Contact:

FRED FEINER, COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR
PHONE: 908-234-1225, EXT. 104
FRED@NJCONSERVATION.ORG

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Buy Fresh, Buy Local – Learn Why…and How!

STOCKTON, NJ, March 7, 2007 – Join the New Jersey Conservation Foundation (NJCF) for “Supporting Our Local Farmers” at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 28. The two-hour program will be held at the Prallsville Mills, Route 29, Stockton, Hunterdon County.

Learn about the benefits of purchasing local, farm-fresh products, including: supporting small, family farmers and the local economy; saving New Jersey farmland by increasing local marketing opportunities; promoting a sense of community; encouraging stewardship of our natural resources; and increasing our security by knowing where the food is grown, how and by whom. 

Mikey Azzara, Outreach Coordinator for the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New Jersey (NOFA-NJ), will discuss how to increase your purchasing of local food and why we all need to support small, sustainable family farms. He will also discuss NOFA-NJ’s effort to provide more local food options within New Jersey, including their Regional Farmer-Chef Meetings and the growing list of “Jersey Fresh” Restaurants, as well as their School Garden and Farm to School Initiatives, educating NJ youth about growing, cooking, and eating healthy food.

NJCF Policy Director Alison E. Mitchell will also discuss NJCF efforts to aid New Jersey farmers. “There is an unprecedented opportunity to increase programs that will help improve people’s access to locally grown food in the 2007 federal Farm Bill,” Mitchell said, “and NJCF and NOFA are leading the charge in New Jersey.”

The program is free, but pre-registration is required. For more information, please contact Marie Newell at Marie@njconservation.org or (609) 773-0333.

Since 1960, NJCF has preserved over 100,000 acres of land from the New Jersey Highlands to the Delaware Bayshore, permanently protecting forests, farmland and natural resources, all vital to New Jersey’s future. Over the last 20 years, NJCF and its partners have preserved over 2,000 acres of precious land for public enjoyment and the protection of natural resources in the Western Piedmont area of Hunterdon and Mercer Counties, including NJCF’s 988-acre Wickecheoke Creek Preserve which is open to the public. For more information on NJCF’s work in the Western Piedmont, please call (609) 773-0333 or visit www.njconservation.org.