HARRISBURG PA – Because Pennsylvania agriculture feeds its residents as well as those far beyond the state, “Powering Pennsylvania” is being chosen as the 2025 theme of the state’s annual Farm Show.
The eight-day Farm Show, the Pennsylvania equivalent of a state fair, is scheduled for Jan. 4-11 (2025; Saturday to Saturday) at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex and Expo Center, 2300 N. Cameron St. It will again be free to attend and open to the public, and is anticipated to attract more than a half-million visitors to the capitol city.
The 2025 Farm Show will feature fan favorites like its 1,000-pound butter sculpture, a highly popular food court, thousands of competitive agricultural events, home-grown cooking demonstrations, and more than one million square-feet of hands-on agriculture education activities.
Farmers and farm families who live in Montgomery, Berks, and Chester counties are among those who actively compete in the farm show’s many contests. Members of agriculture-related organizations, including the counties’ 4-H chapters, are already preparing for selected events. Deadlines are only weeks away for competitions from draft horses and cattle to bee-keeping and corn and tree harvests.
State agriculture powers the nation
“Agriculture powers Pennsylvania,” said state Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding proclaimed at its recent theme introduction. He encouraged state residents and others to “join us in January to kick off your 2025 with people … who power our families with nutritious food every day.”
Additionally, agriculture’s prominence makes it “one of the five key industries” in the state’s economic development strategy, Community and Economic Development Secretary Rick Siger notes.
The theme was announced during a Lancaster County media event at Oregon Dairy, 2900 Oregon Pike, Lititz PA. Officials called it “an innovative, family-run agritourism destination, green-energy producer, and community economic driver.”
Oregon Dairy has grown, they said, from a 1952 mom-and-pop dairy farm to an “innovative dairy destination with locally-sourced products.” It is featured on the annual Pennsylvania Ice Cream Trail, and also offers a full-service supermarket, bakery and restaurant. It also operates an educational tour of its working farm powered by solar panels, recycling, and a manure digester that turns waste into energy.
2023 Farm Show photos by Travels With The Post
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