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Lancaster:  On the first day of the Lancaster County Agriculture Summit, some 70 attendees heard experts from academia and public policy talk about the ways that the Lancaster County economy benefits from the agricultural industry in a session that began at the Farm and Home Center and ended at the Brubaker Farms in Mt. Joy.

Commissioner Dennis Stuckey welcomed participants on behalf of the County of Lancaster and the other sponsors of the event...Wenger's Feed Mill, the Chamber Agriculture Committee, the Center of Excellence in Production Agriculture, and the Coalition for Smart Growth.  Dan Heller, Chair of the Center of Excellence, also brought greetings and introduced Senator Mike Brubaker, Chair of the Agriculture Committee of the Pennsylvania Senate who shared his perspective on agriculture in the County. 

Allison Hastings of the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission presented the results of the DVRPC study on the "foodshed" for the Delaware Valley in a talk entitled "Lancaster's Role in the Regional Food System" (click here to download this presentation).  A panel of experts followed talking about "Agriculture's Economic Impact and Interrelationships".  James Dunn, Professor of Agricultural Economics at Penn State, and Scott Sheely, Executive Director of the Lancaster County Workforce Investment Board, addressed the multiplier effect of agriculture in the economy (click here to download this presentation) while Leon Ressler, County Extention Director, tackled the same topic for the farm support industry (click here to download this presentation).  Tom Daniels, Professor of City and Regional Planning at the University of Pennsylvania, spoke to the connection of agriculture to quality of life (click here to see the presentation).  James Cowhey, Executive Director of the Lancaster County Planning Commission commented on public policy issues, particularly in land use planning, that relate to agriculture.

Following a lunch consisting of local agricultural products, the group boarded buses to the Brubaker farms near Mt. Joy for an afternoon of presentations and demonstrations on food processing and contract production, dairy production, construction for energy efficiency, animal health and nutrition, nutrient management, and finance and labor issues.

Day two on Wednesday is entitled "How Water Quality Benefits from Agriculture" and begins the day at the Bird-in-Hand Restaurant and concludes with a tour of the Merv Esh Farm.