Nice NYT article on Pittsburgh's local-sourced food scene

[rhondee]

I lived outside of State College while growing up and always knew Pennsylvania had a strong agricultural economy. Penn State U. is a great ag school and I remember one of my friends majored in poultry production back then.

What I never realized was , and couldn't believe it when I heard it, is that there are almost 60,000 farms in Pennsylvania!! I never would have guessed that number and found that very surprising,IMO .

[gg]

There is a really cool place that has quite a few local things on the menu and has their own farm for beef. It is called North Country in Slippery Rock. They make their own beer and the place is really cool. I never understood why there wasn't more use of local stuff. This area has everything you need, but it does seem to cost more to buy local beef. I can get a quarter or half cow, but it isn't that cheap and I have to store it in a freezer. I have done it and it is good, but you get a lot of things like tons of ground meat. I do love the local farmers liver however. That is more than worth the price as it is the only liver I will eat.

[pman]

wasnt state college originally an ag school?

[rhondee]

Originally Posted by pman

wasnt state college originally an ag school?

You're right, it started out strictly as an ag school for farmers. I remember in grade school our field trips were all about environment and agriculture. We visited the fish hatchery, the deer farm,the tree farm, the dairy farm, etc. I remember we even visited a sewage treatment facility and learned that some tomato seeds that were in the waste water sludge were a product of human consumption and had passed through digestive tracts. At that age we all went "EEEEWWWWW!!!!" LOL!!
We were ALWAYS outside and sometimes had 2 recesses per day!! It was great!

[Craziaskowboi]

Originally Posted by rhondee

I lived outside of State College while growing up and always knew Pennsylvania had a strong agricultural economy. Penn State U. is a great ag school and I remember one of my friends majored in poultry production back then.

What I never realized was , and couldn't believe it when I heard it, is that there are almost 60,000 farms in Pennsylvania!! I never would have guessed that number and found that very surprising,IMO .

I hope those 60,000 farms aren't all subsidiaries of Big Agriculture, though.

[rhondee]

Good question. I don't know what percent of farms are part of Big Ag, it would be interesting to find out. Food inflation keeps going up. Recent crop shortages coupled with impending fuel price increases - we may all eventually have to grow our own food b/c it's not looking good at all.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by pman

wasnt state college originally an ag school?

All the land grant schools were originally ag schools. Here is a list:

List of land-grant universities - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia