Redding discusses agriculture issues at breakfast meeting
BUTLER TWP — Despite the loss of 4,000 farms and 200,000 acres of farmland in the last five years, agriculture accounts of 18% of the gross domestic product, $132 billion a year of economic activity and more than 590,000 jobs in Pennsylvania, according to state Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding.
Redding discussed the impact agriculture has on the economy among a bushel of topics at a farmers breakfast Thursday, April 4, sponsored by state Rep. Marci Mustello, R-11th, at the American Legion Post 778 in Lyndora.
Mustello said she is glad Redding has continued serving in Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration after having the same position in former Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration.
“We’re in the food business,” Redding said to the audience of over 100 people.
Pennsylvania is second in the nation behind California in direct farm sales, and leads the nation in the number of farmers under the age of 35 and in farmland preservation, he said.
Plus, a first in state agriculture has been documented.
“Poultry has overtaken dairy production,” Redding said. “First time in Pennsylvania history.”
While Pennsylvania is the only state to have a Farm Bill, which provides $120 million in investment, the agriculture industry faces national and international challenges, he said.
The recent collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore will impact the import and export of agriculture products; and wars in Ukraine and Gaza, and attacks on shipping in the Red Sea are impacting international agricultural trade, he said.
Farm exports got a boost in September when India lifted it’s 70% tariff on apples from the United States, he said. The tariff benefited other apple exporting counties, and lifting it will allow U.S. growers to once again compete for India’s 11 million-bushel-a-year apple market, he said.
Redding said the tariff elimination is good news for Adams County, where apples are a major crop. He said he owns a farm in that county.
India imposed the tariff in 2019 as retaliation for import tariffs imposed on its goods by the U.S. in 2019, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
During a question-and-answer period, Redding said a bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and pending in the Senate to allow milk to be served in schools is “as close as it’s ever been” to becoming law.
He said he does not believe the state provides funding to assist medical cannabis production. Cannabis is grown in indoor facilities, he said.
However, he said he wants farms to have the opportunity to grow cannabis if a measure contained in the proposed state budget to allow adult consumption comes to fruition.
“Opportunity for new cash crops is limited,” Redding said.
Foreign ownership of agriculture businesses is an issue the state and federal government are keeping an eye on, he said. Overseas interests buying the proprietary genetics used in crop seeds is a concern, he said.
“We need to know who owns and who processes,” Redding said.
After the meeting, Butler County Farm Bureau member William Thiele said it was important to address the Baltimore and Red Sea shipping issues. He said fertilizer used on farms is shipped through Baltimore.
“It will have an impact, eventually,” Thiele said.
He also said he is glad the proposed budget includes funding for agriculture innovation.
Shapiro’s budget proposes $10.3 million for a grant program that would promote savings by providing access to better equipment and technology.
