Greetings from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.

Good evening and thank you for the opportunity to be here tonight. For the past 50 years The Pennsylvania State University has provided mushroom growers from Pennsylvania, North America and around the world with a great opportunity to come together to exchange ideas and investigate new production methods. While I've met with mushroom growers on many occasions during my time in Washington D.C. and with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA), this is a very special meeting to me. I am honored to be a part of the 50th Annual Mushroom Short Course.

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As a student here at Penn State in 1980, I worked in the Short Course Office and had the opportunity to help with a Mushroom Short Course. As I read through information on this event I recalled some of the experiences that I had in 1980. I'm not sure where the 28 years have gone since I was first involved in this program, but I do know that mushroom producers today are just as committed to staying on top of the issues facing their industry and finding ways to expand their consumer base.

I would like to take a moment to thank all of you for the bragging rights you provide Pennsylvania agriculture. Every time I say that Pennsylvania leads the nation in mushroom production, it generates the same reaction - Wow! We at PDA are keenly aware of the challenges of keeping agriculture a leading economic enterprise in Pennsylvania. We are proud of you and thank you for your commitment to doing business in Pennsylvania. Very few sectors of our agriculture economy respond like the mushroom industry when asked to step up and support events or projects.

How Can We Keep Pennsylvania Number One in Mushroom Production?

I see distinct areas impacting the mushroom industry. These areas are access to 1) labor, 2) relationships - both with consumers and with neighbors, 3) research and 4) continuing education.

Labor

Labor is critical. Without a reliable source of labor to help grow, manage and harvest our mushrooms, the industry comes to a standstill. I don't have to tell you that there is a need for labor reform; you all experience this each and every day. I also don't have to tell you that this is a hot button topic for society right now.

In 2006, the University of California-Davis completed a study on crop workers in Southeastern Pennsylvania for their Changing Face series. This article cites 5,500 seasonal farm workers employed on our mushroom farms. At our table tonight, we discussed the number of employees and today it is more than 8,500 - so you can see the growth in just a few years. For the mushroom industry, labor reform is critical. In fact, it is a huge factor for the entire Commonwealth. The Center for Rural Pennsylvania estimates that there are more than 50,000 seasonal farmworkers in Pennsylvania each year.

We know that more than 8,500 of these seasonal workers are in Chester County alone. Imagine if we have no labor reform. Can you afford to lose 25 percent of the workforce? The impact would be devastating to all of us - to employees, to companies, to consumers and to the economy.

In a time when we read and hear stories every day about the rising price of food, it astounds me that the labor shortage is not constantly mentioned. Without a trained workforce to harvest and process our products, the law of supply and demand tells us that consumers will be forced to pay increased prices to make up for lower supplies.

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The Southeastern Pennsylvania mushroom industry in particular has helped lead the way on immigration reform. Your work as a part of the Agriculture Coalition for Immigration Reform is critical, as we need to ensure that the mushroom industry is not left out of immigration legislation that would impact agriculture.

I am impressed with the work that has been done in Southeastern Pennsylvania to support farmworkers. This work is an example that agricultural towns and counties everywhere should look to model. The community resources and social services created for this growing group is key to creating an atmosphere where all people feel valued and appreciated. We need to continue the conversations we have with our neighbors to convey the importance of the people who are employed to harvest and process agricultural products - no matter where they are born.

In March there was bipartisan support to create an Emergency Agriculture Relief Act. We heard time and time again that the Ag JOBS legislation could not be tied to the Farm Bill because it would negatively impact it. Now the issue of a full-scale reform of the country's immigration policies has caused a halt of the Emergency Agriculture Relief Act. In an industry like agriculture where mere hours can be the difference between a profitable harvest or a huge loss, we cannot afford to lose an entire season before this issue is resolved.

We are working closely with the Department of Labor and Industry to make sure that the interests of agriculture are represented. While there are many groups impacted by this national challenge, in my mind none should take precedence over agriculture. Labor and immigration directly impact our ability to feed ourselves, whether the nation wants to admit it or not. It is imperative that conversations about labor become action, because the well being of our state and our nation depend on a safe, abundant food supply. Please continue your efforts and continue to reach out to those whose support is needed to create a solution to this labor crisis.

Relationships

After labor, relationships are critical to Pennsylvania remaining number one in mushroom production. We are now producing more mushrooms than ever before, but we need to reach out to our consumers and bring them with us so that we are selling more mushrooms than ever before. In addition, we need to help educate the consumers next door - our neighbors - about the important role that mushroom operations play in the neighborhood, the county, the state and the nation.

The Community Awareness Committee always does a great job of communicating important economic information. Sharing with neighbors the work done to produce more than 493 million pounds of mushrooms and the $375 million in sales that these mushrooms brought in is a great way to help people understand the many contributions the industry makes to our communities. We need to remind people of the services, equipment, supplies, technology and transportation that go into mushroom production.

I want to thank the mushroom community for such a great exhibit at the PSATS legislative reception last month. This was a great way to not only highlight the delicious work being done by our mushroom industry, but it also helped hundreds of townships supervisors begin a relationship with all of you. These relationships will pay dividends for all of us, as we need to ensure that our leaders are educated about the positive economic, societal and environmental impact that mushrooms have on a community. They need to hear from us on all the issues - not just when we need a permit, financial support, trade adjustments or labor reform. AMI and the CAC do a great job in this regard.

Certainly we also need to continue to build relationships with each other. Industry events like the Short Course where we can come together to learn from each other and from subject matter experts are key. From the formal to the informal sessions, we strengthen the entire industry when we work together.

Good examples of this intra-industry relationship building includes working with your state Department of Agriculture, and I want to share some PDA/Mushroom Industry highlights with you:

* The 2008 PA Preferred member company of the year was Phillips Mushroom. They were recognized at the Pennsylvania Farm Show, and reminded thousands of consumers that Pennsylvania mushrooms are a great food choice and an important contributor to our economy.

* The Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) audit cost share program helps producers offset the cost of the USDA audit, ensuring a safe food supply without putting a strain on the bottom line for producers.

* The SAFE Initiative, Pennsylvania's Strategy for Agriculture and Food Excellence looks at how we can ensure our food is both safe and secure. We also have strategic plans for energy, health care, transportation, but our first goal is to develop those areas that tie to the Department's mission to encourage, protect and promote agriculture and its related industries here in the Commonwealth.

* Mushroom producers have secured more than $3.5 million in First Industries Funds, and this money was used to leverage another $4.8 million in private funding. The $3.5 million from the First Industries Fund is what I like to think of as the yeast for our mushroom businesses - it is the initial funding that helps grow the financial support needed to expand and enhance our mushroom industry. This is a huge boon to the mushroom industry, and a trend that the Department hopes will continue.

* Since the Rendell and Wolff Administration took office in 2003, more than $700,000 has been provided for mushroom-related agricultural research projects. This could not happen without a collaborative relationship between the mushroom industry, Penn State and PDA.