{"id":23692,"date":"2025-11-03T22:06:06","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T22:06:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/23692\/"},"modified":"2025-11-03T22:06:06","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T22:06:06","slug":"pa-agriculture-leaders-discuss-trade-challenges-and-opportunities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/23692\/","title":{"rendered":"Pa. agriculture leaders discuss trade challenges and opportunities"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEWTON TWP. \u2014\u00a0Fair trade can help small family farmers and the consumers that buy their goods.<\/p>\n

That was the message state agriculture leaders and U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan, R-8, Dallas Twp. conveyed Monday afternoon during a roundtable about the state of agriculture amid changing trade conditions. The discussion, which took place at Eckel Farms, explored ways farmers, agribusinesses and lawmakers can strengthen agriculture markets and support farms across the state.<\/p>\n

The panelists agreed the rising price of commodities, combined with weather conditions, tariffs and the current trade environment, which restricts imports of agriculture goods from the United States to other countries, isn\u2019t good.<\/p>\n

They emphasized the need for lawmakers on the federal level to honor and strengthen trade deals in place with Canada and Mexico for agricultural products, and to expand trading of those products to those countries and other areas, such as Japan, the European Union and Vietnam.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we don\u2019t move our products, there\u2019s only so much availability for the demand \u2026. some of us will disappear, and it\u2019s going to be the family farm,\u201d said Chris Hoffman, president of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau. \u201cI think that we have huge opportunities by opening trade.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt Espenshade, president of the Pennsylvania State Grange, said customs limitations should be eliminated to allow more agricultural exports from the United States into other countries.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to just make sure that our products end up where they need to be used,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Monday\u2019s roundtable was organized by Farmers for Free Trade, a nonprofit organization advocating for free trade and its benefits for farmers and ranchers, and Versant Strategies, a Harrisburg-based agriculture lobbying group. It was part of a two-month long Motorcade for Trade listening tour, which aims to spread the word about free trade and how tariffs are impacting the agriculture industry. Monday\u2019s roundtable was the final stop on the eight-state tour before it headed to Washington D.C. Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\"Farmers<\/p>\n

Farmers for Free Trade\u2019s Executive Director Brain Kuehl speaks on a panel of agricultural leaders during the Farmers for Free Trade round table discussion at Eckels Farm in Clarks Summit on Monday, Nov. 03, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA\/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

\"Farmer<\/p>\n

Farmer Keith Eckels watches Rep. Jim Haddock speak before the Farmers for Free Trade round table discussion at Eckels Farm in Clarks Summit on Monday, Nov. 03, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA\/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

\"Farmers<\/p>\n

Farmers for Free Trade\u2019s Executive Director Brain Kuehl sits on the panel discussing agricultural issues during the Farmers for Free Trade round table discussion at Eckels Farm in Clarks Summit on Monday, Nov. 03, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA\/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

\"U.S.<\/p>\n

U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan speaks before the Farmers for Free Trade round table discussion at Eckels Farm in Clarks Summit on Monday, Nov. 03, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA\/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A dog pokes its head out of the Farmers for Free Trade touring vehicle during the organization\u2019s round table discussion at Eckels Farm in Clarks Summit on Monday, Nov. 03, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA\/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

\"U.S.<\/p>\n

U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan speaks during the Farmers for Free Trade round table discussion at Eckels Farm in Clarks Summit on Monday, Nov. 03, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA\/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

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Farmers for Free Trade\u2019s Executive Director Brain Kuehl speaks on a panel of agricultural leaders during the Farmers for Free Trade round table discussion at Eckels Farm in Clarks Summit on Monday, Nov. 03, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA\/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

Farmers for Free Trade Executive Director Brian Kuehl said during the tour, they heard farmers are hurting from high prices, which could lead to small farms closing. He added people the organization talked to don\u2019t want tariffs on farm imports, want to see markets expanded to export agriculture products, and the 2020 United States\u2013Mexico\u2013Canada Agreement on trade strengthened.<\/p>\n

Bresnahan, who serves on the House Committee on Agriculture, agreed with Kuehl, adding domestic policy needs to be geared towards smaller farms and the visa process should be streamlined.<\/p>\n

He touted the Local Farmers Feeding Our Communities Act, a bipartisan bill he introduced last summer that would allow states, through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, to purchase foods from local farmers and producers.\n<\/p>\n

He emphasized the need for guidance on trade.<\/p>\n

\u201cMarkets don\u2019t respond well when the goal post is constantly being moved and when you don\u2019t have that charted path,\u201d Bresnahan said. \u201cIt\u2019s extremely frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n

The roundtable took place after President Donald Trump announced during a trip to Asia that China has committed to buying \u201ca tremendous amount\u201d of American soybeans, sorghum and other farm products. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said China agreed to buy 25 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans annually as part of the agreement and will start by purchasing 12 million metric tons of soybeans from America between now and January.\n<\/p>\n

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said China also agreed to remove all its retaliatory tariffs on American agriculture products, which should open the door for sales of other crops and beef.\n<\/p>\n

American farmers welcomed China\u2019s promise to buy some of their soybeans, but they cautioned this won\u2019t solve all their problems as they continue to deal with soaring prices for fertilizer, tractors, repair parts and seeds.\n<\/p>\n

Eckel Farms owner Keith Eckel, a past president of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, emphasized in his opening remarks the importance of trade, adding the need for it hasn\u2019t changed. He said after the roundtable farm families need\u00a0 advocates.<\/p>\n

In addition to the panelists, others who offered remarks were State Reps. Jim Haddock, D-118, Pittston Twp., Eddie Day Pashinski, D-121, Wilkes-Barre, who chairs the state House Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee, and Greg Hostetter, the state executive deputy secretary for the state Department of Agriculture.\n<\/p>\n

The Associated Press contributed to this story<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEWTON TWP. \u2014\u00a0Fair trade can help small family farmers and the consumers that buy their goods. That was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23693,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[201,182,139,15728,28,30,29,181],"class_list":["post-23692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-lackawanna-county","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-newton-township","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-top-stories-stt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23692"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23692\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}