News » New Jersey OK’s MMJ on Preserved Farms

The New Jersey State Agriculture Development Committee says that medical marijuana counts as a farm crop under NJ law and thus can be grown on preserved farms and agricultural land. The clarification comes despite Upper Freehold Township residents who oppose the growing of medical cannabis in their area.

New Jersey’s sole recognized grower, Breakwater Alternative Treatment Center, is looking at five properties in Upper Freehold as sites for growing MMJ and some of those are preserved farms, thus leading to the need for clarification. The only restriction in NJ for growing cannabis is that it cannot be on farms and lands for the federal Farm and Ranchland Protection Program funding, which includes only about 140 preserved farms of a total of 2,000. The federal program would cease funding the lands of medical cannabis were grown there, the SADC says.

Marijuana grow ops would not be protected under the state’s Right to Farm Act, however, which specifically requires compliance with federal law. This means that MMJ growers do not receive the zoning breaks and protections from ordinance restrictions that other farms would.

Opponents, of course, were outraged with the decision and had articulate and thoughtful arguments against medical marijuana to offer. Things like:

“In my mind it still comes down to the bottom line, that it is against the federal law,” says Upper Freehold mayor LoriSue Mount. “Illegal is illegal. It’s plain and clear. If we don’t follow laws then where does that leave us?” (Umm.. free?)

One legitimate argument may be heard from farmers in the area, who say that the grow op will be hydroponic inside greenhouses, which are anathema to the point of the preserved farms initiative. “It’s going to be cement and it is going to be grown hydroponically,” says one farmer. “We as taxpayers and as farmers have put all this land aside for preserved farmland and open space, not so a company can come in and build something..”

That may be considered a valid point. Looking at this from someone who chooses to live rurally, I can say that using land set aside as preserved farms to build something that is exactly opposite of what most of us would think of as a “farm” is disingenuous. I would hope that the Breakwater Alternative Treatment Center would think about that when choosing a site. There are plenty of non-preserved sites available and it would seem best to choose one of those if possible in order to keep community goodwill on your side.

[source Asbury Park Press]

Tags: medical, MMJ, New Jersey