Shapiro raises the second stop in County and raises the program for agriculture innovation grant

Sacramento – For the second time in his first term, Governor Josh Shapiro made a stopover in Schuylkill County and visited the largest agricultural employer in the district to highlight a new subsidy program.

Shapiro, a democrat, was located in Sacramento, Hubley Township in Sterman Masser Potato Farms on Monday afternoon.

Dave Masser, CEO of the mass family of companies, said that the farm in the heart of the Hegins Valley is now in the eighth generation.

His farm employs over 440 people and receives a scholarship of $ 200,000 in order to purchase and install a new potato planter with eight-wing potatoes. The subsidy is carried out by what the state calls the first in-the-the nation of agricultural innovation grant program.

The company, he says, is the leading potato breeder in the state.

According to the governor's office, the Masser plant will help double the number of hectares of land that they plant and harvest them from 1,000 to 2,000 acres. For this reason, Pennsylvania increases the number of the morning used for the potato system in 50 years.

“Pennsylvania once grown over 100,000 acres of potatoes and today there are fewer than 7,000,” said Masser. “We believe that it is time to reverse this trend by growing more potatoes here and at home and reducing the dependency on imports from other regions.”

Masser led Shapiro on a tour of the potato processing plant on Monday before the press conference.

“It is really exciting for us to hear from the plan that Dave and others have for the next five decades, and puts Pennsylvania in the unique position to dominate the market for potatoes as a company in the east,” said Shapiro. “We want to push as far west as possible and as far north to Canada as possible.”

“It makes Pennsylvania the leader when it comes to AG and when it comes to potatoes,” said Shapiro. “AG is a big business here in Pennsylvania.”

He said his administration had prioritized agricultural economic development.

“For the first time, agriculture is of central importance for our economic development efforts,” said the governor.

The Agricultural Innovation Grant Fund, said Shapiro, was the result of cross -party efforts in state legislation.

The Massers project is one of 88 out of 159 applications in the first round.

The company is the 24th largest employer in Schuylkill County.

Shapiro was the first seated governor who has visited Schuylkill County since 2018 when he visited the EMD electronics plant near Homeetown in 2023.

Asked by The Sentinel About increased state investments in Schuylkill County in the last few years-a bit of the scholarship for Masser's, a grant for a new building in the municipality of Hegins Township, and grants for the Center for Education, Business and the Arts in Shenandoah-Sowie described the second visit to the county, Shapiro, as “two ways”.

“There are no investments in potatoes in Schuylkill County here if there is no massator,” said Shapiro. “We find partnerships that we can invest in [whether it’s private or public sector.]””

“I think it's a combination of one, I take care of this community, and two, I was enough here to listen, learn and find people who work together and support their work,” added Shapiro. “I don't want to appear in a community and tell you what you should do. I want to come to a community in which you work together and you have a plan and I want to make sure that we help and invest in this.”

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Kaylee Lindenmuth

Kaylee Lindenmuth is a Shenandoah who comes a passion for journalism and the community that she calls at home.