caroline and they have two sons, Zach and Pete.

Gary is owner/operator of Cedar Hill Farm & Nursery, LLC, a small farm located in Middletown, NJ, and is 4^th generation to farm the family land.  There he grows strawberries for retail sales and PYO, U-cut Christmas trees, vegetables, and some nursery stock. Gary is a 1983 graduate of Delaware Valley College, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Ornamental Horticulture.  He worked in the commercial landscape installation field immediately out of college for Moon Nursery – Rickert Landscape Division, Yardley, PA, as a site foreman, serving the northeast and Mid-Atlantic region.  He then came back home to Middletown to cleanup and farm the family property in 1986, while taking a job with the NJ Highway Authority – Garden State Parkway in the landscape office.  The Highway Authority eventually merged with the NJ Turnpike Authority, where he worked a total 34 years while farming the family farm, retiring in 2020 as the Landscape Manager, overseeing the landscape operations on both the Garden State Parkway and NJ Turnpike.  Gary has been a member of the Monmouth County Board of Agriculture since 1994, serving as its President from 2009–2012, and is the Board’s current Treasurer.  He has served on the NJFB Board of Directors since 2013. He is also a member of the Monmouth County Agricultural Development Board since 2007, currently serving as Secretary, and is on the Board’s Right-to-Farm subcommittee.  He is a NJ Licensed Tree Expert, where he does consulting and implementation of Woodland Management plans, along with Tree Risk Assessments.  He also currently serves as the Vice Chair of the Monmouth County Shade Tree Commission.  Most importantly, Gary is married thirty-eight years, to Beverly. Together they have two children, a daughter Sarah, son Christopher and daughter in law Kirstin. 

Steve is a partner in Rustin Farms, a grain and Christmas tree operation in Mercer County. Steve has been a member of the Mercer County Board of Agriculture since 1986. Steve served as a member of the State Board of Agriculture from 1997 to 2002, serving as its president in his final year. Steve served as a county director to the NJFB Board, before being appointed Treasurer in 2002. Steve was elected 2nd Vice President of New Jersey Farm Bureau in 2012. Steve has also been active in several other organizations and activities including: serving as a member of the Cook College Board of Managers; serving as a member of the First Pioneer Farm Credit Advisory Committee; serving on the Garden State Ethanol Board; serving as a member and past president of the New Jersey Grain and Forage Producers Association; and also serving as a member of New Jersey Soybean Board, the National Corn Growers Association, The Midatlantic Soybean Association, the DEP’s Water Supply Advisory Board and the New Jersey Christmas Tree Growers Association.