Brett Bullock talks about six generations of family farming at Bullock Farms

Published: Dec. 20, 2017, 2 p.m.

Bullock Farms is a family owned and operated 100 acre farm located in beautiful central New Jersey with gently rolling hills, green pastures and open farmland. Brett Bullock and his sister are the sixth generation of farmers at Bullock Farms in Cream Ridge, NJ, which was founded in 1860. Brett grew up on the farm and then went to college at University of Vermont, where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Plant and Soil Sciences. He then spent some years as a self-professed ski bum before starting work at a nursery specializing in ornamental trees. In 2009 he moved back to NJ and back to his family farm where he works everyday and has overseen special projects like the creation of the Screamin’ Hill Brewery that opened on the farm in 2014. The generations have seen many changes. In the early days, alfalfa, corn and potatoes were the main crops grown on the farm. Cranberries were grown in bogs owned by the Bullocks in nearby Prospertown and processed on the farm in the Cranberry House. Potatoes and grain were grown through the 1950s, changing to tomatoes in the 1960s, and then moving to all grain from the early 1970s thru the 1990s. Planting pumpkins in the mid 1980s started as a project and is now one of the main crops. They began planting nursery stock in 1986, and Christmas trees in 1989. The farm opened for the Christmas season in 1999.