Farm Calls: Deer Damage is Back with a Vengeance

This past week we heard from a New Jersey grower direct from the cab of his hi-tech combine as he was harvesting soybean.

The yield monitor in the cab was showing him huge yield differences in real-time between the headlands (edges) of the field adjacent to wooded areas and the rest of the 12-acre field. He considered possible causes but the differences were far too great to be shade, water stress, compaction, or competition from weeds. Nothing seemed to fit the pattern explaining the 45% yield loss seen in the first 2 passes compared with the 50 bushels/acre for the rest of the field.

Recalling a discussion we had some 15 years ago about deer being edge habitat species, he asked, “Could this be deer damage?”

It might well be. Grower reports are coming in from all over New Jersey suggesting that this will be a very bad year for deer damage. Rising intolerable crop losses are being experienced. NJ Farm Bureau President, Ryck Suydam, states, “The costs are just too high, something must be done” to better control deer damage. Contrary to popular opinion, crop damage from deer is the result of how effectively non-farm landowners (public and private) manage wildlife resources on their own properties. We have the knowledge to do a better job controlling deer populations; getting buy-in from all groups to work toward consistent application of effective methods is the hard part.

Myths about Deer Populations

Deer thrive in NJ but we can’t lay blame at the feet of local farms. Deer are unlike other species whose numbers dwindle in the face of urban sprawl. Landscape modifications carving up habitat – the edges of neighborhood yards, for example – actually support more deer at higher densities per square mile than undisturbed forests. Due to modern NJ settlement patterns, available deer habitat has increased while predation has decreased leading to populations that have outstripped deer carrying capacity for much of our state. When deer populations overwhelm an area, normal deer behaviors bring them into closer contact with humans, resulting in increased incidence of human disease (for example, Lyme disease), auto vs. deer accidents, and competition for suburban landscaping and agricultural crops. [Read more…]

Where Have All the Farmers Gone?

The 2012 Census of Agriculture reported the existence of 9,071 farms in the Garden State. Since the previous 2007 Census had reported 10,327 farms, some in the ag community were quick to express concern over what the decline in NJ farm numbers meant, if anything.

Farmer-SHitchner-2006However, in thinking about farm numbers and the farm economy, accepting the 2007 USDA Census data at face value might be a mistake.

 
In 2007, USDA policy leadership and Congressional policy advocates wanted to portray the USA as a nation with rising numbers of small farms, urban and urban fringe farms, and farms operated by non-traditional operators. The Farm Bill policy campaign was called, “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” and its laudable goal was to connect people with local nutritious food and farmers who raise it. In an ever-consolidating, large-farm global marketplace, officials wanted to elevate economically viable local food system career opportunities and community development for young people. What better method than by manipulating Census reporting to reveal a rising number of small farm opportunities?
[Read more…]

Legislating the Lust for “Local”

New rules are being proposed regarding farm products sold in NJ designated as “local.”
Learn how the proposed rules will affect you and send your comments regarding N.J.A.C. 2:71-10
before July 3, 2015 ~

  • via email: proposedrulesMarkets@ag.state.nj.us,
  • by mail: Al Murray, Director 
Division of Marketing and Development,
    New Jersey Dept of Agriculture, PO Box 330,
 Trenton, NJ 08625

Sherry Marolda, of Marolda Farms in Atlantic County, speaks for many family farmers when she says that rising customer interest in purchasing locally grown crops “is the best thing to happen to us in a long time.” As William Safire put it, “localness challenges cleanliness as being next to godliness… The lust for the local is even competing with organic — food grown or raised without a chemical assist but often transported around the world… ”
[Read more…]

Effective Political Communications

Farmers_go_to_TrentonIt is important that farmers be involved in policy decisions at the local, state, and federal level because quite often those charged with making policy do not farm and may not realize the impact their actions have on the viability of farms in our state.

Farm families feel frustration toward government institutions that seem unresponsive on a range of issues, from crushing regulatory burden relief, to agritourism legislation affecting the hosting of lifecycle events, to inadequate access to educational outreach programming.

The way to cope is to get engaged and get heard. Effective communication with elected officials allows you to be heard on issues affecting your ability to farm. [Read more…]