HARRISBURG, Pa.—Everything we eat starts with agriculture, and in Pennsylvania agriculture has been celebrated at the Farm Show each January for the last 108 years. It is the official state fair, held indoors in the 1-million-square-foot Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg, and it is so popular that with 60 acres of parking, it can still be tough to find a spot.
Pennsylvania children may be excused from school to attend because the Farm Show is considered a day of agriculture education.
Like any state fair, the food courts attract great interest. Food courts have tables but no chairs, so visitors search for free table space and saddle up next to groups of strangers, who often strike up food-related conversations, like: “Fried mushrooms? Where did you get that?”
But sometimes the conversation goes deeper.
The Epoch Times asked folks at the Farm Show what hopes or fears they have for the future of the United States. Some talked about politics, others about agriculture, but they all recognized connections between the two.
Ross Marchese, 31, and Sierra Patterson, 27, are from North Carolina but they used to live in York so they timed their Christmas celebration to overlap with the Farm Show. They did their part to support dairy farmers, eating cubes of fresh fried mozzarella on a stick and washing it down with milkshakes.
Mr. Marchese is concerned about government overspending, and he is worried about the future of U.S. food production.
“Farmers are providing food for all of America, but farms are closing down all the time. Especially the small dairy farms. No one is stepping in to take their place,” Mr. Marchese told The Epoch Times.
When sold, farmland often becomes housing developments. We need more people to go into the trades and to pursue agriculture careers, they both said.
The average age of farmers in the United States is 57. Agriculture needs farmers, scientists, veterinarians, and people who can repair complicated machinery.
Dillan Saul, 15, of Lycoming County, hopes to be one of those future farmers. Ideally, he would like to operate a dairy farm, he told The Epoch Times while lunching on a giant turkey leg. In preparation for his goals, he currently works on a farm.
“I hope more young people get introduced to agriculture,” said Dillan, a member of Future Farmers of America. “It’s hard work but it is honest work.”
He said it is hard for first generation farmers to start out and to make a living because they must have the capital to access land, livestock, and feed.
Bob Counterman, 68, of Northampton County was working on a cup of chicken noodle soup. Pennsylvania produces more than 37 million chickens annually according to the United States Department of Agriculture.
He is concerned about election integrity.
“I hope it is fair. Mail in ballots stink. We are beyond COVID. I don’t know why they still have them,” Mr. Counterman told The Epoch Times.
He is also concerned about executive overreach, noting President Joe Biden tried to use his executive power to forgive student loans. He also feels concerned when he thinks about his grandchildren and school systems teaching critical race theory and other values beyond what parents expect schools to teach.
His county had some ballot problems during the November 2023 election. The ballot receipt in one race marked voters had chosen the other candidate, but the machine had the correct vote recorded. Glitches like that make voters feel uneasy about election integrity, he indicated.
Gene Jones, 65, of Tioga County has the same concern about election integrity, and he talked about it over a pulled pork sandwich.
“It wasn’t done right last time,” Mr. Jones told the Epoch Times. “I don’t think the vote was done honestly last time. We need voter ID.” He said many things were suspect and were not investigated property. He recalls counting stopping in the middle of the night and the advent of mail-in voting.
He wants to feel confident about election integrity.
Roberta Fasick, 64, of Perry County, was just finishing a baked potato from the PA Cooperative Potato Growers booth. She worries about artificial ingredients in food.
“I think it is affecting our health,” Ms. Fasick told The Epoch Times. She has other concerns too, including the divisiveness among people in the United States.
Ms. Fasick likes to chat with people, and she is an avid traveler. Having been to numerous nations, she has had conversations with many people outside the country, who offer their views on the United States.
We have to think about how other countries perceive us, and how we interact with other counties, she said. And that means sometimes we must help them financially. “Unfortunately, we have to buy our allies,” Ms. Fasick said.
And although she would never want to see it happen, she thinks about how the United States would respond if it were attacked on its own soil. “Americans wouldn’t be able to handle that,” she said, and wondered if today’s America has the stamina to survive if it were attacked.
Rich McGuigan, 68, of York was working on a ham sandwich. He took a bite, set it down, and took a bite out of his neighbor’s ham sandwich, with no protest from her. Then he returned to his own. Different barbecue sauces, he explained.
Mr. McGuigan believes the future is bright with President Joe Biden in office.
“Everything is doing quite well. The stock market is up, unemployment is down, inflation is down. It is only one point higher than it was six years ago,” Mr. McGuigan told The Epoch Times and encouraged anyone to look those numbers up.
According to the Inflation Calculator, using the Consumer Price Index, which is published monthly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the U.S. Department of Labor, inflation was up in every month of 2022 and 2023 compared to the rates in any month of all four years former President Donald Trump was in office.
The most recently available inflation rate was at 3.4 percent in December 2023 under President Biden. The January rate will be available Feb. 13. The highest inflation rate under President Biden was 9.1 percent in June 2022.
The highest inflation under President Trump was 2.9 percent in June 2018, and it was at 1.4 percent when he left office.
The average inflation rate in 2018 was 2.4 percent and in 2023 the average was 4.1 percent, which is down compared to 2022 when the Biden administration averaged 8 percent inflation over the year.
“I would encourage people to listen explicitly to what Donald Trump is saying,” Mr. McGuigan said, then listed things he says President Trump has said, asserting that he would suppress the Constitution, use the military to squash peaceful protests, crash the economy, he says he is immune from prosecution if he were to kill, and he says he will be a dictator on the first day.
Others at his table nodded in agreement.
