Agriculture
The Opportunity
The agriculture sector sits at the center of today’s most critical conversations—food security, climate, energy, and human, animal, and environmental health. At the same time, agriculture is a complex and essential driver of Pennsylvania’s economy, as highlighted in our 2025 economic analysis.
Advanced Agriculture refers to the strategic integration of cutting-edge technologies, innovative practices, and scientific advancements to enhance productivity, sustainability, and efficiency. Our goal is to advance practices that align with Pennsylvania’s strengths while addressing key challenges, ensuring a resilient and competitive agricultural sector.
Areas of Impact
Guided by insights from the 2025 report, Team Pennsylvania is working with partners to accelerate the commonwealth’s long-term agricultural and economic future. Key focus areas informed by the report include:
Harnessing Technology and AI for Industry Growth
Pennsylvania’s agriculture sector has become more efficient, with GSP growth outpacing job growth, yet it still trails the national growth rate. The loss of farmland and shift in farm sizes highlight the urgency of maximizing efficiency with fewer resources. With a strong AI, robotics, and agricultural research ecosystem, Pennsylvania can leverage technology, R&D, and innovation to boost efficiency from on-farm operations to food processing and manufacturing.
Enhancing International Trade Strategy
Our strong import and export relationships in Pennsylvania, as well as emerging opportunities in growing international markets, indicate the need for collaboration between industry, government, and trade support entities. We’re focused on strengthening partnerships and expanding agricultural trade to enhance Pennsylvania’s global reach.
Strengthening Pennsylvania’s Internal Value Chain
Pennsylvania has strengths across the entire value chain, from raw materials to wholesale and retail markets, with notable advantages in food processing and forestry processing. Working across our diverse network, Team Pennsylvania can leverage in-state resources to strengthen connections within and across sectors to enhance supply chain efficiency, resilience, and economic impact.
Pennsylvania Advanced Agriculture Cross-Sector Collaborative
The Advanced Agriculture Cross-Sector Collaborative brings together diverse stakeholders across industry, government, academia, nonprofit, and labor to identify the issues we must collectively contend with and to build a more connected, statewide agriculture ecosystem. The work products and areas of focus are the result of collaboration, and while they reflect the broadest possible set of views, they do not imply a full endorsement by every participant of the Pennsylvania Advanced Agriculture Cross-Sector Collaborative.
Leadership Team
- Liz Martin, Ironstone Spring Farm
- Katie McLaughlin, The Office of Transformation & Opportunity
- Eric Patton
- Gretta Tritch Roman, Penn State University
- Mike Roth, Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture
View a list of Advanced Agriculture Collaborative Participants.
Ready to be involved?
Participate in our Advanced Agriculture Cross-Sector Collaborative by filling out this short form.