Farms, farmland continue decline in Pennsylvania, study says pennlive.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from pennlive.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The number of acres of farmland in Pennsylvania fell by 6% between 2012 and 2017, at a time when the stateâs prime farming regions are experiencing population growth that may create long-term challenges for producers.
Thatâs one conclusion of a new report from the Center for Economic and Community Development in Penn Stateâs College of Agricultural Sciences.
âWhere the Soybeans Grow: An Exploration of Agricultural Land Use in Pennsylvania, 2017â is part of a series based on data from USDAâs 2017 Census of Agriculture.
According to the report, Pennsylvania is the 32nd largest state in terms of total land area, with more than 28.6 million acres, about 25% of which â nearly 7.3 million acres â is farmland. This agricultural land is grouped into four categories: cropland, woodland, pastureland and âother landâ dedicated to farming purposes.
REBECCA MOSS Spotlight PA
(Editor’s Note: Spotlight PA is an independent, non-partisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media.)
Sandra Huffman was cleaning St. Luke’s hospital in Quakertown, gloved and maskless, when she got sick last March. It felt as though a film of spiderwebs had caked her throat, she said. At 54, she was sleeping upright in bed, breathing through a borrowed nebulizer, and drinking an old family remedy of fat Spanish onions congealed in sugar.
She sold her ’86 Chevy Mallard RV, then her mother’s gold jewelry. By late summer she was collecting cans for scrap metal. Huffman did not know that a federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, administered by the state, would provide money for people like her until October.
Rebecca Moss2021-02-11T11:16:09-05:00February 5, 2021|
Pandemic unemployment benefits are a lifeline for more than four hundred thousand Pennsylvanians. But payments stalled this year.
By Rebecca Moss, Spotlight PA
Sandra Huffman was cleaning St. Luke’s hospital in Quakertown, gloved and maskless, when she got sick last March. It felt as though a film of spiderwebs had caked her throat, she said. At fifty-four, she was sleeping upright in bed, breathing through a borrowed nebulizer, and drinking an old family remedy of fat Spanish onions congealed in sugar.
She sold her ’86 Chevy Mallard RV, then her mother’s gold jewelry. By late summer she was collecting cans for scrap metal. Huffman did not know that a federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, administered by the state, would provide money for people such as her until October.
Feb 4, 2021
The Center for Rural Pennsylvania, chaired by state Sen. Gene Yaw, R-Loyalsock Township, will hold a virtual public hearing at 10 a.m. today to examine rural aviation and the decision by American Airlines to drop flights from many smaller U.S. cities, including Williamsport. “Rural areas are at a disadvantage because transportation options are often limited,” Yaw said, according to a news release. “This has profound implications for rural communities, particularly now during the pandemic. Maintaining passenger flights to and from our rural airports is vital to economic recovery.” The hearing will focus on demand for reliable air service, rural transportation and logistical impacts, impacts to area businesses and access to health care.