N. WHITEHALL TWP., Pa. – The U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and Secretary of Transportation made a stop together in Lehigh County Tuesday afternoon.
They were at Jaindl Farms in North Whitehall Township to meet with leaders of the farming and freight industries in our area.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced that Pennsylvania farmers have been approved to tap into USDA reserve dollars to offset the cost of crop loss due to the three-day freeze last month. That money is available immediately.
American farmers make a profit only two out of every ten years according to Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins. She was invited to tour Jaindl Farms by seventh District Congressman Ryan McKenzie, along with transportation secretary Shawn Duffy. Secretary Rollins says the price of fertilizer is a major issue right now.
“This is unsustainable. If America cannot feed or fuel or clothe ourselves, then we will no longer know what freedom looks like in this country,” said Rollins.
Secretary Duffy updated the status of a $40 million grant in the works for Lehigh valley International Airport. The money would be used for multimodal freight and logistics. Duffy announced the Transportation Department is relaxing the number of hours truckers need to be off the roads in order to deliver more fertilizer to farms. Much of which is manufactured outside of the United States.
“We are suspending the hours in 35 states. We know how important it is to move fertilizer throughout the country. And if trucking is going to be an impediment to that we all want to work together as one team to support the American farmer,” Duffy said.
Getting back to LVIA, Secretary Duffy also said $15 million will be coming to the airport from the Big Beautiful Bill by 2028. That money will be used to update radios, radar, and voice switches.