Agriculture remains Pennsylvania’s leading industry and an important financial and cultural factor here in the Laurel Highlands region.

And farming is an industry undergoing multiple changes driven by market factors and advancing technology.

But — as was noted by Tommy Nagle Jr., who runs a cattle farm near Patton, and Scott Farabaugh, who has Nicktown’s Blue Goose Farm — agriculture remains a lifestyle more than a job, even as those providing food for local residents find themselves tracking the shifting winds of science, politics and economics.

This evolving business sector faces many challenges and threats, but remains a pursuit that we must all cherish and strive to better understand.

“I make the joke that the best part of my job is I wake up and I’m at work, and the worst part of my job is I wake up and I’m at work,” Farabaugh told reporter Dave Sutor for the Sept. 2-3 report we called “Harvesting Change.”

“Obviously, you can get good and bad in all of that,” he said. “. It’s a lifestyle. It’s not 9 to 5 and you’re done.”

A report earlier this year from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture and Team Pennsylvania — titled “Pennsylvania Agriculture: A Look at The Economic Impact and Future Trends” — charted agriculture’s crucial place in the statewide marketplace:

— Directly supporting 280,500 jobs.

— Providing $10.9 billion in annual earnings.

— Generating $83.8 billion in business each year.

— Accounting for whopping 18 percent of the Pennsylvania’s gross state product.

“That’s not a number that we had before,” Secretary of Agriculture Russell Redding said.

“There was a lot of speculation that it was important, but we didn’t know the number.

“And then two is, we had a chance to really look at some of the recommendations.”

The report noted the industry’s ...

— strengths, such as crop diversity, small farms and university partnerships; and ...

— weaknesses, such as an aging workforce, overwhelmed processors, difficulty in capitalizing on specific consumer demands.

The report also noted threats to farming in Pennsylvania, such as transportation and technological infrastructure and federal trade policies.

Naugle is president of the Cambria County Farm Bureau, which represents its 800 members in meetings with state and federal lawmakers.

Organizations such as 4-H continue to promote the farming way of life as healthy, meaningful and important to local communities.

In the past months, budding agriculturalists displayed produce and livestock at the Somerset and Cambria fairs through 4-H — which also links young people with skills associated with STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), which are crucial to the modern farming industry.

And agriculture now includes areas such as the making of local beers and wines, even the cultivating of wild mushrooms.

Fairs and other ag-related events also serve as a reminder of the value of the work and products generated by our farmers.

In 2012, the most recent federal Census of Agriculture showed 1,210 operations in Bedford County, 1,140 in Somerset and 551 in Cambria, Sutor reported. Farms in the three counties had a shared market value of more than $250 million.

The fate of our farms is tied directly to the future of businesses that sell seed, produce tractors and other supplies, and transport those goods to market.

We urge Congress to finalize and pass a new Farm Bill, to support struggling dairy farmers, provide insurance against crop damage, and bolster other areas of concern, from land conservation to commodities pricing. The current bill expires at the end of September.

And we urge readers to take time to reconnect with farming, to strive to build an understanding of all that goes into making sure there’s meat, milk and fresh fruits and vegetables at your local store or farmers market.

“I think as society evolves and becomes less involved with agriculture,” Nagle said, “they kind of lose the concept of what it takes to actually produce food in America.”

That lack of awareness might be the biggest threat to agriculture.

The next time you reach for the refrigerator door, pause to think about the many hard-working and dedicated individuals whose labors provided the contents of that appliance.