Farming Industry In Chester County Gets State Funds

KENNETT SQUARE, PA – State Rep. Christina Sappey on Wednesday announced that more than $767,000 has been allocated to programs that will benefit rural Chester County.

Sappey, a Chester County Democrat, said agriculture, the number one industry in the county, got a financial boost to modernize farming.

“It’s important to fund programs and research that help us make farming safer, more sustainable and to innovate and improve the way we operate,” said Sappey, a member of the House Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee, said in a prepared statement.

Sappey’s district in southern Chester County includes Kennett Square, known as the mushroom capital of the world because more than half of the U.S. mushrooms are from the area.

Penn State University was awarded $126,718 to expand the use of new integrated pest management to control phorid flies in mushroom production.

“The impact of phorid flies on residents and mushroom growers cannot be overstated,” Sappey said.

Penn State University was also awarded these grants that will benefit Chester County’s farming industry:

• $66,775 to explore the effectiveness of a tiny parasitic wasp species as a natural enemy of spotted wing drosophila, an insect that destroys berries and grapes.

• $64,000 to mitigate spotted lanternfly damage through biological control with endemic insect predators.
• $63,892 for applied research on the impact of vitamin supplements in pregnant sows on piglet health.
• $53,298 to determine the impact of insect pests on hemp crops.
• $43,101 to assess the shortage of affordable housing and the extent of its impact on agricultural labor.
• $40,754 to assess the effect of feed additives poultry health and productivity.
• $31,413 to establish the best crop management methods to encourage mason bee pollination in fruit orchards.
• $26,245 to investigate Cache Valley Virus, a mosquito virus, and its frequency of related abortions in sheep and goats.
• $20,000 to trace viral infections in sheep and goats through complex nucleotide sequences.
• $19,146 to develop an airway tissue model for isolating and evaluating bovine viruses.
• $18,249 to develop methods of detection and diagnosis of complex bacterial respiratory pathogens in poultry.
• $14,754 to assess whether anti-inflammatory treatment prior to birth improves colostrum quality and calf health.

In addition, Stroud Water Research Center, Avondale, was awarded $85,000 to help measure the impact of agricultural restoration practices on water quality in Lancaster County streams in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine was awarded:

• $65,001 to refine methods of detecting chronic wasting disease by odor in deer feces.

• $57,500 to develop methods of measuring and predicting methane emissions from dairy cows.
• $31,114 to study the effect of dietary zinc supplements on the health of dairy cows and calves.
• $23,406 to develop a method to measure per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in bovine serum and milk.