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Bob Muth
Williamstown, New Jersey
SUMMARY
 11
acres in mixed vegetables and cut flowers
Three-quarters
of an acre in strawberries sold from a roadside stand
40 acres
of hay
BACKGROUND
Bob Muth grew up on a farm, but left New Jersey for a job as an extension agent.
After a few years, he returned in 1990 to farm full time.
"I hear all this gloom and doom
about farming," he says, "but I like where I am and I wouldn't change
a thing about how I got here."
Muth grows tomatoes, bell peppers,
strawberries, okra, squash and melons. All the crops are set as transplants
on plastic mulch and raised with drip irrigation. He sends vegetables to buyers
ranging from "Mom and Pop" groceries to large food distributors, but
to diversify his marketing, he is transitioning nine acres of vegetables to
certified organic. Much of that went to 35 families who joined his community-supported
agriculture (CSA) enterprise, something Muth calls a "howling success"
that he plans to expand to 100 families. (CSA provides weekly produce to "shareholders"
who pay at the beginning of the season.)
He also sells strawberries and flowers
directly to consumers and continues to market hay to horse farmers.
"As this area becomes more developed,
marketing is becoming increasingly important. We are making deliberate steps
to get closer to the final user," he says.
PROFITABILITY
Muth Farm provides for the family's current needs and also generates enough
income to save for retirement. The farm grosses between $150,000 and $300,000,
so net profits vary, too. Muth, however, has been able to gradually build his
savings. He rents all of his farmland, a strategy he describes as "one
of my secrets to success."
ENVIRONMENTAL STRATEGIES
With about 15 percent clay and a tendency to crust when worked intensively,
the gravelly sandy loam soil is challenging. Muth designs long rotations and
makes extensive use of cover crops. Only about 20 percent of his 80 acres is
in vegetable crops at any one time. He also adds extra organic matter by spreading
the leaves collected by local municipalities on some of his fields each autumn.
In a typical rotation, after the
vegetable crop is turned under in the fall, he covers the ground with up to
six inches of leaves, about 20 tons per acre. The following spring, he works
in the decomposing leaves. His soil-building program has now given him fields
that test as high as 5 percent organic matter, unheard of for the mineral soils
of southern New Jersey. One benefit is decreased soil and fertilizer runoff.
To keep pesticide use down, Muth depends heavily on integrated pest management.
COMMUNITY, OUTREACH, QUALITY OF LIFE
To help with the vegetables, Muth hires four or five workers from Mexico from
April to November. He rents an apartment for them year-round, gives them the
use of a truck, and helps out with medical care and food. Considering them an
integral part of his operation, Muth offers them a lot of responsibility and
plans his plantings with their capabilities in mind.
A leader in sustainable agriculture
in his area, Muth often speaks at growers' meetings and hosts farm tours. He
serves on his local agriculture board and the Administrative Council for the
Northeast Region SARE program.
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