State Rep. Martin Causer, R-Turtlepoint, is calling cuts aimed at Pennsylvania’s food and fiber industries a necessity.
His thoughts come after Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding expressed concern on Wednesday over the state House-passed budget bill he said could spell disaster in the agency’s ability to safeguard public health, inspect the safety of the state’s food supply, improve water quality, and provide services to farmers.
Causer begs to differ.
“The budget passed by the House makes a number of spending cuts necessary to balance the budget,” said Causer, who is chairman of the House Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee. “It is a reasonable proposal that actually incorporates many of the cuts initially proposed by the governor back in February. That said, developing a budget is a process and the passage of House Bill 218 last month was an important step forward in the process, not the final step. We are continuing to negotiate and working toward a final budget that will best support our agriculture industry as well as our taxpayers.”
The House of Representatives passed House Bill 218 in early April, which Redding says would slash the department’s General Government Operations appropriation by $2.055 million. He said Wolf’s proposal raises that line item by $2.233 million.
“H.B. 218 equates to the loss of 21 positions,” said Redding, adding, “If enacted, a loss of this magnitude will require us to make very difficult decisions about how to manage in fiscal year 2017-18.”
Cutting 21 positions would be equal to eliminating the bureaus of Market Development and Farmland Preservation, the Hardwoods Development Council and about half of the positions in the Bureau of Food Distribution, he said. Those type of cuts would essentially make the department unable to administer programs that would help make new markets for producers, such as PA Preferred, international trade and the Specialty Crop Block Grant program; that safeguard land from development through Pennsylvania’s nation-leading Farmland Preservation Program; that ensure the industry’s long-term viability; and that provide basic nutrition to the state’s most vulnerable citizens via the State Food Purchase Program, the Farmers Market Nutrition Program, the Emergency Food Assistance Program, and other child nutrition programs, according to Redding.
Another possible budget cut could come in the form of doing away with food inspectors who examine restaurants and food and milk processing and manufacturing facilities.
“Twenty-one positions are equal to roughly one-third of the department’s inspectors, and a loss of that manpower could mean 8,000 fewer restaurant inspections per year at a time when the department is already struggling to keep pace with municipalities turning over inspection responsibilities to the state,” state officials said in a prepared statement.
In addition, the proposed bill would slash programs that support conservation districts. The proposed spending plan also proposes $407,000 less for the Nutrient Management Fund.
“To manage, the State Conservation Commission would have to curtail programs that benefit farmers; cut back on education and training programs that teach producers, certified plan writers and reviewers, and field staff about their nutrient management obligations; and possibly eliminate funding to at least 12 of 21 conservation districts that use those dollars to support staff positions,” state officials said.
State officials said a $130,000 cut in transfers to the Conservation District Fund under the Agriculture’s budget — along with the $376,000 cut for the same line item under the Department of Environmental Protection’s budget — could force conservation districts cut positions, technical assistance positions, or support for special projects. These cuts could be offset with Unconventional Gas Well Funds from the conservation district allocation, but doing so ultimately would mean less funding for districts in counties where unconventional gas drilling is occurring, state officials said.
“As chairman of the House Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee, and as the representative of a rural district that encompasses a variety of agricultural operations, I certainly support the role the Department of Agriculture and its programs play in supporting the industry. I am also aware of the financial challenges facing state government and the taxpayers who fund it,” Causer said.
