From left: Gov. Josh Shapiro and Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding meet with Phil Kulp and farm manager Kyle Kulp of Kulp Dairy Farm in Martinsburg on Thursday morning. Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski

MARTINSBURG — “Time is money for farmers,” which is why speeding up the permit process for farm expansions is important, Gov. Josh Shapiro said Thursday morning while standing on the grounds of the Kulp Family Dairy farm.

The Shapiro administration has been speeding up the permit process so Pennsylvania farmers can “move forward with their plans,” according to a press release.

Chris Hoffman, president of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, said Thursday was a “milestone” for everyone involved because they are processing permits in short time periods.

Kulp Dairy farm manager Kyle Kulp, 27, had to file a permit to expand their farm on Feb. 5. Six months later, the permit was released and approved on Aug. 7 — four months earlier than originally anticipated.

“For the size of this project,” Kulp said the permitting time was “remarkably quick, relative to historical norms.”

With the permit, Kulp said his farm can build 3,000 free stalls, a new milking center and group housing calf barns, which will add over 1,000 dairy cows to their business.

The permit will allow their system to become more “efficient,” he said, setting the farm on track to remain successful over the “next 20 to 25 years.”

Kulp said his grandparents moved to Blair County in 1973 and founded their farm. Today, they have three sites, over 2,900 milking cows and 47 full-time employees.

Representing three generations of Kulp farmers, Kulp and four of his siblings currently work on the farm as full-time employees.

Shapiro said farmers need to submit proper documentation, stating that submitting an on-time stormwater permit is “critical.”

Agriculture coordinator Katie McLaughlin also worked with the family throughout the permitting process so “we could process their permit in a timely manner,” Shapiro said.

In terms of understanding permit requirements and timelines, Secretary of Agriculture Russell

Redding said the Kulp family and township “did everything right.”

Redding said he “has a tendency to talk about (the) history” of farming, but Shapiro reminded him about farming’s future.

“Agriculture is important, but it’s also about that sense of community,” he said.

Investing in family farms like Kulp Family Dairy is an “imperative, critical investment,” Shapiro said, which helps the administration “grow the Pennsylvanian economy.”

It’s also the first time agriculture has been named “a pillar” in the state’s economic development strategy, Redding said.

“In the pillar, it’s not just the economics,” he said. “It’s about generational transfer, it’s about permits and a workforce.”

The administration is also implementing a “money-back guarantee” for permits, stating that if the farm is promised a permit in four months, the farm will receive it within four months or the state will refund the application fee.

Shapiro said the money-back guarantee will hold the bureaucracy “accountable.”

Kulp said their farm expansion will be the “largest investment ever in on-farm infrastructure in Pennsylvania.”

“No longer does economic development just run through our area’s skyscrapers and suburban office parks,” Shapiro said. “Economic development is inextricably linked to agriculture and lands and farms like this.”

Mirror Staff Writer Colette Costlow is at 814-946-7414.