Companion bills A5587 and S4728 would send direct grants to farms devastated by the April freeze. The State Board of Agriculture takes public comment Wednesday that helps shape the department's budget request for fiscal 2028.
Lawmakers in both chambers have introduced companion bills that would send $60 million in direct grants to farms hit by a mid-April freeze that destroyed fruit blossoms across the state.
The state's agriculture budget gets a public airing Wednesday, Oct. 14, when the State Board of Agriculture holds a virtual listening session at 6:00 p.m. on the New Jersey Department of Agriculture's request for fiscal year 2028. The New Jersey Farm Bureau is urging farmers to log on and testify. Its posting tells members to "make your voice heard." The session belongs to the executive branch, not the Legislature, and has no bearing on the bills.
The April freeze caught crops in bloom
The freeze ran from April 19 through April 22, with overnight lows in the low 20s, arriving after a burst of summer-like warmth had pushed perennial crops into early bloom, according to the New Jersey Monitor. The cold snap then hit crops just as they were developing, badly injuring blossoms and young fruit, according to the Governor's Office. Peaches, apples, pears, cherries, blueberries, strawberries and grapes all took damage in a disaster that stretched from Virginia to Michigan, according to the New Jersey Monitor, which reported officials estimated damages in the state would top $300 million. In many areas crop damage topped 30 percent, and some growers expected to lose entire crops, according to the Governor's Office.
State agriculture staff and county Farm Service Agency committees had spent weeks documenting crop damage when, on May 20, Gov. Mikie Sherrill declared a State of Emergency in all 21 counties and asked U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins for a Secretarial Disaster Designation. The USDA approved the designation in June. Seventeen New Jersey counties qualified as primary natural disaster areas and four more as contiguous, putting every county in the state under the designation. The designation opened the door to low-interest emergency loans that, according to the Farm Service Agency, can cover recovery needs from refinancing old debts to reorganizing a farm or replacing equipment or livestock. Applications are due Feb. 8, 2027. In Washington, U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer announced the FROST Relief Act on Oct. 9, a bill that would create federal block grants for freeze-damaged farms across 13 states including New Jersey.
On Oct. 5, the Assembly and Senate introduced companion bills titled the "Emergency Crop Loss Relief Act of 2026" that would appropriate $60 million for the grants. Where the federal response so far is loans, the legislation offers grants: money that does not have to be repaid.
Assemblywoman Andrea Katz (D, 8th) is the prime sponsor in the Assembly, joined by Assemblyman Michael Inganamort (R, 24th District) and Assemblywomen Dawn Fantasia (R, 24th), Marisa Sweeney (D, 25th) and Heather Simmons (D, 3rd), plus seven co-sponsors. Senators John Burzichelli (D, 3rd) and Parker Space (R, 24th) are the Senate sponsors, joined by co-sponsors Doug Steinhardt (R, 23rd) and James Beach (D, 6th). The prime sponsors come from both parties in both chambers.
Legislative records show the Assembly referred A5587 to the Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee, which Katz chairs, and the Senate referred S4728 to the Economic Growth Committee. A narrower bill that would give the agriculture secretary emergency-declaration powers has been pending in the Senate committee since May 28 without a vote.
The Farm Service Agency decides who gets the loans, weighing the extent of losses and repayment ability, and under standard federal rules the loans require collateral. Many farms sunk costs into crops that were subsequently destroyed and, the bills' findings note, still pay taxes, insurance and payroll despite having "little or no marketable crop from which to generate revenue."
"New Jersey's farmers are why we earn the nickname the 'Garden State', and they experienced catastrophic losses through no fault of their own," Senator Parker Space (R, 24th) said in an Aug. 11 statement from the three sponsors announcing plans to introduce the legislation. "Many invested an entire season's worth of labor and resources only to see their crops destroyed by a single weather event. This legislation will provide the emergency assistance they need to recover and continue feeding New Jersey."
The legislation routes $60 million through a new dedicated fund
Under the introduced text, grants would cover damage "not met by any other governmental funding source." The legislation would move $60 million from the General Fund into a "2026 Freeze and Crop Loss Relief Dedicated Fund" housed in the Department of Agriculture. Grants or other forms of financial assistance would go to farm operations with demonstrated land damage or crop loss from the April freeze. The agriculture secretary would have to set up a fast-track application process, verify claims with existing USDA Farm Service Agency data, cap awards per recipient, publish grant availability within 30 days of enactment and file a report within a year detailing how the money was spent. The agriculture secretary could file rules setting up the grant program with the Office of Administrative Law immediately; the rules would last up to 18 months. The legislation itself would take effect immediately.
Preference would go to operations that can verify losses above 25 percent, measured against the prior year for each crop. The rest of eligibility would track financial need and damage to long-recovery crops. The bill's findings value the sector at more than $1.5 billion in wholesale value and about 25,000 jobs.
Assemblyman Inganamort said in the Aug. 11 statement, "We cannot undo the freeze, but we can make sure a temporary disaster doesn't become a permanent loss for the farms and communities that depend on agriculture."
Wednesday's session shapes the department's budget request, not the bill
The eight-member board convening Wednesday's session consists of farmers chosen through a selection process dating to 1887: candidates are elected by agriculture-industry delegates at the annual State Agricultural Convention, then appointed by the governor with state Senate approval. The budget request at issue is the department's opening ask in the governor's budget process, the document where its funding priorities first go on the record. Testimony at the session shapes that request.
For farmers planning to speak, the Farm Bureau's posting lays out the logistics: up to five minutes of verbal testimony, with written testimony accepted by email at BudgetFeedback@ag.nj.gov in advance.
Related Articles
NJ Governor Sherrill Declares Farm Emergency; USDA Silent as Staffing Crisis Deepens
NJ Farmers Have Two Federal Relief Options Before February. Most Know About One.
Sources
• New Jersey Department of Agriculture, Facebook post announcing the FY2028 budget listening session and written testimony instructions (Oct. 13, 2026)
• New Jersey Department of Agriculture, "NJ Freeze Disaster Designation and Emergency Loan Info" (June 10, 2026)
• New Jersey Department of Agriculture, "State Board of Agriculture" page, boards-councils-taskforces (accessed Oct. 13, 2026)
• New Jersey Farm Bureau, Facebook post on testimony rules for the FY2028 budget listening session (October 2026)
• New Jersey Legislature, Bill No. A5587, "Emergency Crop Loss Relief Act of 2026" (Oct. 5, 2026)
• New Jersey Legislature, Bill No. S4354 (May 28, 2026)
• New Jersey Legislature, Bill No. S4728, "Emergency Crop Loss Relief Act of 2026" (Oct. 5, 2026)
• New Jersey Monitor, Dana DiFilippo, "NJ farmers plead for help after April freeze destroyed fruit trees, other crops" (May 22, 2026)
• New Jersey Monitor, Dana DiFilippo, "Bill would give $60M in state aid to NJ farmers who lost crops in April freeze" (Oct. 1, 2026)
• New Jersey Senate Republicans, "Space, Fantasia, Inganamort to Introduce Emergency Relief Bill for Farmers Devastated by Freeze" (Aug. 11, 2026)
• Office of the Governor, news release on Executive Order 18 and the USDA disaster designation request (May 20, 2026)
• U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency, "USDA Designates 17 New Jersey Counties as Natural Disaster Areas for Freeze" (June 15, 2026)
• U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer, news release announcing the FROST Relief Act (Oct. 9, 2026)
Photo: Krzysztof Jaracz / Pixabay