He didn't have much time to talk - the short, intense blueberry season was in full throttle, and whatever he and his cousin earned in the next seven weeks would need to take them through the rest of the year.
For Butch DiMeo, the $1.54 million represents a big bet - that hand-picking berries remains the right strategy, even as harvesting machines, long considered coarse and wasteful, are becoming more technologically advanced.
It's the same old dance, this one around a blueberry bush. Will technology replace workers? Meanwhile, how much can workers afford to complain? What are reasonable conditions? Are they humane?
And finally, how much slack should farm owners be cut, considering the season is short and the weather dicey?
"Down the road, they're not going to use pickers," said Gary C. Pavlis, a Rutgers University professor and Atlantic County's agricultural agent. He wonders if the DiMeo cousins made the right bet.
"If they are going to be hassled constantly, they may as well move on to something else," said Pavlis, who says the cousins are good men and respectful to their workers.
Blueberries are big business in New Jersey - no other crop, not Jersey tomatoes, corn, or peaches, yields as much on the market, $62.5 million in 2010.
Cultivated berries were developed in Burlington County in the early 1900s by plant biologist Elizabeth White. Her family owned a cranberry farm in Whitesbog. Jersey ranks fourth in blueberry production, behind Michigan, Georgia, and Oregon.
By all accounts, the cousins' farm, founded by their grandfather, is typical when it comes to violations.
