Jersey Fresh faces $250k hit
Photo by Flickr user kittenagogo.
The Jersey Fresh fund would be almost wiped out after absorbing a $250,000 cut under Gov. Corzine’s budget, the Star-Ledger reported yesterday.
The $250,000 reduction, one of numerous reductions in Gov. Corzine’s $29.8 billion spending plan, comes on the heels of other cutbacks to the 25-year-old program.
It’s not clear how much funding would remain for Jersey Fresh, but the Star-Ledger story says there would be enough (for now) to continue to market Jersey produce — but possibly not enough to continue spring radio commercials.
It’s unfortunate, because the popularity of our produce has been rising. As Jen A. Miller wrote recently in New Jersey Monthly, a survey by the U.S. Department of Agriculture placed the value of the state’s agricultural products sold in 2007 at $987 million — a 32 percent increase from 2002, the year of the last survey.
Click here to find out what’s in season, courtesy of Jersey Fresh, here for a list of roadside markets, and here for locations of pick-your-own farms. For more about the program, visit it online.
March 23rd, 2009 at 10:01 pm
Too bad that in this era of being green, eating locally and trying to be healthier that we have to cut back. Guess we bloggers will just have to provide a little free advertising for Jersey Fresh!