New Jersey Town To Seize 175-Year-Old Family Farm To Build Low-Income Housing

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From the farming journal AGWeb:

On South River Road, in Middlesex County, N.J., warehouses and industrial buildings have replaced the once abundant farms of yesteryear — except a lone holdout.

'My family sacrificed on this land for 175 years,' Henry adds. 'All the other farms disappeared. We did not. We will not.'

Henry's great-grandfather bought 21 acres of land in Cranbury in 1850. He rebuilt his home after it burned down in 1879. His son eventually took over the farm, but died in 1936, leaving his wife - Andy's grandma - to run the farm.

The farm passed from his grandma to his mother, and then to Andy and his brother, Christopher.

'It was struggle after struggle, but they held on to the land, and again survived, leaving something for the next generation.'

Henry and Christopher grew up on the farm. They watched the Jersey Turnpike being constructed in 1952. They saw the landscape changed.

In rapid succession, domino-style, the surrounding farms were sold. Warehouses and distributorships birthed metal and concrete; land values skyrocketed; and the industrial world ringed the Henry operation. Through it all, the family's 21 acres remained intact as a working farm.

But Cranbury authorities don't think those things matter as much as what they call "development." They say they need the land to build low-income housing so they can get federal funds (did you know the federal government requires cities to build socialist projects in order to get your tax money?).

On April 24, 2025, Henry's mailbox clinked with an official letter of notice from the Committee, tagging his farm as an affordable housing site. 'It was incredibly stunning,' he says. 'The letter said if I didn't agree on a price — they'd take my land by eminent domain.'

Sell, or else.

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