Food Safety
Good Agricultural Practices – We support safe food production systems, but these mandates should not be so burdensome so as to prevent our small growers from competing in the marketplace for negligible improvement in food safety. While we oppose state food safety regulations that duplicate federal regulations, we do support the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture being the primary enforcement agency for federal food safety regulations in Pennsylvania.
Labor
Immigration and Farm Labor Reform – Our members regularly list immigration reform and labor availability as a major legislative concern. Our growers need affordable and dependable labor to stay in business. We recognize that immigration is a federal issue and we feel it should remain a federal issue – that is, we do not need state and local laws governing immigration issues. Specifically a state E-verify act would be devastating to the state’s agriculture without a new workable federal agricultural labor program in place first.
Employee Regulations – The Association stands opposed to additional employee regulations (mandated sick leave, mandated breaks, annual minimum wage increases, and optional overtime) that jeopardize the ability of our growers to be competitive.
Appropriations
Penn State Agricultural Extension and Research – Funding for Penn State Extension and Research is critical to maintain agriculture’s cutting edge. The vegetable and berry industries have given over $1.2 million to research in the past 25 years, but we need the extension and research infrastructure that is supported by state appropriations which have not kept with increased costs.
Department of Agriculture Research Funds – The Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Program is another important source of research funding.
Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program – Both the Women, Infant and Children (WIC) and low-income senior citizens coupons have greatly increased farm market sales while providing nutrition to needy Pennsylvanians.
Crop Insurance Premium Subsidies – More than half of Pennsylvania farmers now use crop insurance for risk management because the program is now compatible with Pennsylvania agriculture and more importantly affordable.
Health Care Costs
Health Insurance – Most of our members are self-employed and/or small employers. Spiraling health insurance costs threaten their ability to expand or even maintain their operations.
Taxes
Property Tax Reform – The agricultural community needs real property tax relief that significantly reduces or eliminates school property taxes on farmsteads, farmland, forestland and open space. We support increased personal income and/or sales taxes if the increased revenue is exclusively designated for the reduction of property taxes.
General
Sunday Hunting – Our growers are not in favor of allowing hunting on Sundays in order to preserve one day a week without hunters on their properties.