Farm-label bill passes committee

TRENTON — The Assembly agriculture committee approved a bill allowing counties to create their own label for food grown or processed in that county, sponsored by Assemblymen Parker Space and Ron Dancer and Assemblywoman Gail Phoebus.
“Many people want to know that their food is locally grown and of high nutritious value,” said Space. “A local county label will not only tell people that products are Jersey Fresh, but come from just down the road locally.”
“People today want to know where their food comes from,” said Phoebus (R—Sussex, Warren, Morris). “Some food on store shelves has been harvested before it was ripe, and transported across the country – or from outside of the country —in box cars and trucks. The freshness of locally harvested fruit and vegetables is unmistakable.”
Monmouth County has received an $80,000 grant from the United States Department of Agriculture to develop such a label.