Between 700 and 800 farmers attended the PennAg Expo last week to connect and communicate with peers and nearly 70 vendors who displayed their wares at the event.
Chris Herr, executive director of PennAg Industries, said producers from south-central Pennsylvania came to network and learn at the annual event, now in its 10th year.
Held Tuesday, March 18, at the Lebanon Valley Exposition Center & Fairgrounds, the event is the combined exhibition of the former Keystone Pork, Poultry Progress, and Mid-Atlantic Manure Summit.
“It’s all about being able to connect and communicate,” Herr said. “A lot of agriculture is still about relationships and, for instance, we have this set-up where Bell & Evans will invite their growers to come in and if they sign in, Bell & Evans will pay for their lunch and their milkshakes, so it’s a nice outreach.”
Herr offered Hatfield for pork producers and Heritage Tractor, which is in a Lebanon County-based business, as two other examples from more than a half-dozen different companies that sponsor their producers at PennAg Expo.
“So it gives them the chance to bring them in and they can meet face-to-face with them, and talk to them and see their families and build their relationships,” he added.
Herr explained that each industry used to have separate events, but combining them has benefited producers and led to growth over the past decade.
“It really has blossomed. A lot of the vendors here, they can see both hog and poultry customers at the same place,” he said. “And we’ve made it simple. They can set up the night before or set up early. They can start at 7 a.m. They can be out of here by 4 p.m. and see everybody they want to see.”
Herr added that the vendors – which included about 10 from Lebanon County – appreciate having a combined event in a spacious venue like the Expo Center.
“So we’ve tried to accommodate the trade show and vendors and what have you and it’s grown since then,” he said. “I think the combination of the swine, the poultry and the manure management, because they’re all tied together, just gives you that critical mass of support. And again, they (the vendors) see the people they want to see, which is, the farm families that come out here and want to learn.”
The morning kicked off with three educational sessions, one each for pork and poultry producers, and another concerning manure management. Following those sessions, all attendees had the option to hear Barrett Ellis, customer success director at SwineTech, discuss how producers can close the talent gap on their farms.
This session addressed the challenges of attracting, training, and retaining skilled agricultural workers and highlighted actionable human resource and workforce management strategies. LebTown asked Herr how local producers deal with workforce needs since the available pool of potential employees is shallow.
“Immigrant labor is incredibly important, not only on the farm, but a lot of the sport industries. A lot of the guys out here who are on the floor rely on people who are on visas to do a lot of the poultry handling, a lot of hog swine handling,” Herr said. “So we do need to work with our federal government and our legislators to fix that system. It’s under tremendous pressure right now.”
Herr noted that the current situation at the federal level is likely to cause food prices to go higher if the immigrant labor issue is left unaddressed.
“You think egg prices are high now. If we lost that immigrant help, we’d be in real trouble. It takes up to six years to get a visa approved for some of these jobs. It’s incredibly difficult,” he added.
Keynote speaker talks turkey
The keynote speaker was Pennsylvania-born Nate Hosie, aka “The Turkey Slayer.” The Outdoor Channel’s Headhunters TV personality shared his passion and knowledge of turkey hunting and also performed some of his country music for about 200 attendees.
Hosie shared his life story, including the untimely death of his sister, which really motivated him to explore his passion for music. A born-again Christian, Hosie spoke of his faith to help him deal with his sister’s passing in a motor vehicle accident.
“I’ve been through my fair share of tough times – just like I know a lot of you have,” he said.
Hosie said he became passionate about turkey hunting the first time he went out into the woods with his neighbor when he was 13 years old.
“I remember just being mesmerized by it,” said Hosie about the many sounds turkeys can make. “And I really fell in love with the idea of turkey hunting. Thus began my quest to become a turkey hunter.”
Hunting is so ingrained in his life that when he took his girlfriend on a date, it was to listen to turkeys calling after he busted up a flock along the highway. While in the woods with her and both of them having a good time, he realized that he wanted to marry Tiffany. They are the proud parents of Cruze and Nash.
“She is the absolute rock and love of my life,” Hosie told the rapt audience. “I knew she was a keeper early on. I told her, ‘If you keep hanging out in these trees with me, I’m gonna marry you.’”
Hosie has incorporated his love for hunting into his music. “Why I Hunt” was one of three songs he performed with his guitar following his 20-minute presentation of his story.
He said the song isn’t about the thrill of the kill, but the thrill of being in the midst of nature. Although he hunts across the country, he loves hunting in Pennsylvania since he was “born and raised in the mountains” in Montdale, north of Scranton in Lackawanna County.
“As I was growing up and hunting and all of this stuff and being outdoors became such a big part of my life,” said Hosie, who added that his grandfather took him along deer hunting for the first time when he was 6 years old.
After Hosie’s presentation and following a BBQ lunch featuring chicken supplied by Bell & Evans and pulled pork from Leidy’s, two concurrent educational sessions were held for sheep producers and one for hog producers seeking their pork quality assurance certification.
One other major draw during the entire expo was PennAg’s milkshake stand. A constant line of attendees and vendors waited patiently for their chance to get a courtesy vanilla, chocolate or mixed shake from PennAg Industries.
“Yeah, we can do 10 a minute and there’s still a line,” Herr said. “We got a little bit of a late start today, but they’re popular. We provide that and people come out and they love the milkshakes.”
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