Legislators, ag leaders tout industry at Penn State’s Ag Progress Days
Officials discuss how to strengthen state’s farming industry at Ag Progress Days
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Legislators and agricultural leaders gathered in Centre County on Wednesday to discuss the challenges facing Pennsylvania's farming industry and ways to strengthen it for the future as part of Penn State's Ag Progress Days.
The House Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee and Senate Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee held a joint hearing examining the industry's successes and the challenges facing farmers as they look to the next generation of Pennsylvania agriculture.
"Agriculture grew in America, and Pennsylvania grew agriculture, and we're still growing. As we look at 250 years, we see a Commonwealth whose farms and forests and fields and waterways were not simply part of the landscape; they were part of the foundation upon which we grew a new nation as well," said Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding. "What we do together will determine what grows from [that foundation] for the next 250 years."
Though the agricultural industry remains a staple in Pennsylvania and modern technology makes farming as efficient as ever, Pennsylvanian farmers today are facing the effects of labor shortages, poor weather conditions and threats to livestock health.
Labor shortages
Farmers are struggling to find enough agricultural workers, particularly for labor-intensive and year-round operations. There has been bipartisan support at the state and federal levels for modernizing the H-2A visa program, which allows agricultural employers to temporarily hire foreign workers when they cannot find enough U.S. workers to fill available jobs.
"In 2025, there were over 400,000 positions advertised for American workers. And out of those advertised, we had 182 Americans apply for an agriculture job," said U.S. Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-PA, chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture. "Labor continues to be a challenge for Pennsylvania producers. Food security is national security, and food security is built upon having a reliable workforce."
Thompson introduced the bipartisan Securing Agriculture's Workforce Act of 2026 in June, which seeks to modernize the H-2A program as farmers face persistent workforce shortages.
Weather and pest challenges
Many fruit farmers faced substantial crop losses due to late season freeze in April, which resulted in a disaster declaration across much of the state. The 2026 state budget allocated $10 million to relief. Thompson said federal crop insurance could help prevent the catastrophic impacts of such weather events in the future.
"The damage this freeze caused to our specialty crop industry shined a light on what many of us already knew: specialty crops need a seat at the table for federal crop insurance," he said. "This is just another reason why I continue to champion the Farm, Food and National Security Act of 2026, which will make key improvements to crop insurance access for specialty crop producers in the Commonwealth and across the nation."
Thompson also highlighted Congress' efforts to protect livestock from threats such as the New World screwworm, a parasitic fly whose larvae can enter animals through open wounds and cause life-threatening infections. While there have been no confirmed cases in Pennsylvania, the pest has been reported in Texas and New Mexico. Thompson said the U.S. Department of Agriculture has made progress in tracking, controlling and mitigating the threat. At the state level, Redding issued a quarantine order in July limiting the movement of animals to prevent the spread of the parasite.
Ag education
Conversations about the future of Pennsylvania agriculture surrounded preparing the next generation of farmers, including through agricultural education and youth programs such as 4-H.
"I'd love to have every school in Pennsylvania have an ag education program. Right now, we've got 160, but we have 500 school districts," Thompson said. "4-H and how we support that is important."
The joint committee also discussed recent federal investments intended to benefit Pennsylvania agriculture, including more than $155 million in farm safety-net support, $30 million in crop insurance savings and more than $40 million in new conservation funding. Thompson highlighted the Farm Bill, a wide-ranging federal package that sets policy for agriculture, food, conservation and rural development. Proposed provisions would expand crop insurance for specialty-crop farmers, invest in agricultural research and technology and provide more support for beginning farmers and rural communities.
Those investments are part of a broader effort to ensure Pennsylvania's agricultural industry can continue to grow for generations to come, Thompson said.
"Every ag policy decision, whether city, state or federal level," he said, "should center around the following question: Does this support American producers, both today and in the future?"