CNC Malting Company owner Brendan Carroll demonstrates aerating the germinating barley, part of the malting process, for members of the Butler County Farm Bureau during Friday's Legislative Farm Tour. Carroll and his wife opened a grain malting facility in the old Clearfield Township Elementary School Building. What used to be the school's computer lab and second and third grade classrooms now houses the grain germination stage of malting.

FENELTON — State Secretary of Agriculture Russell Redding heard about some of the issues affecting county farmers and got a look at CNC Malting Company's process for malting barley and other grains for craft beer and whiskey producers.

Redding on Friday joined area legislators, county commissioners and farmers at the Butler County Farm Bureau's annual legislative farm tour.

During a break in the tour, Redding described the Farm Bureau as a grassroots organization in which policies pursued by the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau come from county bureaus.

He said it was important to him to listen to farmers and county commissioners express their opinions on issues, and do a first-hand assessment of crops.

“It gives me a good sense of crops and prices in the fall. The crops here look beautiful,” Redding said.

The agriculture industry is at the center of issues such as health, environment and energy that are addressed at the federal, state and county levels, he said.

High speed broadband is one of those issues.

“We need it,” dairy farmer James Thiele, who is codirector of government relations for the county farm bureau with his brother, William, said during a discussion.

He said farmers need broadband service to help them run their farms and children were really in need of it during the pandemic to do their school work.

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