A Critical Need

Farming is a vital part of Pennsylvania's heritage and economy. The Keystone State's farmers are stewards of the land, yet often, lack of funding to implement conservation practices stands in the way of getting them on the ground. These conservation practices include installing fencing to keep livestock out of waterways, properly storing manure, planting streamside buffers, and many more.

In these two videos, Chris Landis of Worth the Wait Farms (Lancaster County, PA) and Clint Burkholder of Burk-Lea Farms (Franklin County, PA) share why they have implemented conservation practices on their farms and the many benefits a state agricultural cost-share program would present to Pennsylvania's farmers.

Pennsylvania farmers need assistance to implement conservation practices that may improve their operations and protect our streams. Cost-share programs are one way the Legislature can provide financial assistance to Pennsylvania farmers.

And farmers can’t do this on their own. Farmers are taking on heavy debt loads and 98 percent of all farms in Pennsylvania are family farms with an average net cash farm income of $42,020. It comes as no surprise, then, that between 2012 and 2017, Pennsylvania lost 10 percent of its total number of farms.

As Clint Burkholder, from Burk-lea Farms put it, "Most of us farmers, or I would say all farmers, want to do the right thing and want to stay current and manage their stormwater or their manure just how they handle it. We can't always do that on our own so it's sometimes the difference between whether we decide to continue farming or decide to do something else."

A New Agricultural Cost-Share Program

In July 2022, the Clean Streams Fund passed as part of the state budget. This fund provides $250 million in dedicated funding from the American Rescue Plan to create new clean water programs, including $125 million for the Agricultural Conservation Assistance Program (ACAP). This program will provide farmers with funding to implement conservation practices on their land. While the State Conservation Commission will oversee ACAP, the local County Conservation Districts will make all decisions on funding projects and the application process.

The Choose Clean Water Coalition and its partners in the Keystone State, led by Pennsylvania state lead PennFuture, are excited to work closely with the County Conservation Districts and farmers throughout the Commonwealth to get these conservation projects on the ground. In the months to come, we will work to get this funding in the hands of farmers as soon as possible through collaborating with key stakeholders to ensure the process for farmers to secure funding is efficient, straightforward, and transparent. We will also conduct outreach to Pennsylvania farmers, sharing on the availability of this new funding and how they can access this vital resource to improve their operations and the health of their local rivers and streams.

For more information, please contact:

Policy

Ezra Thrush
Director of Government Affairs
PennFuture
thrush@pennfuture.org

Media Inquiries

Drew Robinson
Senior Communications Manager
Choose Clean Water Coalition
RobinsonAQ@nwf.org

In support of the passage of the Clean Streams Fund, the Coalition and PennFuture gathered several Pennsylvania state legislators, their staff, and clean water advocates for a webinar on November 22, 2021. The webinar showcased the two videos above and also featured speakers including Senator Gene Yaw, a prime sponsor of the Clean Streams Fund, Chris Landis, one of the featured farmers, as well as representatives from other conservation and agricultural stakeholders, including the Pennsylvania Association of Conservation Districts, the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, and the Chesapeake Bay Commission. You can learn more here and see a recording of the webinar below.

The Coalition also had the privilege to visit Huntingdon Farm in Huntingdon County, PA for an up close look at the more than 30 conservation practices they have implemented on their Angus cattle farm. In the two videos below, hear the story of John Dawes and how an agricultural cost-share program is critical to getting these practices on the ground in farms throughout the Keystone State.