The Largest Landowner in New Jersey Owns a Ridiculous 3,000 Acres

The federal government is the largest landowner in the United States by a wide margin. About 30 percent, or 650 million acres, across all 50 states is owned and operated by the U.S. government. The largest landowner in each state, unsurprisingly, is also the federal government. In Nevada, for example, the government owns a staggering 85 percent of the state’s total land. While the public share of land in New Jersey is much smaller, the government still beats out any competitors for owning the most land.

Out of the 4.8 million acres of land that make up the Garden State, the federal government owns close to 180,000 acres, just shy of 4 percent of the total. When we factor out public land, though, who is the largest landowner in New Jersey?

Identifying the Largest Landowner in New Jersey

Information regarding land holdings in New Jersey is not as easy to come by as in some states. Highlighting this difficulty, World Population Review lists the largest landowner in the Garden State as owning a mere 1,000 acres. While 1,000 acres is a sizeable amount of land, there are a few other businesses that own more.

Princeton University was once the largest private landowner in the state when it owned some 4,000 acres in the 1990s. Throughout the years, however, the total acreage owned by the university has fluctuated as it has sold pieces of its land and bought new parcels. It now claims to own about 2,300 acres, preserving its rank among the top largest landowners in New Jersey. While Princeton comes close, it is not the largest landowner in the state.

The Largest Landowner in New Jersey Owns a Ridiculous 3,000 Acres

Apparently, New Jersey is not called the Garden State for nothing. Owing its nickname to the abundance of farms thriving throughout the state, it makes sense that the largest landowner in New Jersey would be a farm.

Wellacrest Farms is the largest dairy farm in New Jersey. It owns a ridiculous 3,000 acres in Mullica Hill, NJ. The sprawling facility works 600 cows, producing about 51,000 pounds of milk a day. That’s 17 million pounds a year. Along with housing the milk-producing adult cows and their calves, those thousands of acres are also used to grow feed for all the animals on the Mullica Hill land. Some grain is also sold to other farms.

The Garden State lives up to its name in many ways. New Jersey is even home to the world’s largest chili pepper farm!

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