- 2 months ago
Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) held a press briefing about his efforts to reform agricultural permitting and improve access for farmers.
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00:00Thank you Governor Shapiro for taking time out of your busy schedule to visit our farm.
00:05Also thank you to Chris Hoffman for being here, Representative Scott Barger, Joe Diamond, David
00:12Rice, Steve McKnight and other friends and family and thank you all for being here today and
00:18definitely appreciate it. My siblings and I represent the third generation of our family farm.
00:26To give a brief history of our business, my grandparents moved to Blair County in March of
00:311973 from Montgomery County, Pennsylvania with their 38 cows and a few pieces of machinery.
00:39In 1999, my father Phil Culp along with grandfather Larry Culp left behind their tie stall barn and
00:46constructed a new state-of-the-art dairy facility. Over the last 26 years through hard work and the
00:53blessing of many great employees. The business today stands at 2,900 milking cows on three locations
01:00with 47 full-time employees. As my generation has entered the business, we are now excited to make
01:07the next large investment into our business for the benefit of our cows, our employees, our community
01:14and Pennsylvania agriculture. We are very appreciative for the strong communication
01:19throughout the permitting process from all parties involved and the timeliness of our permit review
01:24and release. Our submission to the local conservation district began February 5th of this year
01:30with our NPDES permit being released and approved August 7th this summer by North Woodbury Township.
01:37For the size of this project, the permitting time was remarkably quick relative to historical norms,
01:45a strong testament to the governor and his team. Our consultant, who we worked with in this project
01:52for engineering, has told us that this will be the largest investment ever in on-farm infrastructure
01:58in Pennsylvania. We are excited what this means for our future. Many people have taken interest in
02:03our project and helped us along the way. We are very thankful for their help and guidance. I would like
02:08to thank them. Thank you Secretary Redding. I would also like to recognize Ryan Costeval, Katie McLaughlin,
02:16Nicole Mattish, Rich Heater, Jill Whitcomb, Matthew Ziegler, Nathan Phillips, Scott Williamson, Hans Schallenberger,
02:28Jared Lescavich and also you Governor Shapiro. Thank you. It's a pleasure having you here today.
02:33Thank you very much. Thanks, Kyle. Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you, Kyle. It is wonderful to be here
02:42on the Culp Dairy Farm. I want you to know that I feel like I've made the same journey as the Culp family.
02:48I'm just a kid from Montgomery County who's now out here with all of you and so I appreciate the
02:54opportunity to see this now third generation farm do extraordinary things under Kyle's leadership and
03:02I'm terrifically thankful for all that they have done for our communities and I'm really glad to be
03:08here today to highlight your dairy farm as an example of the progress that's being made in agriculture all
03:16across Pennsylvania. I want you to know that while this is my first visit here to your farm in person,
03:23I've seen a whole bunch about your farm on Grace's Instagram page so I've had the opportunity to follow
03:29all of the trials and tribulations of the Culp family and the farming here and just appreciate
03:35the way you highlight both farming and faith, two central pillars of our commonwealth and so Grace,
03:42thanks for all you do for for this family farm. You know this family farm that's been here for three
03:48generations as you just heard from Kyle is undergoing a massive expansion that is going to be great for
03:55not just the Culp family or the dairy industry across our commonwealth but for this particular region
04:01and I know that farmers like the Culps are always looking to grow and to expand and to be able to do
04:07more and do it far more efficiently. I think in order though to make that happen to make expansions
04:13like this happen on time and within the budget of these family farms the Culps knew that they needed
04:21to be in a place where they could meet their construction deadlines and the key document
04:26they needed to be able to meet that construction timeline was a stormwater permit through what's
04:32known as DEP, the Department of Environmental Protection. Getting that permit done on time was
04:37obviously critical because they got to fulfill their milk contracts and make sure they've got the
04:42facilities they need to care for their new herd of dairy cow and look time is money for farmers and folks
04:49like the Culp's well they need a state government that's working just as hard for them as they are
04:54working on their farmlands and we need to be able to get this done for them on time. I'm proud to report
05:01that thanks to the incredible work of our administration's Office of Transformation and
05:06Opportunity led by Katie McLaughlin who is here thank you very much Katie as well as the Department of
05:12Environmental Protection the Culp's were actually able to get their permit four months earlier
05:19than expected and they were able to do it with no drama no worry along the way they had a government
05:25that was working with them as opposed to against them which I know is often the feeling people have
05:32when they have to approach government for assistance our team led by Katie worked with them throughout the
05:38entire process to make sure they submitted everything that was needed so that we could process their permit
05:44in a timely manner we sped up government and that allowed the Culp's to start their construction months
05:51sooner and it gave them the confidence to know that they could invest in their operations here in Blair
05:56County and so look when I talk to farmers you know and I've talked to them a lot especially early on
06:03as governor and especially with Chris Hoffman my good friend who leads the Farm Bureau they made very clear
06:09to me that they want government out of their way and they want things to move quickly so they can
06:15just simply work with the land and that that what farmers really were asking for throughout this process
06:22was access to capital speed and predictability and I'm proud of the fact that just about two and a half
06:28years into my time as your governor we're delivering on all three of those things Chris understands this
06:34better than anyone and and he challenges us every day to take the strides that we've made and go even
06:40further and he's been a wonderful partner in our progress here farmers are blessed to have Chris Hoffman
06:47at the helm of the Farm Bureau and this guy sits in my office in the capital we stand in farms together
06:52and we're constantly talking through ideas on how to make ag stronger in Pennsylvania he's one of the
06:57reasons why we were able to create a first in the nation ag innovation fund seeded with 10 million
07:04dollars initially no other state has this and allows farms to have access to capital for innovation that
07:12is needed to make greater efficiencies on their farms and be able to produce more of what they do
07:18but we understand driving out those dollars is only part of the process you've got to speed up government
07:25and you've got to keep up with the pace set by our farmers all across Pennsylvania and I know that
07:32farmers need to move quickly and so do we we need to make sure that we capitalize on your deep culture of
07:39stewardship to help work the land that you are blessed to live on and to work with you as partners in that
07:46progress I know that that progress can oftentimes be slowed down by a permit process that seems very very
07:53unwieldy very confusing and very difficult we have worked to change that we now have predictability
08:00in our process and thanks to the incredible work at DEP and at the Department of Agriculture under the
08:07great Secretary Russell Redding we're now moving at the speed of farming DEP specifically has eliminated
08:1598 percent of its backlog during my time as your governor and have processed 20,000 really complex
08:24permits over at the Department of Agriculture they have processed more than 70,000 permits in just the last
08:31couple years and they've done it in 70 percent less time than they were doing in years before
08:38so we're processing more permits and we're doing it more quickly the other thing we've implemented during my time as your governor
08:45is a money-back guarantee so if we promise the CULPS you're going to get your permit in four months
08:50we're going to give you that permit in four months and if we don't we will give you your money back for
08:56your application fee I know most of you don't want your money back you want your permit processed but
09:01it's a way of holding our bureaucracy accountable you should know that we have processed in the last two
09:07years hundreds of thousands of permits and we've only had to issue five refunds just five for failing to meet a
09:15deadline and by the way DEP has issued no refunds every permit's been done on time and Department
09:21of Agriculture only had to issue one why do I share that with you because we're putting our money where
09:26our mouth is because we believe in the systems we've built we believe they can move quickly and we
09:31believe in giving you the peace of mind to know if we tell you it's going to take a month it's really
09:35going to take a month and you'll be able to get where you need to go and get it done quickly it is really
09:42important that you know we've got skin in the game with you that we respect the work that you do here
09:49on our lands in Pennsylvania I'll share with you just one final piece as a commonwealth I'm a pro-growth
09:56governor and we are growing at a rate that we've not seen before in part it's because we are focused
10:03and determined in our economic development work to be focused on just a few key areas within our economy
10:10and for the first time ever one of those key pillars of economic growth and opportunity
10:15is agriculture you know I think ag has always been looked at as an important part of our heritage
10:21important part of our history I view ag as integral to the future growth of this commonwealth and so
10:29when we invest in family farms like this we're not doing it just because it's a nice thing to do we are
10:35doing it because we believe this to be an imperative critical investment and when we make an investment
10:42in a place like the colp family farm when we help you get to market more quickly so that your capitalist
10:49ideals are able to shine through more speedily than ever before that puts us in a position to grow
10:56the Pennsylvania economy to create more jobs in communities like this here in Blair County and that's
11:01a good thing for all of us so no longer does economic development just run through our areas with
11:06skyscrapers and our suburban office parks economic development is now inextricably linked to agriculture
11:14and lands and farms like this and so between the speed and the dollars we're investing I think ag is
11:21on the rise in Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania is on the rise and so I just want to say thank you to the
11:27CULPS for making that journey from Montgomery County years ago for coming here to Blair County for
11:32believing in agriculture and believing in farming and for doing all you do to expand your operations we
11:39are proud to be your partners in progress and we are proud of the example you are setting for other
11:45farmers across Pennsylvania the reason why we are able to do this the speed the innovation the investment
11:53is because we have the finest agriculture secretary in the entire country serving us right here in
12:00Pennsylvania a farmer himself a trusted advisor to me and someone who I know enjoys the respect of
12:07people all across this great commonwealth and that is our agriculture secretary Russell Redding
12:12who I invite up to say a few words now thank you I feel like when we get to that moment I should just
12:20say amen right and just keep moving what a pleasure to be here to the cult family it's really comforting
12:30when I come here to any farm but particularly here where you know you've got this amazing journey you've
12:36got a family that's generationally minded they're thinking about how to expand and where to go and then the
12:42the points the governor made about economic development and of course the the dairy industry
12:47which which you are key to and part of this amazing sort of industry in the state and we have had many
12:53conversations about the growth of dairy and there's not a better sort of demonstration of the potential
12:59than right here at the cult family farms so thank you for that vision thanks for the investment
13:04thanks for for believing in both dairy and agriculture I want to say thank you to the governor
13:10the governor I will give you the short version but to say that it's really been an amazing sort of
13:19opportunity to to have somebody who really believes in the future of the industry right who sees it for
13:29and through his own eyes I mean I have a tendency sometimes to talk about history the governor reminds
13:34me it's about the future right and this sort of you build on the past and the foundation but that future
13:41of what it looks like in Pennsylvania he gets it he thinks about it all the time I had the pleasure last
13:48week at ag progress days to to introduce him and I talked about the promise of our land-grant university
13:53system right that there's a lot of promises in inside of that but it's about growing uh the agriculture
14:00industry it's about uh showing up when it matters it's about leading when you need to uh and making
14:07sure that our communities are not forgotten in that agriculture is important but it's also about that
14:12community the sense sense of community there's not anybody who is more committed to that promise
14:18than Governor Shapiro I can tell you he believes it uh it is organic in the sense that he sees it
14:24he listens he invests uh and believes deeply in both agriculture as uh as an important enterprise but
14:32also critical to our success and that is an honor every day to work with him and to see that and have
14:40that expressed as well the governor spoke of economic development and I'll just say uh in addition to
14:48uh having uh the first economic development strategy in 20 years uh it's the very first time that
14:54agriculture is called out as a pillar but it also set the stage for all of these other conversations
15:01because in the pillar is not just the economics uh it is about generational transfer it is about
15:08permits in a workforce it's questions of economics and and economic development opportunities so
15:14inside of the pillar are all of those things that each of us in the agricultural community
15:19point to as reasons for the work that we do the benefits of agriculture to our community it's about
15:26those things are the tangibles right it's the products we produce and the food and the food security
15:31but it's also the intangibles it's the quality of life and what it means to this neighborhood
15:36martinsburg and blair county when you have farms of this size and scale and the other farmers who are here
15:41the work that you do that's inside the pillar the work that we do uh right now around workforce
15:47development the apprenticeship programs is inside of that pillar it's the investments of innovation
15:54it's the investment investments in the a cap program the conservation work that we've done in a
15:59bipartisan way very proud of that that we have an ag conservation assistance program it's why we're
16:05investing in in a western lab it's why we have uh the only organic center of excellence in the nation
16:12i can make that list but the point is that these are all inside a pillar it's not a standalone pillar
16:19and then we come to to permitting and i just want to say thank you to the pen england team when we were
16:23together at the end of march and kyle uh came up to us at the end of the presentation and said hey we're
16:32we're going to need your help all right we're going to test this system uh of speed and really pleased
16:37to say that between the consultant and these folks being really intentional about the work that they're
16:43doing the conservation district who was critical to us the township supervisors and their permitting
16:49were critical to us they did everything right but they had both the uh the the skill to navigate this
16:58with us they took us up on an offer but i would just say to all of the ag community it's important
17:03to ask just ask right can we meet with you this is one of the pieces of speed that is just ask the
17:09question can we review a pre-application they did that right they understood the timelines they
17:15understood the economics of this operation the township understood that so just a note of thanks to
17:21the kyle family the consultants the team that was together but also want to say thank you to
17:27just surely the secretary of dep oto was part of that conversation as well our state conservation
17:33commission what the governor said in motion uh several years ago was very very intentional it was
17:40about if we're going to grow this business we're going to grow the economy then the process has to follow
17:46at the same speed right and it's important to stand here today we were together
17:51uh in the winter seasons as we know are important to agriculture seasons are important in uh in our
17:59government life uh seasons are important to the agricultural economy so you move from we want to do
18:06this in february to a process that took us from march to august to now being in a position where in the fall
18:12season you can do what you need to do right so that's a good feeling that's the comfort that is here that's
18:18a full team effort uh to bring us here led by the governor who's passionate about this i appreciate
18:24his both recognition of the importance but also his belief in it and the people who are part of it
18:32so governor thank you uh always a pleasure to to be with you and thank you for your leadership to the
18:37state leadership to agriculture and your commitment to making both this industry and the state a better
18:43place we do that in full partnership always in partnership everything that we do involves
18:48somebody else a group of people so we are pleased uh always to have the legislature as part of that
18:55we've got districts that i've mentioned but also the advocacy and support of farm organizations like
19:00farm bureau and chris and i have known each other a long long time and two constants in that conversation
19:07were one deer damage right which we dealt with and permitting so we have now uh taken a step in in the
19:14right direction and addressed both of those but chris has been a good leader he is a tireless sort of
19:19advocate for the farm bureau but also agriculture in pennsylvania we cross paths many places from
19:28local events to our work in dc as well so chris honored to be with you and thank you for being a great partner
19:37thank you thank you secretary redding for those kind words and today is actually a celebration
19:50thank you governor shapiro for uh coming through with what you promised i remember when he was running
19:58for governor and uh so we tried to grill him a little bit right to see where he where he felt
20:05agriculture needed to be and he said he would be a tireless advocate for agriculture and that he would
20:11address our issues and today we're here to celebrate with the cult family uh a milestone something that i
20:19think we've worked a really really long time to try to get to a place where permits getting these types of
20:30uh forms together where we can actually have success in a relatively short amount of time uh to be able
20:39to keep the farm moving uh agriculture doesn't sit still it's moving at the speed of light and uh and
20:46so we need to have a government that runs with us that works with us and uh able to deliver um those uh
20:54those needs that we have you know as a first generation farmer um i i look back in the in the 90s when i got
21:02started and uh i think about the permitting process back then and yesterday i was at a a uh holstein
21:12meeting picnic and i was asked do you think you could do that again
21:17um in today's times well i'm here to say that uh as we're going through this journey it's getting
21:26closer and closer to being able to say yes that opportunity is there it is about our young people
21:31it is about our next generation uh third generation for the cult family um i'm looking forward my third
21:39generation was just born eight weeks ago right uh i can't wait to uh to have someone do instagram on
21:47my farm i mean it's not my it's not my cup of tea so uh i'm not gonna i'm not gonna try to start that
21:55but you know it really is important that uh the family farms uh have the opportunity to continue to
22:02turn generation after generation and to be able to build and to continue to thrive uh as as as a family
22:09farm so on behalf of our 26 000 farm families in pennsylvania uh we are excited and we thank you governor
22:17for for that push secretary redding for your part secretary shiree she's doing an amazing job
22:24of trying to move the needle in dep to make sure that the opportunities continue to thrive we've got
22:33we've got work to do uh this is the starting point as as we continue to drive forward to remove those
22:39barriers uh from from where we are um today to how we push forward to the future so
22:46uh i'm just excited because i know uh with your leadership governor well we're going to be able
22:51to continue to move this needle forward we're going to be able to show other farms how to be successful
22:57as as they've been successful in getting this done and uh exciting times are here folks we're going to
23:03be able to continue to uh show that agriculture the number one industry in pennsylvania yeah huge economic
23:10develop uh boom for this this commonwealth and we're going to continue to push that forward and
23:16continue to thrive and be able to feed this commonwealth with ease and to be able to make
23:21sure that food security is a thing of the past so thank you very much i appreciate being here
23:26it's always an honor thank you very much chris i i'm happy to take a few questions from the media before
23:33i do i hope it is not lost on anyone here the power of partnerships i'm one of the only governors in the
23:42entire country with a divided legislature we've got a house led by democrats senate led by republicans
23:47all the investments we make are done on a bipartisan basis the partnership between the parties it's really
23:53important i think it's also important to have partnerships not just within the capital but with
23:59important organizations that have the voice of pennsylvanians in mind and the farm bureau stands at the top of
24:06those organizations that we work with to make progress i talked before about the ag innovation
24:12fund doesn't happen without chris hoffman and the farm bureau i talked about the permitting progress that
24:18we've made the speeding up of these processes doesn't happen without the farm bureau and i didn't touch on
24:24this today but i think it is important to note that you can now hunt in pennsylvania on sundays in large
24:31measure because the farm bureau came on board and made sure that we were focused on doing this the right
24:38way with conservation in mind with still a respect for uh people's culture and faith in mind we were able
24:44to do all that together and the farm bureau made a difference and by the way that law traced its roots back
24:50to 1682 so chris is a pretty damn good advocate if he can change a law that's existed on the books in 1682
24:58why do i share all that because i know that we live in a time where there's a lot of division and a lot
25:05of people just kind of feel hopeless that progress can be made here in pennsylvania we're showing that we
25:11can do it differently we can make progress we can create partnerships we can work together we can have
25:17people that might be uncommonly uh working together but here in pennsylvania it becomes more common and
25:23so i'm proud of that i'm proud of the partnerships i'm grateful to you i'm grateful for the culps and
25:29allowing us to not just be here on this farm today but highlight this as an example of what i want to
25:35see in farms all across pennsylvania a commitment to the land to stewardship to growth to doing it the
25:42right way to doing it focused on family and faith i think that's a beautiful thing and so
25:47i hope that that is not lost on anyone the power of partnerships and the power of what we're seeing
25:52right here on this land so thank you all for being here today um and if you have any questions we're
25:58happy to take them yeah so this is in reference to what secretary redding said about the uh system that
26:06penn england kind of started up could you explain a little bit more in depth about how that system works
26:11into getting these permits done quicker yep well let me say a couple words and i'll let secretary
26:15redding take it from here in the past if you applied for a permit i think it was an experience
26:21that was kind of miserable for a lot of folks they didn't know who to call in government they felt that
26:26government wasn't really working with them but actually setting up barriers to what they want to do
26:32and for those who continued to stick with it and go through it it was a frustrating and long experience
26:38and i bet there were a whole lot of people who said ah to hell with it it's not worth it
26:42i'm not even going to try we created a new office called the office of transformation opportunity who
26:48basically are there to hand hold you through the process take you to dep take you to department of
26:53agriculture and help you through this process in a way that doesn't feel adversarial but where and i
26:59preach this all the time where we are trying to get to yes that is our goal to get to yes and so i think
27:06you've seen an example of that here uh with the culps and you're seeing examples of that all across
27:11pennsylvania and it's true when you're trying to build a skyscraper in downtown pittsburgh it's also
27:16true when you're trying to build an expansion on a farm here in blair county both are critically
27:21important and for both we now have a process where we work with you as opposed to against you you want
27:26to add anything that was stricter yeah but i would just uh add so we were at pen england in march and
27:32that was for sort of energy reasons and we were talking about uh the the uh the digest here yep
27:38and and so but in that conversation kyle approached us and said hey we're just starting this process
27:44he mentioned february's to start we were there in march and at that point uh we wanted to really be
27:50helpful this was in motion prior to that but there's nothing i think as complicated as this permit
27:56here they're in a exceptional high quality watershed keep that in mind because that's the highest bar
28:02of review but they took advantage of a couple of things one key to the governor's speed initiative
28:09is the pre-application review i say it all the time as simple as that sounds we have very few folks did it
28:17they were smart enough to do it right the consultant and kyle and team said let's review this application
28:22to make sure that it's complete so when it comes through uh dep for review there aren't any questions
28:29about the completeness of that they were clear about um the uh the administrative process they
28:37understood the date lines that were important to them to make sure that we were sensitive to that
28:41they used the qualified professionals they used people who knew what they were doing to make sure
28:45that they there weren't any other issues and that all came together so that's the process the permit
28:51itself is the same the process is improved and the process piece here uh to the governor's point
28:57about partnerships townships conservation district dep department of ag oto as the concierge
29:04right to navigate across all of government that's the difference and and you and you shaved about half
29:10the time off of the process so and that's available to every farm across pennsylvania anybody who's doing
29:16a permit take advantage of the pre-application process and work with the districts and work with
29:22us thank you anything else yep um can we get a general update on the 2025-2026 budget and how are
29:31negotiations going with that current yeah you know i mentioned before i'm one of the only governors in
29:35the country with a divided legislature again house led by democrats senate led by republicans finding
29:41common ground is really hard uh in this business i will tell you that um we are at the table we're
29:47working aggressively my job is to bridge the differences between the house and senate they've
29:53got you know different views of the world different priorities and so my job is to find those areas
29:58where we can find some agreement i said at the outset of this process that the one thing i was
30:04absolutely certain of with my budget proposal is that it wouldn't look the same at the end as it did
30:10at the beginning because we all had to compromise compromise is not a bad thing we are now at a
30:16point though where each of the leaders senate republican leaders house democratic leaders they got to make
30:22some tough choices to close this out i was on the phone with the republican leader yesterday a democratic
30:28leader this morning we are working to bridge those differences i'm working to bring them closer
30:34together and to come up with a product that can pass in both the house and senate and make its way
30:41to my desk i think it is important that in that process we continue to invest in the key principles
30:47that have really guided my work as governor investing in education investing in economic development like
30:52what we're talking about here investing in public safety making sure we do so in a fiscally responsible
30:59manner my budget proposal was to cut taxes i think we can still do that because i want to put more
31:04money back in people's pockets i think we're getting there we're narrowing the differences and again my
31:10job is going to continue to be to pull both sides together and both leaders are now at a point where
31:16they got to make some tough decisions and close this out and you know i'm feeling more and more confident
31:21each day we're going to get there soon is there any update on kind of boot camp and sei rocky on how that process
31:27is going yeah we're going through the process now department of corrections is leading that um i'm
31:32not going to step on their toes or get in their way of that what i can assure every corrections worker
31:38though is that everyone will continue to have a job with the commonwealth of pennsylvania no one's
31:43going to be laid off we're going to be able to meet the needs in our department of corrections system
31:47and continue to employ every single member of our doc family anything else okay thank you all very much
31:54i want to take a picture
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