Gov. Shapiro visits New Holland Agriculture to highlight proposed agricultural investments

• By Elizabeth Deornellas/LNP | LancasterOnline

Gov. Josh Shapiro visited Lancaster County the morning after his Tuesday budget address to highlight a proposed $10.3 million fund for farmers.

The Agriculture and Conservation Innovation Fund would funnel grants and loans to farmers to improve productivity and help agricultural producers confront climate change.

“I view opportunities in Pennsylvania not just around our skyscrapers or around our suburban office parks, but on our farms,” Shapiro said during his visit to New Holland Agriculture, an agricultural equipment manufacturer and dealer with North American headquarters in its founding borough of New Holland and global headquarters of its parent company, CNH Industrial, in the United Kingdom.

Shapiro said that combating climate change and increasing sustainability is just as important as advancing economic development and that the proposed innovation fund would draw on the state’s resources to connect all those goals.

At New Holland Agriculture, Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture Russell Redding said the fund administration would be guided by the department’s director of conservation and innovation Michael Roth. Redding said the fund’s personnel overhead would be limited to a leadership team and “maybe two positions.”

“The $10 million is going to find its way to farms and the ag community,” Redding said.

The Lancaster County Agriculture Council’s latest report, from 2021, recorded 5,108 farms in the county, with 58,720 agricultural jobs and $10.6 billion in agricultural sales. The council also attributes $580 million in tourism to agriculture.

The governor was also joined at New Holland Agriculture by Rick Heisey, vice president for product engineering at CNH Industrial; Rob Hess, owner of Bow Creek Farm in East Hanover Township, Dauphin County; and state Rep. Mike Sturla, D-Lancaster.

During the press conference, Heisey and Shapiro joked that the governor did not want to leave the cab of the methane tractor he was exploring.

Afterwards, Heisey said the piece of equipment Shapiro deemed “cool” is one example of the kind of investment the innovation fund could make possible for the small farms that dominate the Lancaster County agriculture scene.

To operate a methane tractor, farmers also need to buy a digester to process the gas that is captured from their manure storage units. Such an investment might not be feasible for a small-scale producer without outside funds, Heisey said.

Shapiro’s budget proposal includes $271 million for agriculture and lists it as a priority sector for economic investment, alongside energy, life sciences, manufacturing and robotics and technology.

“We’ve not heard them talk about agriculture as an industry that is a focus point before,” Heisey said.

In his budget address, Shapiro noted that Pennsylvania has 53,000 farms and nearly 600,000 agricultural workers and that agriculture adds $132 billion to the state’s economy.