Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding met Wednesday with Hershey Company President and CEO Michele Buck, Walmart Chief Merchandising Officer Steve Bratspies, and other industry and public officials to discuss the food manufacturing industry in Pennsylvania.
The group toured the West Hershey plant that supplies Hershey’s chocolate to Walmart stores nationwide.
“The Hershey Company clearly demonstrates that Pennsylvania is a great place to do business, with convenient access to top-quality ingredients like the milk produced in our dairies and to markets here and around the world through partners like Walmart,” Redding said. “Pennsylvania is continuing to invest directly in the food manufacturing jobs, the family farms, and the retail markets that work together to supply quality products consumers demand.”
The Wolf Administration and both companies expressed their commitment to strategic growth and retaining jobs in the state’s $135.7 billion agriculture and food industry. With exports valued at more than $623 million, Pennsylvania ranks number one in the U.S. for sales of sugar and confectionary products. Cocoa and chocolate confections are the state’s top food export product.
The Hershey Company uses milk from Pennsylvania dairy farms and is the only U.S. company that uses fluid milk in its milk chocolate. The company also uses powdered milk sourced and processed in Pennsylvania in its recently expanded Hazelton, Luzerne County plant.
Through the Pennsylvania Dairy Investment Program, Pennsylvania is offering $5 million for dairy farmers to transition to organic products and to research and develop new products made from milk. The administration has invested more than $50 million in agriculture-related economic development projects over the past three years. It also increased support for workforce development and agricultural education, as the agriculture and food industry is expected to have 75,000 job openings over the next decade.