ROCK SPRINGS, Pa. (WTAJ) — The 47th Ag Progress Days is in full swing, working to show that Pennsylvania’s agriculture sector is moving along.

On the festival’s first day, Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture Russell Redding and Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences Dean Rick Roush spoke about issues and opportunities within Pennsylvania agriculture.

“We’ve had people in the college who are really interested in virtual reality, augmented reality,” Roush said. “Including the prospects of being able to help deliver veterinary services at a distance by using these kinds of technologies.”

Roush said within the university, agriculture programs and areas of study are growing through the Penn State Extension program.

“There are a lot of things that are probably not in our standard university curriculum that I expect that, as we are just doing so much of,” Roush said. “We have extension training programs, some certificates, to do on-the-job training even if people are already out there.”

One area the state is investing in is dairy, with Redding noting the $120,000 in funding going to Pennsylvania’s dairy processing.

“That would not have happened without the Dairy Futures Commission, the dairy study that we did with the opportunity that was presented to us to compete for the fair life and the recognition inside the governor’s office, the legislature and the industry that dairy is important to us,” Redding said.

With such progress, may come setbacks. At the town hall, Redding spoke about the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Plan program that is not set to meet its end goal by the planned 2025 date.

“There’s a really important difference between other states and how we work,” Redding said. “We take this task because we understand with it comes all of these other things that we enjoy. We just have to figure out how to get the rest of this goal closed, but we’ll get there.”