Across Pennsylvania, 59,000 farms are responsible for almost $136 billion in direct and indirect economic activity, as well as 579,000 jobs. Just 2% of the state’s population works not only to create enormous dollar impact, but also nourishing food and a way of life that is central to our very identity. Is the beauty of well-managed farmland and healthy farm produce just a byproduct of all the above? We don’t think so.

And yet this essential part of Pennsylvania life is challenged. There are twice as many farmers over 65 as there are under 35. Farm acreage declined 5% between 2012 and 2017. That’s 400,000 acres that went to other purposes – often because population growth is driving the value of land upward, and farmers feel financial pressure to sell. Not to mention the battle to make a living when costs go up and profitability can seem a bridge too far.

What can we do? Let’s put our feet in the street this summer and head out to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables from family farms and farmers’ markets. Tell your friends how delicious the offerings are. Take them with you next time you go. Every purchase helps keep a family business healthy. While you’re at it, a word of appreciation would help, too!

Pennsylvania harvests over 400 million pounds of apples each year – putting it in the top five apple-growing states across the nation. The highest concentration of orchards sits in Pennsylvania’s south-central region, but apples are grown commercially in every county. The apples that make it to farm stands are a small portion of overall sales, but an important one. When an orchard owner gets apples directly into your hands, the sale is often the most profitable he or she will make.

There’s a temptation to see apple growing as simple: plant the tree, harvest the fruit. But there’s a lot more to it. In order to fill your bushel with beautiful, nourishing, delicious apples, farmers need to master integrated pest and pollinator management to combat all manner of diseases and predators. Sometimes they introduce competitive insects like lady bugs. Sometimes they place pheromone-laden decoys to trap apple-munching insects and reduce their numbers. Sometimes they spray a clay compound onto fruit in the very early stages of formation to create a deterrent micro-barrier, which gradually comes off with rain and standard washing prior to market.  

Growing interest in heirloom apples bred for flavor rather than appearance inspires many local farms, such as Norman’s Orchard in Tarentum, to add heritage varieties each year. These efforts help keep the region’s apple offerings healthy and diverse.

The Slow Food organization’s Ark of Taste project, an effort to catalog heritage foodstuffs around the world, lists only seven vegetables from Pennsylvania. Three of them are peppers:  Fish Pepper, Hinkelhatz, and Martin’s Carrot Pepper. While these rarities might be hard to find at local farm stands, dozens of peppers flourish in fields and gardens across the state and there is no lack of variety around Pittsburgh. Trax Farms in Library grows several varieties including Hungarian, Gypsy, Green Bell, and Red Bell.  McConnell’s Farm in Aliquippa adds the beautiful Flamingo pepper to this list, which emerges a luminous ivory-yellow color, and matures into beautiful orange-red.

Adams and Franklin counties in south-central Pennsylvania are famous for their peaches and plums – a reputation that started in the late 19th century. Some say it’s the soil that makes great stone fruits. Some say it’s the rarity of spring frosts, and guaranteed hot, humid summers. Whatever the reason, farm stands around Chambersburg and Gettysburg welcome visitors from far and wide, helping to make Pennsylvania the country’s fourth largest peach producers. Dwight Mickey, owner of Schatzer’s Market in Chambersburg, is known for his selection of authentically local stone fruits. Cavan Patterson, co-founder of Wild Purveyors, says that an Indian Blood plum he bought there “was the most delicious I’ve had in my entire life.”

Right here in our backyard, Shenot Farms in Wexford harnesses their rich soil and all the sunshine they can get to grow fifteen varieties of peaches, nectarines, and a few plums, too.

Looking to visit a family-run farm or farmers’ market this summer? Check out our printable list of local growers in the Western Pennsylvania region.

STORY BY KEITH RECKER // PHOTOGRAPHY BY ADAM MILLIRON //

STYLING BY ANA KELLY

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