HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania — The first time Mee Cee Baker went to the Pennsylvania Farm Show, she was a 12-year-old 4-H member whose pig got loose during the market show and took off into the center of the massive complex. A chaotic scene emerged as the frightened animal ran haphazardly among the large equipment, tractors, and people, with everyone in attendance, at least to Baker’s 12-year-old eyes, seemingly chasing it down or running away.
The next year, Baker, who later worked in education and outreach in the Rendell administration’s state agriculture department, said she found herself traumatized again in a different way when she was forced to sleep overnight in a hay bale there when a snowstorm left many participants unable to leave for home.
“But the second time, I was forced to stay over again because of a snowstorm, I was 16 years old,” she said, pausing, then continuing with a broad smile, “That time, it was a lot of fun. We played football with the police in the large arena at night. It was kids against cops. We had a great time.”
Baker has lived at her family’s Port Royal, Juniata County farm her entire life. On a Thursday morning, reports warned of farm-show congestion for all roads leading to Harrisburg. Despite the early hour, and even though it was a workday, the parking lots were already full as Pennsylvania state police directed people toward spill-off lots that sprang up at local businesses. The lots were needed to handle the crowds that came from not just all over the state, but all over the country to the nation’s largest indoor agriculture exposition.
The Pennsylvania Farm Show is a celebration of food, fuel, life, milkshakes, hot, flakey potato doughnuts, double-fried, fresh mozzarella cubes, hard work, conservation, and a way of life that is not often understood by outsiders. Yet, once outsiders experienced or interacted with the wide variety of farmers who put food on the table or provide the energy the country needs to turn on the lights every morning, the outsiders found themselves a little envious of how critically important farmers are to lives in urban or suburban America.
In the farm show’s weekend-to-weekend January residency at the 1-million-square-foot Harrisburg complex, 16 calves and 11 piglets were born, one of which I held, nearly 400 chicks were hatched, and the dairy cows were busy producing 450 gallons of milk every day, all witnessed by over half a million visitors who attended the 104th year of the event.
If one wondered if the half-ton of butter used for the butter sculpture would all go to waste, something farmers never do because they are conservationists to the core, it was disassembled by 4-H volunteers and sent to a methane digester on a local farm and converted to renewable energy.
There was something there for everyone to do, with over 300 commercial exhibits and 12,000 competitive events, half of which included animals, along with rodeos and square-dancing.
The same went for eating, whether a visitor was vegan, gluten-free, or wanted all the beef or dairy or wheat available: There was something for everyone. For example, 12.5 tons of potatoes were consumed, either in doughnuts or French fries, 19,000 gallons of ice cream were consumed in milkshakes, and 7,000 pounds of cheese were consumed in fried mozzarella squares. Pennsylvania is also the largest grower and supplier of mushrooms in the country, and they were served in abundance, sauteed with onions on a gluten-free bun.
There was also something for everyone to learn, said PennAg Industries Executive Director Christian Herr. He did his best to do so, for the legislative community and for consumers who often forget that the tomatoes they buy at the local grocer come from somewhere more profound than a stockroom.
“Agriculture’s political influence has vanished among elected officials, so we need to remind both them and attendees of our impact in their lives and in our economy,” said Herr.
The sense of community here is strong.
But, as Herr pointed out, the influence of farmers is often missing, despite agriculture’s effect on the economy being eye-popping. In this state alone, data compiled by Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration shows the agricultural industry generates approximately $135.7 billion in total economic impact each year and supports 579,000 jobs with $26.9 billion in earnings. For each job directly supported by Pennsylvania agriculture, another 1.06 jobs are indirectly supported across the commonwealth.
Many of the young people working at the food stands, such as the iconic Dairymen’s Milkshake booth, were volunteers, explained Dave Smith, executive director of the Dairymen’s Association.
“This is our biggest fundraiser of the year,” he said. “We use the proceeds after expenses to give back into the Pennsylvania agriculture and dairy industry in the form of next-generation development. We do scholarships. We do internships. We give money away to organizations that have programs with legs.”
Whether talking to a young farmer, such as Margo Sechler from Bell & Evans whose Fredericksburg, Pennsylvania, family farm supplies organic chickens to Whole Foods; or to Beatrice and Wilber Gyger, 89 and 95, respectively, of Hummelstown, who discussed the secret of the longevity of their marriage; or to 20-year-old Tesean Richardson in his colorful red, white, and blue overalls, who was there for the “good energy” of the event, everyone understood either before they arrived or after they left that they are all somehow connected to their state’s agriculture life.
