Our Farming History

Our family has been in the farming business since the 1800’s ranging from dairy farmers to vegetable and grain farmers.  Our current location was purchased by William and Alice Ale in 1957.  In 1979 William, Alice and son Rodney began propagating Ale’s nursery stock.  In 1991 Rodney and his wife Flossie purchased the operation from William and Alice.  At the time the farm had only 7 acres of container houses and approximately 15 acres had balled and burlaped material.  Now the farm currently operates 24 acres of container houses and still maintains 15 acres of balled and burlaped material.  We currently employ up to twenty workers throughout the year.  Our goal is to try to serve our customers with quality material from basic to exotic items. 

Congratulations to Rodney and Flossie Ale, FSA's 2005 New Jersey Farm Family of the Year!

Paul Hlubik, State Executive Director for USDA's Farm Service Agency in New Jersey, joined by Associate Administrator Mike Yost from Washington, DC and Congressman Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ), presented the Ale's the award during a dinner gala at the 2006 New Jersey State Agricultural Convention in Atlantic City. The Ale's are the owners and
operators of Ale's Nursery in Hopewell Township, New Jersey.

"Rodney Ale's goal at 16 years of age was to purchase the family farm and turn it into a nursery," said Hlubik. "FSA helped make that dream come true. He now has a highly successful operation with customers as north as Massachusetts, west to Ohio and South to Virginia & Tennessee." Ale says he got the nursery bug when he was just a freshman in high school when he worked for a local grower.

"It seemed the guys in nursery were doing better than the vegetable guys," said Ale. With encouragement from his father he got his first green house. Rodney and Flossie Ale have been farming since 1988 and a Farm Service Agency borrower since 1993 when he got his 1st operating loan. In the following 13 years, they have worked hard to continue their families farming tradition. They enjoy the lifestyle appreciate the hard work involved in running a successful nursery in New Jersey. In the late 80's they successfully navigated the transition from a vegetable to a field nursery operation. In the 90's the successfully handled the conversion from 100% field stock to a mostly container operation. The changeovers have been costly and the process was slow, and sometimes difficult. Through hard work, sound business decisions, and help from FSA financing and other government backed assistance; Rodney and Flossie have been able to meet current customer needs with a diverse line of quality nursery stock while providing for family living needs, including a total renovation of the original farm house. The have also worked hard to protect & conserve their natural resources with soil & water projects."I have had the pleasure of working with Rodney and Flossie through their entire relationship with FSA," said Robert Maxwell, FSA Loan Officer in Vineland. "I have seen how they handle the both the good and bad times and respect their decision making." "They work very hard and only family comes before the business," added Hlubik. "They are a true farm family." "Sales increase every year and as long as the ground isn't frozen, we are shipping 12 months a year," said Rodney Ale. "It's been a lot of work to get to where we are but I believe you get out what you put into to it."