A Message from GRCA CEO & President

Committed to supporting ag

By Jim Gerlach, President & CEO, GRCA

For the past two years, the Greater Reading Chamber Alliance (GRCA) has continued its robust support for the agribusiness community. Because agriculture is a top industry in Berks County, GRCA launched its agricultural literacy campaign “Grow Together” on the Rebuild Berks website in 2020.

The campaign was created to educate the community about the local products grown and produced right here in Berks County. The campaign has also highlighted our growing “agritourism” industry, where farmers are opening their farms for consumers to reconnect with where their food comes from and experience the fun of corn mazes, picking out a fresh Christmas tree, sipping local wines amongst the vines and much more. While the campaign will still tell the stories of local farmers and their products, the website content will have its own home.

In the coming months, www.growtogetherberks.org will launch as its own microsite. GRCA will continue to partner with Strunk Media Group and local photographer Susan Angstadt to assist in populating the pages to add new content and photos.

A new, more interactive directory will be built to highlight the agribusinesses of Berks County. Visitors will be able to toggle between a list view and map view of the directory and filter results by desired product and type of business.

We’ll also be including an “Ag Events Community Calendar” to serve as a central location to find farm markets and agritourism events year-round.

Financial assistance

GRCA is also committed to increasing economic development opportunities for Berks County’s farmers by offering low interest, manageable term financing through the Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority (PIDA) program. This matching financing program is open to eligible businesses and farms that retain or create jobs in Pennsylvania. It helps them purchase land, buildings, construction and renovation costs, machinery and equipment purchases, working capital and accounts receivable lines of credit and other eligible expenses. GRCA works with the business’ other lender(s) to maximize the utilization of this program and give the farm the best chance for future success in the future.

Farmers across Berks County have successfully utilized this program to expand, grow, and diversify their operations thereby increasing the diversity of local products and contributing to the capacity of the global supply chain. To find out more about PIDA, visit greaterreading.org/financing.

Stay connected

Sign up for our monthly agriculture newsletter by visiting tinyurl.com/berksagnewsletter. This newsletter is full of news you can use, farming financial resources and agriculture-related events. We also use this network to send out important, time-sensitive notifications, such as opportunities for local funding through Berks County during COVID and alerts related to the Avian Influenza outbreak this past spring.

GRCA also recognizes that not everyone in the agricultural community utilizes the internet. In response, it has been sending out postcards to more than 600 recipients each quarter and plans on doing so into 2023. The postcards contain important information and upcoming events with a phone number they can call to learn more about each item or event.

Thank you!

CHAIRMAN’S CIRCLE