The workers toiling in New Jersey's fields around Vineland are mostly Mexican, and because of that fact, Mayor Bob Romano acknowledges it might help to have a Latino serve as Secretary of Agriculture.

"I think it would be great idea," Romano said in response to the question, "as long as the person has the knowledge. You need somebody who's qualified. That's the main thing. We need someone who's going to be a strong advocate for keeping New Jersey farmers on their farms."

Acknowledging that many migrant workers in New Jersey come from Mexico and Central America, Sen. Ronald Rice (D-Essex) jumped at the suggestion of a Latino state Secretary of Agriculture to succeed Charles Kuperus, who retires at the end of this month.

"I think a Latino would be very good for that position," said the veteran Newark senator.  "I'm sure New Jersey farmers understand the need to bring balance to that position. Diversity is our greatest strength, coupled with a candidate who would bring objectivity to the job."

However, state Board of Agriculture Vice President Robert Matarazzo says the Department of Agriculture - salvaged from the budget chopping block last year - remains in precarious shape in bad economic times. He doesn't see the recruitment of a Latino secretary, or anything else short of industry survival - as a priority.

As it examines who will succeed state Secretary of Agriculture Charles Kuperus, the New Jersey Board of Agriculture finds itself in the awkward position of trying to negotiate with a governor who last year considered scrapping the department in its current form.

In an effort to save cash, Gov. Jon Corzine wanted to subordinate Agriculture to the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), a move universally condemned by stewards of New Jersey's 9,600 working farms, some of whom rumbled down West State Street in tractors of defiance.

The Secretary of Agriculture is the only cabinet appointment not made by the Governor.  The State Constitution gives the appointment power to the Board of Agriculture.  The Governor can that approve or veto their choice.

Having weathered the Highlands Act political war earlier in his career, and lately in a cliffhanger with his off-again, on-again department, Kuperus announced his resignation from overseeing the department's $9.3 million budget, effective at the end of this year.

He says he's not bitter at all, and points out in defense of Corzine that from the beginning he made the budgetary suggestion at the Statehouse, the governor was clear that he was only initiating a public conversation.

"Like anything with respect to public service, you have to be looking ahead," said Kuperus, a farmer, a former Sussex County freeholder and a Republican who was named to the post by Gov. James E. McGreevey after the 2001 election.   "The state has very significant issues. We happen to be a small agency, but one that touches every New Jerseyan's life. Even the Hudson County Board of Freeholders declared that they wanted the Department of Agriculture preserved, in part because we helped them when they had a longhorn beetle outbreak."

In the lead-up to his departure, the eight-member Board of Agriculture - made up of farmers and other agricultural industry reps - is set in the middle of this month to review between 12 and 20 applications from those who wish to be the new secretary, a job that pays $141,000 a year.