Brothers say family farms under siege

BY JANE MEGGITT
Staff Writer

SCOTT PILLING staff A view of the Holmes’ family farm on Jonathan Holmes Road in Cream Ridge. The farm has been owned by members of the Holmes family since 1668. The Holmes brothers see the industry that they love changing.Joseph David, 54, and George, 50, operate Holmes Brothers Hay and Straw on Jonathan Holmes Road, a road named for one of their Revolutionary War-era ancestors. No other family in Upper Freehold Township has been engaged in farming as long as theirs has, and possibly no other family in the area ever will.

Their property has been owned by members of their family since 1668, although the Holmeses did not move to the area until 1720. The current tract has been continuously farmed for the past 285 years.

Today, the brothers grow hay and straw, along with soybeans and custom farming products. Their farm has about 300 tillable acres. It was once much larger, consisting of land now occupied by the Gambler Ridge Golf Course in Cream Ridge and properties on Wygant Road.

Most of the brothers’ customers are in the equine industry, including both racing and breeding barns and backyard horse owners, as well as sheep and goat owners and 4-H members, according to David Holmes. They also supply bales to the construction and landscape trade, he said.

David Holmes thinks newcomers to the township often find farming different than they had visualized. He said the general public has no idea of the economic situation of most production agriculture.

George Holmes said that many people do not understand that moving from where they formerly lived to Upper Freehold “is a different way of life.”

“People move here because they like it, and then they try to change it,” George Holmes said. He cited attempts in other communities to keep farm equipment off the roads on weekends and also said that residents in an Upper Freehold development complained about a game farm located next to their subdivision.

In David Holmes’ view, the most immediate threat to the farmer is zoning, which impacts the farmer’s largest asset — land. He said when farmers go to the bank to borrow money, the bank looks at this asset as security.

“If a financial institution can’t be assured a value, they will have a problem with it,” David Holmes said. “No one single group of landowners should be as affected. Large-lot zoning is an undue hardship on a small segment of us.”

When asked what would be necessary to keep farming and farms viable in the township, the brothers mentioned a discount on property taxes for single-use buildings.

The township’s infrastructure, they said, would also have to be rehauled. For example, David Holmes said there are constant problems with low limbs and branches on rural roads, which cause accidents with farm equipment. Also, many of the bridges in the township cannot accommodate large trucks and farm machinery.

“The infrastructure is falling apart,” he said.

However, the brothers said they realize some issues are beyond the Township Committee’s reach. David Holmes said more help is needed from the state Legislature to help the racing industry, in the form of allowing video lottery terminals or slots at racetracks. He said a lot of their clients in the racing and breeding industry had moved out of state to areas that permit slots.

The brothers would also like to see more auxiliary agricultural businesses in town, which the township Economic Development Committee is trying to promote. Allowing farmers to put up cell towers on their land would also help, they said, as would permitting landscapers to park equipment on the property where they are working.

They had once given consideration to going into the farmland preservation program, the brothers said. However, they lost interest because there were questions that officials couldn’t satisfactorily answer.

“We like our independence,” David Holmes said.

David Holmes no longer finds the township to be a civil community, recalling that not so long ago, all of their neighbors were friends.

When asked for a solution to the township’s woes, he said, “I think we need women on the Township Committee. I’m tired of these huge egos running the town.”