While Wilkes-Barre and Hazleton, as well as other smaller cities, exist in this region, there is a need to talk about a green revolution — or in other words, the major agricultural setting which is Pennsylvania. That and tourism are the two major industries that prevail in the Commonwealth.
We should not forget manufacturing, distribution centers and other job-related activities; However, agriculture is a big-time sector of the economy here within the region and elsewhere in the state and other national geographic locations. Land is utilized extensively for agricultural purposes.
This means that much of the state land is devoted to food needs and serving the needs of animals that relate to the production of food here is what was discussed in a recent New York Times column about agriculture.
“The goal should be to produce more and protect more,” it read.
The Times also stated that “most people who don’t farm don’t think much about agriculture.”
We need to do more about the process of where food comes from, how extensive that framing really is, and how extensive the production of food products truly exists across the world, the nation, and inclusive of the Pocono-Northeast. In this region, there are many farms, much activity to produce food of all types, and jobs that go with farming. We should not forget the capability that farming brings to the economy nor the factors that make agriculture an important sector of the regional economic development bundle.
The Times stated that “farming is a necessary evil. It makes our food and makes a mess. We should try to confine it, so that it does not keep overrunning nature.”
How we control and mange this developing feature of the region and the State remains to be resolved in coming months and years. The role of carbon farming is discussed, and is designed to measure, monitor and keep underground, but difficult to achieve. There is a need to measure the extent to which farming and agriculture mean to this region in both food ways and economic conditions. There does not seem to be sufficient research on this programmatic situation at the regional level, and such steps should be taken in the near term.
Perhaps the Center for Rural Pennsylvania can help in this regard. In addition, here are some suggestions:
• Conduct a research project throughout the region on the pros and cons of farming and its role in the economy. Use the results to develop new ideas and activities that can be meaningful to bring the most inventive ideas for farming practices to the region.
• Select examples of good practices and spread the word across the region about how these can be utilized on a website that highlights productive farm sites in the region.
• Highlight the results of regional activities for agricultural production throughout the region.
• Establish a regional task force on farming and agriculture in the region and organize a regional website that can extend what the New York Times column did to be conscious of farming and its role inside the region.
Through these and other steps, attention will be given to a topic that is not often discussed regionally.
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