PENNSYLVANIA (WJAC) \u2014 State officials are continuing to follow the devastating impact that this year\u2019s late spring freeze had on Pennsylvania fruit farmers.<\/p>\n
For some farmers, it practically wiped out their crop.<\/p>\n
Now, work is underway to get the farmers financial help.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt does have a seed in it; it does have a seed. But it\u2019s just not growing.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the Way Fruit Farm in Centre County, co-owner Jason Coopey showed Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture Russell Redding the impact of the April freeze on what\u2019s left of his apple orchid.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese trees should be full of hundreds of apples. This is normally our \u2018you-pick\u2019 orchard. So, it\u2019s going to be a challenging year.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the new state budget, ten million dollars was allocated for freeze assistance disaster grants. But much more is needed, as the state is asking for federal emergency funding for the farmers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose dollars will not replace the lost apples, cherries or peaches. And it won\u2019t help our processors and packers unfortunately. But it will help farmers weather this difficult season.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s anticipated that this difficult season will have a sizeable ripple effect.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe effects of this historic freeze will be felt by the entire food system. Everyone that relies on Pennsylvania grown fruit to feed families and serve their customers.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Way Fruit Farm dates back to 1826, celebrating two hundred years in business. Now, they\u2019re asking for support for one of Pennsylvania\u2019s most vital industries.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust keep supporting farms like ours. Even if it\u2019s not us, please go out and support local farmers because that\u2019s the only way we are going to keep them strong.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PENNSYLVANIA (WJAC) \u2014 State officials are continuing to follow the devastating impact that this year\u2019s late spring freeze…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":249753,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-249752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249752","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=249752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249752\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}