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Business & Tech

Rifkin Farms: Jersey Fresh Produce and Flowers

Local farmer Hal Rifkin's boundless drive persists after decades on the land

Manalapan is home to an array of businesses, from national chain super markets and restaurants, to fast food franchises. But beyond the bustling commerce of Route 9 lies a throwback to a simpler era. Rifkin Farms, located on Route 527, has provided locals with farm fresh products for more than sixty years.

Owner Hal Rifkin continues to work the same land his parents purchased, though the business has undergone transformations.

"My mother and father bought the place in 1944. They started out as a poultry farm. Then, in 1954 we became a dairy farm and pasteurized and processed our own milk and had routes. In the sixties, they dropped the dairy farm completely and started growing vegetables," Rifkin explained.

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Pacing through the market, peppers, cucumbers, string beans, and lettuce abound, along with Jersey staples like apples, corn and tomatoes. Rifkin Farms also sells an assortment of flowers. Petunias, marigolds, zinnias, begonias, and dahlias are just some of the choices offered to those with a green thumb.

As it is July, Rifkin's work within the greenhouses is done, concluding a process that began on March 1 when shipments of flowers arrived. While Rifkin has completed one phase of the summer cycle, the grower continues to nurture his produce.

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"We're picking the corn and the squash all ready, and the tomatoes are close. The peppers and the tomatoes and the eggplants and the cantaloupes and watermelons come later in July, around the fifteenth," Rifkin said.

Farming is not a task for the faint of heart, as Rifkin can attest. "I work 14, 16, 18 hour days. People ask me how do I do it. I've done it all my life," the farmer said.

Rifkin's duties go beyond cultivating seven acres.

"Two nights a week I have to leave here and go into Pennsylvania and haul fruit from the produce terminal. I don't get back until 2 or 3 in the morning," he said. "That's from June 1 to when we close, around October 30."

The daily grind is standard procedure. But in a culture where immediate satisfaction has become the norm, the modern farmer faces an uphill battle. The proliferation of the fast food industry makes the consumer’s quest for a fresh meal increasingly uncommon.

"The problem around the country is lack of demand for our product. We’re losing a lot of customers to age. They’re not the type to go home and cook meals," affirms Rifkin. "A young woman came in and told me, ‘We go to McDonald’s every day and we don’t need you.’ People work hard and don't want to cook. It’s a different life now."

One can speculate the long term effects of a diet consisting primarily of processed meals.

"It's such a drain on the health care system," Rifkin said. "It's going to help destroy it. It's not a happy story, but that's a part of life. It's not easy to change people."

If the shift in what Americans eat is not problematic enough, local and federal governments offer little relief to the farming community. The process of government zoning has been detrimental to family farms across the nation.

"We sold part of the farm back in the year 2000. Things started to look bad," Rifkin said. "We had no choice. We were forced to sell because of the town's decision to change the zoning. I wanted to put it in farmland preservation. The county didn't want it because they just built hundreds of acres of golf courses across the street. To lose that equity in the land would be the end of all of us. We didn't want to, it killed me to have to do it. The zoning prompted us to do it, like so many people nation-wide everyday. Towns are still going through it all over the country. When you're a farmer the only thing you have is your land," Rifkin added.

The long days and struggles aside, it is clear the affable Hal Rifkin gains satisfaction from his kinship with the land.

"You're born into this life. When you're a farmer, you're a different breed all together. Do I have a boring life? No, not really."

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