Agriculture
Below are Nick’s priorities for our farms and farmers:
- Proactive grant support: Farmers work as hard as anyone in our district and, particularly for smaller acreage farms, taking advantage of programs to support farms is a complex, time-consuming, and frustrating ordeal. Nick will use his office to educate farmers about the programs available and work hand-in-hand throughout the process to ensure farmers can take advantage of the programs we all fund. Nick will not wait around for people to call the office, but will reach out to farmers to learn about their needs and continue to be a partner until the job is done.
- Farmland protection: The 85th District is home to historic farms–and also to new ones. Either way, protecting farmland should be an option for any farmer who wants to guarantee their land continues to be farmed for decades and centuries to come. As Pennsylvania’s economy continues to grow, the demand to convert agricultural land to other uses–industrial warehouses, housing developments, or solar panels–requires leadership in Harrisburg to ensure that no farmer is left without options to preserve their agricultural land.
- Farm resiliency and diversity: Extreme weather is on the rise in Pennsylvania and the world, and we need to act now to protect our land and prepare our farms. Nick will fight for micro-grants to farmers seeking to diversify their farms in order to offset the risk of drought, heat waves, floods, and fires.
- Crop damage: While estimates of crop damage due to wildlife are difficult to obtain, over the past years it is clear that the problem is only d–and that Pennsylvania’s farmers are getting hit harder than almost anywhere else in the country. Nick will vote to expand farmers’ options to address wildlife crop damage, including through the Red Tag program that the commonwealth already has through the Pennsylvania Game Commission.