Piazza Farms originated in the 1920's as a mobile market. Grandfather Frank Piazza traveled with a horse and wagon loaded with vegetables to sell to local customers. In the 1940's he also built a small greenhouse approximately 500 yds. from the current farm market, near his home, where he grew a variety of vegetable plants with his son Sam. In a small field next to his home Frank also experimented with field grown pansies, mountain pinks, painted daisies, gladiola and forget - me - nots. As people came to know him and his quality of produce his small business began to prove very successful. In 1949 Sam, with the help of his brother Fred, built the roadside stand which still stands today. Sam designed the structure on his own. Two red wooden doors in the center of our building are actually the original doors from the original structure. In the very first years of the business, daily customer service was provided by Sam's wife Mary (Vitale) Piazza, while the farming operation remained Sam's responsibility. As the business grew, help was hired to tend the crops. Several of those first few helpers stuck with the Piazza family through several generations, and are still counted among some of our closest family friends.

The original greenhouse constructed by Grandfather Frank was demolished in the 1950's and the first greenhouse built by Sam Piazza and sons Frank and Sam was constructed in 1960. This greenhouse was moved piece by piece from the "Grace Estate" in Bethlehem, PA. A second greenhouse was built on site in 1962 and was also moved piece by piece from East Orange, NJ. Both houses were made solely of glass. These houses were used primarily for production of vegetable plants for the farm. In 1963 extra space became available in greenhouse number 2 and 500 geraniums were grown. These bedding plants sold quickly and a new part of the business was born. In 1965 a third glass greenhouse was moved from Amore Greenhouses in the Pursel Hill section of Phillipsburg. In 1968 Piazza Farms purchased three quonset plastic greenhouses and constructed them as well. In 1977 Father Sam Piazza passed away leaving his sons Frank and Sam to run the family business. In 1978 another plastic greenhouse was erected and in 1980 a gutter connected 12,000 sq. ft. greenhouse was constructed. This would be the first major expansion of Piazza Farms. This extra large capacity house was used to accommodate hanging baskets and geraniums. In the early 90's three more plastic greenhouses were constructed to provide much needed space for a growing business. One of these growing areas is specifically dedicated to the production of disease free vegetable plants for Piazza Farms and for other surrounding farms in the state of NJ. In 2000 the glass house of 1965 was replaced with a state of the art germination and propogation house. The original two glass greenhouses are slated for modernization in 2001. Today there are 50,000 sq. ft. of heated covered growing area and 15,000 sq. ft. of outdoor growing area for Fall mums and perennials.

Prior to farming our fields of today, all Piazza's sweet corn was grown on a tract of land along the Delaware River in Belvidere, NJ with the river being a wonderful natural source for irrigation Our main vegetable fields of today now sit on land once owned and operated as a local airport for single engine planes. Eventually the airport land was divided into 20 acres purchased by Lopatcong Township where an elementary school was built, and 46 acres purchased by Father Sam Piazza and his wife Mary (Vitale) Piazza around 1960. A quarter acre irrigation pond was dug in 1965 ,and as droughts plagued the land, a well was drilled. All irrigation was accomplished by overhead movable aluminum pipe with sprinklers or "birds". Today, our vegetable farm still uses the original pond and well but also utilizes underground irrigation lines and self propelled water guns as well as water saving "drip" irrigation systems. The pond itself underwent a major facelift in 2000 when a new high-tech plastic liner was entrenched to prevent leakage and seepage of precious irrigation water. In 1982 a large equipment building was added to the 46 acre field to house tractors, wagons, and various equipment. In 1999 a large chemical handling facility was added alongside the main building. Today we grow all vegetables for our farm market on these 46 acres located on Strykers Road in Lopatcong township.


The farm market has undergone three different expansions in the late 1980's. At the same time a new refrigeration system replaced an outdated cooler to preserve our home grown vegetable as well as local fruit handled by our retail farm market in the Summer months. An attached sales greenhouse was also established where we find more room available to showcase our bedding and vegetable plants during the Spring selling season.

Today the farm is run by sons Frank and Sam Piazza along with their wives Joyce and Marsha. Frank's daughter and son-in-law, Christy and Richard Krouse also work alongside them in the family business and the family tradition. Mary (Vitale) Piazza currently resides in Florida where she is enjoying her retirement but often helps us all to remember our Grandfather Frank, our beloved Father Sam, and the "good 'ol days" while we help her look to the future with love and pride.