Hot News

11.01.2007

By BRUCE HOTCHKISS
Senior Editor

SWEDESBORO — It rained on the evening of the Gloucester County Board of Agriculture annual dinner and business meeting in 2006.
It rained all day on the evening of the Gloucester County Board of Agriculture dinner and business meeting in 2007.
But no one was complaining.
Someone said, by way of an advisory for future scheduling, “If you want it to rain, schedule a county ag board annual meeting.”
The rain, which brought to an end a summer-long drought in the Mid-Atlantic area, did nothing to deter more than 100 farmers, New Jersey current and former ag leaders, local and state lawmakers and members of their families from gathering on Oct. 26 at Botto’s famed Italian restaurant where they presented three coveted service to agriculture awards.
The board’s Distinguished Service to Agricultural awards went to Lorraine Grasso, who has devoted 50 year of her live to Gloucester County agriculture, and to Steve and Chris Smith, an entrepreneurial couple who have brought a lifetime of leadership talents to the Gloucester County farming community.
A Special Service to Agriculture award was made to The New Jersey Farmer newspaper, which has been serving the ag industry in the Garden State since April 1988.
Grasso drew high praise from Doug Zee Jr., Ag Board president, and Michelle Casella, county ag agent, for her many years of “unselfish service” to Gloucester County agriculture.
Grasso, a lifelong resident of Gloucester County and a member of the Clayton High School Class of 1950, worked as an operator for New Jersey Bell until marrying Tom Grasso in 1955.
Tom and Lorraine operated a 150-acre vegetable farm in East Greenwich Township from 1955 until the sale of the farm in 1985.
The couple continued to farm, however, on about 10 acres near their home in East Greenwich, raising asparagus, peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, butternut squash, soybeans and sweet potatoes, which they sold through the Swedesboro and Vineland auctions and the Philadelphia Food Distribution Center.
Grasso has served as an organizer for the Gloucester County Board of Agriculture farm market at the annual 4-H fair for 15 years. The market proceeds benefit the Gloucester County Board of Agriculture scholarship fund.
She served on the East Greenwich Board of Education from 1976 to 1982 and has been a member of the Kingsway Regional School Board since 1980.
For 15 years, she served on the East Greenwich Township Zoning Board where she looked after the interests of the agricultural community.
Steve and Chris Smith raised their four children — Dan, Jeff, Jenna and Dave —in their home adjacent to Fred Smith Orchards in Washington Township while Steve Smith operated Fred Smith and later Smith Bros. Orchard, a large fruit growing and marketing operation in Washington, Monroe, Mantua, and Harrison townships.
Chris Smith worked with her husband on the fruit farm and later with the rest of the Smith family as they started Peach Country Tractor, Mantua Rebuilders, and their latest business, Peach County Mulch. Today, operating all these businesses, the Smiths have help from their children who have various management responsibilities, and Steve’s brother, Joe, who is active at Peach County Tractor outside of Glassboro. Chris works with Steve in the daily operation of each of these agricultural businesses.
Steve is a graduate of Delaware Valley College with a degree in Horticulture and the New Jersey Agricultural Leadership Program. He was one of the early farmers to take leaves from municipalities and compost them for the addition of needed organic matter on Gloucester County’s sandy soils. He later expanded this by using plant waste, including grass and tree clippings, to make various composted mulch products to improve soil structure. This was the basis for starting his business Peach Country Mulch, now one of the largest mulching businesses in the county.
Steve Smith is former vice president, president, and now is a director of the Gloucester County Board of Agriculture. He has also served on the board of directors of the New Jersey Farm Bureau.
He is a former trustee of the New Jersey Peach Council and a director of the New Jersey Peach Promotion Council where he also served as secretary and treasurer. He is a long-time director and now president of the New Jersey Peach Festival Association and with his father, the late Fred Smith, worked to get the festival in Gloucester County.
Chris Smith is a long-time co-coordinator of the New Jersey Peach Festival and with her family, has been instrumental in seeing various improvements in the promotion of New Jersey peaches. She and her daughter conduct the annual New Jersey Peach Queen competition.
Chris and Steve also serve on the board of directors of the Gloucester County 4-H Fair Association where he was recently elected vice president.
The New Jersey Farmer started as a monthly publication but is now published twice a month. The New Jersey Farmer debuted in April 1988.
That edition carried a letter from Stephen J. Kleinschuster, then dean of Cook College and executive director of the New Jersey Ag Experiment Station complex, in which he wrote:
“The New Jersey Farmer will fill a spot empty for too long. While some voices mourn the demise of agriculture in the Garden State, you carry the banner high by starting a publication.
“Hooray for your parent, The Delmarva Farmer and for your enterprise. We wish you much success and many readers.”
The new farm newspaper also won the blessing of then Secretary of Agriculture Art Brown.
“This premier edition of The New Jersey Farmer demonstrates the strength of New Jersey’s farming industry and the commitment of American Farm Publications Inc. to serving the state’s agricultural community. Welcome to New Jersey.”
Brown, now in a key administrative post at Rutgers University, was among the guests at the Gloucester County Ag Board dinner and dined with members of the staff of The New Jersey Farmer on hand to receive the award.
“Good job,” he told them. “You deserve the recognition.”