PA Preferred Organic got a vote of approval Tuesday from the House of Representatives as the chamber voted unanimously to establish the promotional program in statute.
The organic arm of PA Preferred was created in the 2019 Pennsylvania Farm Bill and highlights a farming sector in which the state ranks third nationally. Organic products, led by poultry, produce 9% of the state’s farmgate revenue.
Bill sponsor Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski, D-Luzerne, is one of the Legislature’s most vocal supporters of the PA Preferred symbol, with its blue keystone and gold checkmark.
“It means that in Pennsylvania we grow the finest food anywhere,” said Pashinski, the chairman of the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee.
Last month Pashinski took his committee on a tour of the Rodale Institute, a leading organic research organization, in Kutztown.
His bill heads to the Senate.
