Farmers lobby for transportation funding, ag research

(Harrisburg) — Pennsylvania farmers are calling on the state to work on securing funding for transportation and agricultural research within the next year.

They have taken their message to the state Capitol to lobby for various legislative initiatives as part of National Agriculture Day.

Mark O’Neill, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, says a deficient transportation system can especially hurt farmers. “If you have issues in rural areas with roads and bridges, whether you have closings or whether you have the weight limit on a bridge or a roadway reduced, that can significantly impact the farm equipment and farm deliveries, coming to and from the farm, getting food to and from the farm.”

O’Neill says farmers are also concerned that a pension overhaul would cause a spike in property taxes, negatively affecting many farmers who own sizable amounts of land.

Agriculture is one of the state’s most lucrative industries.