GCSH Visits Snyder Research Farm

On Wednesday, September 29, 2021, ten members of the GCSH drove to Pittstown to tour the Rutgers Center for Sustainable Agriculture: The Clifford E. & Melda C. Snyder Research & Extension Farm, as part of its Visiting Gardens program. The group toured the farm from the back of a hay wagon, driven by Farm Manager, Ed Dager.

The original farm, named Cliffields, was established by two forward-thinking individuals, Clifford Snyder, an attendee of MIT and graduate of Cornell University, and his wife Melda, a teacher and school district administrator. The Snyders were innovators who believed in hard work and civic service, and farming was their passion.  

Today, Snyder Farm, bequeathed to Rutger’s University, works closely with NJ farmers to strike that balance between profitability and environmental responsibility.  With innovation as a priority, more than 75 experiments are underway in the areas of cropping systems and business tools.  In addition to research projects, the farm does food donations (100-200,000 lbs of produce to food banks every year!) and maintains a teaching garden.

Of particular interest to the GCSH was the basil farm containing 400 cultivars (in 1200 plots for a total of 4,800 plants), the tomato tasting, the Watermelon apple, patented by a professor at Rutgers, and the experiment using Yacon root from Peru as a natural sweetener.

What was expected to be a day of education and information turned out to be an adventure of science and wonder, an amazing outing for all who attended!