By the Numbers: New Jersey’s Land Base Under Pressure
October 24, 2011 by pocketfarms
Over the weekend, Michele Byers, Executive Director of the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, published an opinion piece where she ran through the numbers on New Jersey sprawl. This is a very important read and is based on Rowan University’s June report on land use patterns in Monmouth and Somerset Counties, which finds large-lot development to be the norm. Projecting the trends into the future, Byers sees some not so smart growth with a very stark split between the locations of jobs and homes in the Garden State.
A little over a year and a half ago I looked at New Jersey’s land base numbers in my post Farms, Open Space Preservation and Business Development: Perfect Together. Over a thirty year period, New Jersey lost 384,000 acres of farmland to development in a state of 4.8 million acres. Combined with losses in forests and wetlands, 672,00 acres of open space disappeared in this same thirty year period between the early 1970′s and the early 2000s. We can’t continue to lose land at this pace, especially if we want to continue to be a national leader in agricultural production and ensure that our farms, farm stands and farmers markets continue to be located close to home.
Agriculture may actually be New Jersey’s true competitive advantage. Continued sprawl can only put increased pressures on our land base and working farms, increase our commute times and erode our state economy.
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By the Numbers: New Jersey’s Land Base Under Pressure
October 24, 2011 by pocketfarms
Over the weekend, Michele Byers, Executive Director of the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, published an opinion piece where she ran through the numbers on New Jersey sprawl. This is a very important read and is based on Rowan University’s June report on land use patterns in Monmouth and Somerset Counties, which finds large-lot development to be the norm. Projecting the trends into the future, Byers sees some not so smart growth with a very stark split between the locations of jobs and homes in the Garden State.
A little over a year and a half ago I looked at New Jersey’s land base numbers in my post Farms, Open Space Preservation and Business Development: Perfect Together. Over a thirty year period, New Jersey lost 384,000 acres of farmland to development in a state of 4.8 million acres. Combined with losses in forests and wetlands, 672,00 acres of open space disappeared in this same thirty year period between the early 1970′s and the early 2000s. We can’t continue to lose land at this pace, especially if we want to continue to be a national leader in agricultural production and ensure that our farms, farm stands and farmers markets continue to be located close to home.
Agriculture may actually be New Jersey’s true competitive advantage. Continued sprawl can only put increased pressures on our land base and working farms, increase our commute times and erode our state economy.
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