I intend to introduce legislation that would create the Agriculture Innovation Board to provide accountability and transparency to the Agriculture Innovation Grant Program. This legislation would simply restore language that was removed last session.

Like many industries, technology is revolutionizing agriculture, allowing farmers to be more efficient, improving food production and processing, boosting conservation practices, reducing energy consumption and enhancing animal disease management.

Earlier this year, Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture announced the first recipients of the Agriculture Innovation Grants. With the announcement came many questions as to the amounts and types of projects that were selected, and many members of the House of Representatives are still awaiting a satisfactory answer.

Please consider supporting a commonsense measure to protect taxpayer dollars and make sure that the correct projects are selected to receive the grants. Agriculture is important to our state’s economy, and we need to continue to assist the advancement of technology and innovation, while providing transparency to the process for industry folks and taxpayers, alike. Thank you for joining me in support of this important piece of legislation.