How State Regulation Adversely Affects New Jersey Wineries

If New Jersey is the Garden State, why do New Jersey wineries produce less than one-tenth of 1 percent of total national output? Is it because New Jersey small business owners are limited by unnecessary bureaucratic obstacles? In a 2016 article by CBS News, New Jersey ranked number 31 in business-friendly states for entrepreneurs. A similar CNBC article ranked the state at number 34. 
One of the issues on the table is the differing treatment of wineries on preserved farmland and their competitors on unpreserved farmland, which effectively makes the “preserved” wineries a second class of farms. When farmland is preserved under the authority of the Agriculture Retention and Development Act, the development rights are purchased by the government, and preserved farms are subject to regulation by the state Agricultural Development Commission. 
Many farmers feel the regulations for preserved farms exhibit a limited conception of what constitutes agricultural activities and unnecessarily restrict the steps they can take to make their farms profitable, including farmer’s markets, special occasion events, other marketing events and building greenhouses to extend the growing season. Such activities are common in other states which are enjoying billions of dollars in agritourism revenue according to local attorney Marcus H. Karavan, who is a member of the legal committee of the Garden State Winegrowers Association. Changing the New Jersey regulations could benefit Cape May County farms as they compete for agritourism dollars. Regulatory changes and the implementation of the Cape May Peninsula branding for the county’s wineries should be positive steps for agriculture in Cape May County.
Shouldn’t the role of government be to promote farm sector growth?  One of the limitations on preserved wineries is that their agricultural output is limited to the wine or products produced from fruit grown on site. It makes more sense for the state’s farms to allow the preserved winery to include products manufactured from fruit, produce or products from any New Jersey farm. This would encourage more New Jersey farms to grow the grapes, blueberries, pears, plums, etc. the wineries need to increase their production, without having to invest in the infrastructure and expertise needed to produce their own wines.
ED. NOTE: Cape Issues is a non-partisan, volunteer group that focuses on community betterment issues.