Farming in Pennsylvania gets harder every day.
That was the message area farmers had for Republican gubernatorial candidate Stacy Garrity Thursday in Lackawanna County. Garrity was visiting for her first listening session on agriculture to learn how, if elected, she could help lessen that burden.
"I will prioritize Pennsylvania agriculture because I know firsthand the impact you have on our communities," the Bradford County native said. "Supporting Pennsylvania family farms will be a priority of my administration."
At Keith Eckel's farm in Clarks Summit, the discussion focused on some of her policy proposals if elected governor, including creating a new office to help farmers with state forms, eliminating the death tax and promoting FFA clubs in schools.
Garrity was joined by Republican elected officials from agricultural hubs in Northeast Pennsylvania, including state Reps. Jeffrey Olsommer, Wayne and Pike counties; Brenda Pugh, Luzerne County; and Jonathan Fritz, Wayne and Susquehanna County; state Sen. Lisa Baker and Lackawanna County Commissioner Chris Chermak.
The event was inside a barn at Eckel's Farm. Eckel was among the farmers who joined in on the discussion. Jim Barber, a Susquehanna County farmer and Tim Jaggers, a farmer from Lake Ariel, also spoke.
Dan Naylor, the chair of the Lackawanna County Republican party and former Department of Agriculture employee, also spoke with Garrity.
"My plans for helping Pennsylvania's family farmers, it's very simple, very simple. So, cut the red tape, get rid of the overregulation, reduce the taxes like the death tax, expand markets for Pennsylvania-grown and raised products, and preserve our precious farmland and help grow the next generation of Pennsylvania farmers," she said at the end of the discussion.
Garrity, the state Treasurer, faces Democrat and incumbent Gov. Josh Shapiro in November.
GARRITY'S 10 INITIATIVES
Garrity's campaign sent out her agriculture policy after Thursday's meeting. The 10 initiatives include:
● Building the Next Generation of Farmers
● Cutting Government Red Tape
● Protecting Pennsylvania Farmland from Bad Actors
● Preserving Farmland
● Increased Funding for Disaster Relief
● Expanding Farming to Reduce Food Deserts
● Farm-to-Family Fresh Food Boxes
● Unlocking Capitol for New Farmers
● Whole Milk in Schools
● Elimination of the “Death Tax”
Prohibitive permitting
Permitting reform was the first topic of conversation.
Garrity said agricultural leaders have told her that the state's permitting process is difficult and unpredictable.
In July 2024, the state legislature passed the Streamlining Permits for Economic Expansion and Development (SPEED) Program to make the permit processing quicker for businesses.
Baker said the newest state budget includes a measure that all state agencies will have to publish a dashboard to monitor permit requests.
"I'm delighted to hear that your administration would refocus that effort and advance it even further than what we've accomplished thus far,” she said to Garrity.
Baker said the next step is to add a provision that would deem some permits approved within a certain time frame.
Fritz said he authored legislation that would deem some permits approved after 45 days.
"If you look at where we're placed geographically, where the gateway to the New England corridor and the Eastern Seaboard, businesses and farming operations should want to be here and should be able to thrive. We simply need to roll out the red carpet instead of busting out the red tape,” he said.
If elected, Garrity told the group she would create the Farmers Aid in Rural Management (FARM) office under the Department of Agriculture, which would coordinate with other state agencies and streamline permitting processes and forms that farmers need to fill out.
"That office would all be also be a center for all filings for farmers, so you could have one submission instead of filing, you know, different submissions to different agencies,” she said.
Barber sells milk, grass-fed beef and organically processed pork at his farm. He said they are currently undergoing upgrades, and are looking for state programs to help.
"Our experience is that everybody says, ‘Oh, there's grant money everywhere until you go finding it, and then you can't find it’,” he said.
He said the different state offices do not communicate well.
“So I appreciate what you're you're putting forward here to have an office,” he said.
Shapiro administration focuses on permitting
Permitting reform has been a focus of Shapiro's administration.
"During my first first month in office, I signed an executive order directing all Pennsylvania agencies to assess all the different permits that they issued,” Shapiro said in November 2024.
The governor also said he brought Democrats and Republicans together to pass the permitting reform into law and to speed up the process at DEP.
In January, DEP announced that the department had successfully eliminated the longstanding permit application backlog.
The 'death tax'
Garrity is proposing 10 initiatives to help farm families if elected.
One of those plans is to repeal the inheritance tax for all Pennsylvanians.
Depending on a person’s age and relation to the relative that died they have to paid an inheritance tax on the deceased property.
Four of Eckel's aunts were farmers. He said each time one of them passed away, they had to pay a 15% inheritance tax on the farm.
"That's a critical issue that needs to be addressed if we're serious about preserving agriculture in Pennsylvania,” he said.
Barber is a third-generation farmer. He said he’s already having conversations with the next two generations about the tax.
He said many farmers are dealing with mental health issues.
"A lot of that is because the economics of farming is so difficult, and to be the generation that loses the farm when so many have sacrificed so much is really difficult,” he said.
The death tax, which could be very costly, makes it that much more difficult for the next generation to own their family’s farm that might be barely surviving, Barber said.
"That one that is fixable in my mind that we could do, and I would appreciate that and your focus on that," he said.
Baker often co-sponsors bills to eliminate or change the inheritance tax.
"I realize it's a significant amount of money that the state collects, but let's be honest, when someone loses a family member and then being subjected to this tax and making a decision about the future of your property, you may have to sell it in order to pay the tax, and I don't think in any way that is fair,” Baker said.
Preserving and protecting farmland
Sprawling acres of Pennsylvania farmland have become a target for data center developers.
Garrity asked Chermak if the industry was a threat to NEPA farms.
"My concern is that you know you have a struggling farm, and then they see the dollar signs and what they could do with their property. I mean, that's, it's kind of hard to stay farming when you can sell it for a lot of money, which doesn't help us,” he said.
Garrity believes the industry should be targeting brownfield and industrial sites for data centers, rather than farmland.
"I hate to see our precious farmland given up for data centers because we do have so many other available areas,” she said. “So we really need to do everything we can to preserve our farmland.”
In the early '80s, when Eckel was president of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, he traveled across the state campaigning for the legislature to take out a $100 million bond to begin the farmland preservation program.
"When we started, we didn't have one acre preserved. Today, Pennsylvania has more acres of farmland preserved and more farms preserved than anywhere in this nation,” he said.
Farmers must apply for the program, which enables state and county governments to purchase conservation easements from farmers.
The land is then preserved for farming. Even if it goes up for sale, the next buyer must use it for agricultural purposes, Eckel said.
Shapiro campaign cites record
The Shapiro campaign points out that Garrity has supported Donald Trump's federal tarrifs, which have impacted farmers.
They say her campaign promises are "weak" and "untrustworthy."
"She is 100% supportive of the reckless tariffs that have hurt farmers and the War in Iran that’s driving up costs on everything from fuel to fertilizer," Ava Pitruzzello, spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, said. "Garrity is running to replicate Washington’s cruel SNAP cuts for families that rely on this critical assistance, and she unconditionally opposed the lawsuit to protect funding for farmers providing food for hungry Pennsylvanians. Garrity is a rubber stamp for the disastrous policies hurting Pennsylvania agriculture, and she will never stand up to the Trump Administration — even when it makes life harder for farmers.”
In Clarks Summit, the discussion focused on the possibility of creating a urea plant to make fertilizer in natural gas-rich Susquehanna County.
During a campaign stop in Dauphin County to launch her campaign’s agriculture coalition, Garrity said her campaign will do what it can to ensure farming communities continue to thrive in Pennsylvania.
"I would probably do the tariffs a little bit differently, but I think we’ve recently made progress with the ag [tariffs] and I think there’s a deal, I would have to look into the particulars, for soybeans. So, it looks like some help is coming to our farmers, which is fantastic," Garrity said during a campaign stop in Dauphin County to launch her campaign’s agriculture coalition.
Garrity also asked Pugh and Jagger about programs that provide nutritious food from farmers to those in need.
"Food security is national security," she said.
