A committee is forming to save the Butler County Farm Tour.

Butler County Commissioners Leslie Osche and Kim Geyer passed around a yellow legal pad to all in attendance at the Butler County Farm Town Hall on Thursday night, asking people to sign up if they were interested in forming a future committee to organize the tour.

Many local farmers atteneded the event hosted by the Butler County Commissioners at Butler County Community College's Founders Hall, along with several state and local officials, including representatives from the Butler County Farm Bureau, Penn State Extension and Butler Area School District.

State Sen. Scott Hutchinson, R-21st, and state Rep. Marci Mustello, R-11th, also attended the town hall.

“I think the willingness was good from the Farm Bureau, the Extension and some of the other people here tonight volunteering and signing up on that yellow tablet that they would be willing to meet again and talk to their neighbors and help them be a part of it,” said Ken Metrick of Harvestview Farm and Market in Mount Chestnut.

In addition to growing vegetables, Metrick has an apple orchard and raises some livestock.

The event aimed to answer a key question posed by Butler County Tourism President Jack Cohen, Osche and Geyer: How do you lessen the burden to the farmers participating in the tour? Organizers hope the committee will help ease that burden.

“Volunteers are very difficult to find,” said Cohen, who led the discussion about the farm tour. “It's harder and harder for you folks to help out because you have farms to run. It's too much to ask.”

Farmer Arthur King, owner of Harvest Valley Farms in Valencia, raised the idea of surveying farmers who have participated in the tour or have been invited to participate to garner further input and data.

Cohen liked the idea.

“Let's see where we can go from there,” he said.

The consensus of many farmers present was to not only continue the farm tour, but keep it as it is and incorporate more agriculture education and focus on technological advances in the field.

“I think everybody put a lot of input in,” said King, who sells his farm's produce at his market on Route 8.

He said he does not want to see the farm tour disbanded because of its tourism potential.

“I think it'll be great for the county because it's a really good way to get a lot of people into the county from outside areas and get more business to the county.”

Evelyn Minteer, a farmer from Franklin Township and a member of the county's Farm Bureau, said she would like to see the farm tour add some new elements, like a dinner or cookout attached to the event. She mentioned partnering with a church to host the meal.

King liked the idea and offered an alternative.

“We could have the local fire hall throw a fundraiser for themselves and have our farm tour on the same day,” he said.

As the meeting continued, the farmers pursued different avenues of discussion.

Geyer broached the topic of mental health for farmers, which saw some discussion.

Some farmers expressed concern that misinformation has affected their livelihoods, and others said agricultural education is nearing extinction in the public school system.

Butler Assistant Superintendent Brian Slamecka expressed interest in tying together the educational system's emphasis on science and technology with the agricultural industry.

“There's a lot of good things happening around here that we need to get kids exposed to,” Slamecka said.

Minteer said teaching children is good, but pointed out that children are not the only ones who need to know where their food comes from, further emphasizing the need for the farm tour.

“I think it's important for the kids education,” she said. “But adults need to come too.”