Fisher gets nod for N.J. agriculture secretary

Gov. Corzine yesterday threw his support behind the New Jersey Board of Agriculture's pick for the state's next agriculture secretary.

Corzine announced his endorsement during a speech at the New Jersey State Agricultural Convention in Cherry Hill.

Assemblyman Douglas H. Fisher (D., Salem), who will resign from the Legislature to accept the position, expects to take office in about three weeks, following the standard vetting process.

"This is a good human being," Corzine said of Fisher, 61. He is an "extraordinary individual" who works hard, has been intimately involved with economic development, and "understands how to get things done in government," the governor added.

Corzine's announcement, which had been expected, drew applause from conventioneers.

Fisher, a real estate agent and former supermarket owner, chairs the Assembly Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee. He has represented the Third District, which includes Salem County and parts of Gloucester and Cumberland Counties, since 2002.

Speaking after Corzine, he used the opportunity to introduce himself to farmers. Fisher said he started working in his family's retail meat business when he was 8, as soon as he was tall enough to hand hot dogs over the counter. He later worked in a tomato cannery that produced ketchup and, after earning a marketing degree from Bryant College in Rhode Island, managed his family's supermarket for 30 years.

Fisher said the Department of Agriculture should help farmers do what they love to do - farm. He said he wanted the agency to be more diligent in expressing farmers' concerns to lawmakers.

His job will be made more difficult by a tough economy and limited resources, Fisher acknowledged.

Corzine also alluded to his own poorly received suggestion last spring to fold the Department of Agriculture into the Department of Environmental Protection in order to save money. While the Agriculture Department survived, its $9.2 million budget was slashed to $7.9 million.

"I want to continue to make sure that we support agriculture in every possible way in a context of one of the most difficult financial environments that a state and nation and, actually, our globe is facing," Corzine said.

"I don't want to see tractors running down State Street, so I think you can infer from that that we will do everything we can to preserve our agricultural communities," he added later, in a reference to farmers' protests in Trenton.

Putting a ballot question before voters to attempt to replenish open space and the farmland-preservation fund is a priority, Corzine and Fisher agreed.

Fisher said he also hoped to improve cooperation between the Departments of Agriculture and Environmental Protection.

In an interview, Fisher said he was confident the Agriculture Department would not be shuttered in the next round of budget cuts.

"It's totally off the table," he said. "Now we just have to make sure we can get the money to run the department effectively."