LEMOYNE, Pa. — The Pennsylvania State Grange commended the House Agriculture & Rural Affairs vote October 23, 2019 to report out House Bill 1223 sponsored by Rep. John Lawrence (R-Chester). It authorized the creation of Keystone Opportunity Dairy Zones to attract business capital to starting dairy processing facilities in the Commonwealth. The vote was 22-2
“We thank Rep. Lawrence for his leadership on this issue since special zones do generate business investment. Dairy certainly needs more of that”, said Pennsylvania State Grange President Wayne Campbell.
The Grange points to these advantages coming from the legislation.
First, PA’s rural areas need economic development. Creating Keystone Opportunity Dairy Zones will stimulate business investment, create jobs, and sustain the local tax base. Presumably, numbers of these enterprises will come from PA entrepreneurs themselves — particularly if they already know the area. Pennsylvania State Grange holds that local or regional ownership is best because the firm owners have a vested interest in seeing Pennsylvania thrive. With all respect to national firms, PA may be one location out of many and as such, PA is one piece of a larger business plan, subject to corporate change. We hope that Keystone Opportunity Dairy Zones will be a magnet for Pennsylvania investment with staying power
Second, transportation costs are reduced if the processing facility is closer to the farmer. Everyone benefits with local or regional in-state facilities. Savings add up to reduce costs. In addition, having processing done here means that processing money stays in Pennsylvania, thus helping our state’s overall business climate.
Third, this milk produced and processed in PA entitles it to the PA Preferred branding label.
–Vince Phillips, Pennsylvania State Grange