An annual legislative farm tour last week provided a great opportunity for the Butler County Farm Bureau to emphasize with federal, state and county officials the importance of supporting legislation and programs that assist farmers.

The past two years have been difficult for Pennsylvania farmers — from last summer’s devastating rainstorms that affected crops to this summer’s dry weather.

Then, of course, the COVID-19 pandemic has been disastrous — dairy farms, for example, have been forced to dump milk following a decrease in demand due to the closure of schools and restaurants operating at limited capacity.

William Thiele, a farm owner and co-director of government relations for the county farm bureau, said he had to dump 2,400 gallons of milk, and then even had difficulty getting rid of cows because there weren’t enough processors to deal with the number being culled by farmers.

The cancellation of the Butler Farm Show — which gives farmers the opportunity to educate the public about their way of life and display produce or livestock — was yet another blow.

Not surprisingly, the farm bureau had many areas of concern to share with legislators during the annual tour Aug. 21 at Heasley’s Nurseries in Summit Township.

Some areas included the return of milk in schools, the need for broadband in rural areas, taxes on off-road vehicles, legislation addressing agritourism, funding for small meat processing facilities and Penn State Extension services, which runs a 4-H program and has an agronomist who helps farmers.

We hope lawmakers pursue legislation that will provide relief to county farmers.

The average age for state farmers is 59, which means that young people could use some enticement to take up the profession. Looking around and noticing the difficulties experienced by farmers isn’t great for inspiration.

One specific area of importance mentioned by the farm bureau to legislators is providing high-speed broadband in rural areas which resonate with current and future farmers. The bureau noted that some farm machinery uses internet service for navigation.

As COVID-19 has shown, our world has increasingly become one in which many areas of life are conducted online. During the pandemic, workers quickly switched from being in the office to working from home, meetings were held online and even school was conducted on computer screens.

Young people are accustomed to a virtual existence, so helping to improve the local agriculture industry by providing broadband service could make the profession more appealing to them.

Any reasonable ideas to give state farmers a boost are welcome at this point.

— NCD