More money for agriculture innovation pitched by Shapiro after high demand

Yahoo

08-05-2025

This story was produced by the State College regional bureau of Spotlight PA, an independent, nonpartisan newsroom dedicated to investigative and public-service journalism for Pennsylvania. Sign up for Talk of the Town, a weekly newsletter of local stories that dig deep, events, and more from north-central PA, at spotlightpa.org/newsletters/talkofthetown.
BELLEFONTE — The Shapiro administration wants to double the amount of money Pennsylvania spends on its Agricultural Innovation Grant program, proposing $23 million to support new technologies and conservation projects.
The grant program — established in last year's state budget — reimburses farmers and other businesses that update their operations to be more efficient and environmentally friendly. The state Department of Agriculture distributed all $10 million earmarked for the initial run.
As Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro seeks to expand the program's reach, some Republicans are questioning the administration's fiscal priorities amid a long-running structural deficit. They also worry about whether there will be a meaningful return on investment.
The state received more than $68 million in funding requests from 159 applicants for the program's inaugural round, and awarded 88 businesses and farms across 45 counties. Projects included new refrigeration, precision technology, automatic harvesting systems, milking robots, and composting initiatives.
Mark Gagnon, an agribusiness management professor at Penn State, told Spotlight PA he was impressed with the 'array of investments' made by the grant program.
'I think it's good to thoughtfully try some new approaches, and often, when I think about it with entrepreneurship, education, and innovation, it's this idea of disciplined experimentation,' he said. 'And if we keep doing the same thing, we're not going to lever out the results or have some more impactful results. So, I think that building a mechanism like this — I'm just going to be fascinated to see where it goes.'
State Rep. Paul Takac (D., Centre), who sponsored the underlying bill that created the grant program, told Spotlight PA that the effort helps meet the sector's needs.
'The fact that there were $68 million in grant applications in year one shows that this is the kind of investment that will pay dividends for years and years to come,' Takac said. 'So, I do think that it's very much in line with what we should be investing in our future and especially in our rural communities.'
That demand is central to the Shapiro administration's budget proposal, which argues that additional investment could improve Pennsylvania's agriculture industry and boost the state's economy. Shapiro has also pitched using $2 million to assess a pilot program that would create county-based digesters to generate electricity. Under Shapiro's proposed budget, state spending on innovative agricultural practices would total $25 million.
Brubaker Farms, in Lancaster County, received a $400,000 grant for a project that will create renewable energy from manure. Owner and manager Josh Brubaker said during a news conference that the money builds on existing efforts to make the business more sustainable and operating for years to come.
In Adams County, Rice Fruit Company was awarded $130,000 to help pay for a robotic bin-tipper system to pack apples for sale. Valerie Ramsburg, who manages marketing for the operation, previously told Spotlight PA the upgrade will increase capacity, improve quality, and reduce wastewater.
'With the rising costs of farming and providing food for people, the support of our leaders is paramount,' Ramsburg said in February. 'When farmers are able to make the most of new technologies, the efficiencies and benefits are passed on to consumers and Pennsylvania communities and help to maintain the rural atmosphere much of the Keystone State enjoys.'
Some Republican lawmakers, however, have called for a closer look at how grant recipients are chosen, how outcomes are measured, and whether the benefits justify the investment.
'We really have to look at this ag innovation because it's not helping Pennsylvania farmers,' state Rep. Eric Nelson (R., Westmoreland) said during a February legislative budget hearing. 'It seems to be helping a hundred hand-selected farmers.'
Nelson pointed to just how many farms there are in Pennsylvania as a whole, saying the number of grants might not be cause for celebration. According to federal data, the state has about 49,000 farms.
'It looks to be a program that's picking winners and losers,' Nelson told longtime Secretary of Agriculture Russell Redding.
State Reps. Jamie Barton (R., Schuylkill) and Torren Ecker (R., Adams) questioned the application review process, hoping to understand how the decision process works and who's involved.
Still, Ecker said he'd support Shapiro's investment pitch. He told Spotlight PA that the innovation grant program helps 'prop up' Pennsylvania's agriculture industry.
Meanwhile, state Rep. Dan Moul (R., Adams) asked the agriculture department to invite the state House and Senate Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee chairs to join conversations about funding requests.
He also questioned several Pittsburgh-based grant recipients.
'We don't have too many farms in the cities, so basically, I think what we're talking about there is gardening,' Moul said. 'And it's OK. I have no problem with gardening, but we should be — in my opinion — we should be, if I was on the committee, I would be saying let's gear our money toward something that can produce a lot of food on a little bit of land and help these guys with harvesting, new innovations, but not gardens in the inner city.'
Redding has pushed back on criticism of the grant program, testifying before lawmakers that his department has 'worked our tail off' to support the agriculture industry. While he was open to discussing how to include lawmakers in grant request discussions, he also emphasized that an internal team helped evaluate applications — 'not a single person or a single bureau.'
'There is nothing to hide,' Redding told state House lawmakers. 'If somebody wants to take the time to go through that and look at it and look at the match requirements and check that against what we set out as the requirements for eligibility, they're certainly welcome to do that.'
The rubric used by the team of individuals that reviewed funding applications — which Spotlight PA obtained through an open records request — scored proposals on their alignment with the grant program's mission and innovation principles, metrics for success, expected regional impacts, and budgeting.
Projects that received funds in the first round must be completed by June 27, 2027. The state agriculture department will release an impact report at the end of the two-year cycle, a spokesperson told Spotlight PA.
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