Rural areas need help to thrive, grow
By Ben Bright, October 10, 2020
Last week, a farm in Nottingham Township was sold at auction. The farmhouse, sitting on 128 acres, was built in the late 1700s, and the property belonged to the same family for 125 years. It was purchased by a local developer who will look to divide it into smaller lots to build houses. This alone is not remarkable. Times change and people need to make hard decisions for themselves and their families. But this sale, and others like it, give a glimpse into the issues that local farmers face in these increasingly difficult times.
Washington County is one of the leading farm counties in Pennsylvania, and the farms vary greatly in what is produced. Everything from hay and other grains, vegetables, and even Christmas trees are grown around the county. Cattle farms, both for meat and milk, are prevalent, as are sheep and horse farms. According to the 2017 Pennsylvania Agriculture Census, there are almost 3,000 farms in the county with 99% of them being family operated. However, the amount of land that is used for farming has steadily decreased, dropping 7% in total acreage just between 2012 and 2017. Sales of farms to developers, like the one this past week, are further lowering this number.
But a trade war with China, the resulting bailouts to farmers, and then the COVID-19 pandemic have all had great negative effects on farms. The policies of President Trump have led to farm bankruptcies all over the country, including in Pennsylvania. The Market Facilitation Program pumped $28 billion into helping to save farms, mostly in the Midwest, but these subsidies did not do enough to help small farms, which make up all of the ones in Washington County. Like Trump’s tax cuts from 2017, almost all of the benefits went to the top 10%, leaving little benefits for the average farmer. This is another case of trickle-down economics failing, as bankruptcies in the country of small and medium farms rose 20% in 2019. We need to do better for our farmers.
And much more can be done to help the rural areas of Washington County. As noted, our county is losing land to developments or other uses that previously served for farming. Family farms generally stay within the family, and bringing new faces into the industry is difficult. One way to help, though, is the microloan program for new and beginning farmers that was begun during the Obama administration. This program allowed new farmers to apply for low-interest loans of up to $50,000 to start a farm. There is also the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s farm ownership and operating loans, which generally serve beginning farmers who grew up on a family farm but need low-cost capital to add to their operation. Presidential candidate Joe Biden has brought up both of these programs as priorities in his plans for rural America, with specifics to help both programs, doubling the maximum amount of loans in the new farmer program to $100,000 and increasing funding to the Department of Agriculture.
Rural Washington County can also benefit greatly by increasing broadband access to all parts of the county. In 2017 only 74% of farms in the county had access to the internet, which makes it difficult for these farmers to keep up with 21st century advancements. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been increased awareness of the lack of rural broadband availability. State Rep. Pam Snyder, who represents parts of Washington, Fayette, and Greene counties, has been working on various ways to improve this broadband access.
Earlier this year she announced $200,000 in grants to help place high-speed fiber optic technology in rural areas of the county where there is no high-speed internet. And Biden has made expanding broadband access to every American one of his main goals for his plan to help rural America. The bottom line is that broadband access helps drive economic growth and is sorely needed in all rural areas of the country.
Another way to help our rural areas is to improve educational opportunities in our rural public schools. Biden has announced plans to help by supporting our teachers by providing competitive wages. This will be done through increasing funding to Title I, which is a federal program that provides funds to schools with a high percentage of low-income students. Teachers also face large student loan debts, which are more difficult to pay off due to low wages. Biden wants to make sure that the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program is fixed, simplified, and actually helps teachers. We need to give our public schoolteachers the support and respect to flourish and help make our rural schools competitive with every school in the state.
Our Washington County Tourism Agency actively promotes rural activities throughout the county. There are family farms that are open to the public with greenhouses and retail stores, and local farmer markets in every part of the county. Events such as the annual Covered Bridge Festival and the Washington County Agricultural Fair bring thousands of visitors to our county. Washington County is known for its rural areas, and the lifeblood of the county is our family-operated farms. We need to ensure that they have access to resources that not only help them survive, but to thrive and grow. As Joe Biden says on his website in regard to his rural plans, “A healthy, vibrant rural America is essential to the success of the country.”
Ben Bright is chairman of the Washington County Democratic Committee.
https://observer-reporter.com/opinion/op-eds/op-ed-rural-areas-need-help-to-thrive-grow/article_43d0c386-08e3-11eb-9f1d-bb9b75396e70.html
