District 20 News: State Rep. Kinkead

Agriculture is Pennsylvania’s number one industry, contributing an estimated $132.5 billion annually to our state economy and supporting more than 593,000 jobs. Agriculture has always been a pillar of Pennsylvania, but with the recent rise of urban agriculture, what a Pennsylvania farm looks like has changed significantly in the last several years. As more and more communities establish sustainable practices like community gardens and rooftop, hydroponic and aquaponic farms, urban agriculture is increasingly becoming a bigger contributor to food production in our commonwealth.

As a lawmaker representing parts of Pittsburgh and a member of the House Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee, supporting urban agriculture is one of my top priorities. My work on the committee has also helped me understand how crucial it is that consumers know where their food is coming from and why supporting local food producers greatly benefits everybody in the food chain.

Eating locally grown food is better in a multitude of ways. It bolsters local job growth and keeps more of your money in your community — which is true for supporting all local businesses, not just food producers. Buying local produce is also much more sustainable for the environment because fewer fossil fuels are consumed transporting the food from the producer to the consumer. If the lettuce for your chef salad is grown at a rooftop garden down the street, that lettuce leaves a drastically lower carbon footprint than lettuce grown hundreds of miles away. Expanding urban agriculture creates more opportunities for people living in cities to eat locally grown food. Check out the city of Pittsburgh’s website, pittsburghpa.gov, to learn more about its urban agriculture initiatives.

While there may not yet be a farmer in your neighborhood, a great start to buying more locally grown food is to look for items marked with the PA Preferred logo at the grocery store or farmers market. The PA Preferred logo means you can trust that the product or the ingredients used to make the product were grown or harvested right here in Pennsylvania. The PA Preferred program was started by the Department of Agriculture in 2004 to help consumers easily identify food made with Pennsylvania-sourced ingredients. The program’s new website — papreferred.com — is a great resource for helping residents find locally grown food. The page includes a link that allows users to find local farmers markets by entering their ZIP code.

Despite the growth of urban agriculture and resources like PA Preferred, many food deserts (neighborhoods without access to a full-service grocery store) exist in low-income and rural communities throughout Pennsylvania, including Northview Heights on the Northside.

To help address food deserts, I was proud to vote yes on H.B. 580, legislation that would re-establish the Pennsylvania Fresh Food Financing Initiative, which previously operated from 2004 to 2010. The program would provide grants and low-interest loans for businesses to build, expand or rehab grocery stores, farmers’ markets, and other healthy food venues in low- or moderate-income areas. If passed by the Senate and signed into law, the legislation would go a long way toward helping residents in urban food deserts like Northview Heights fight food insecurity.

If you know someone who is struggling with food insecurity, my office can help connect them with local food resources like the Northside Food Pantry or the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. Never hesitate to call my office at (412) 321-5523 or email me at RepKinkead@pahouse.net. My staff and I are here to help you with food programs or any other state-related issues.