Greetings, PDFA Members!

The Pennsylvania Deer Farmers Association (PDFA) has undergone significant changes over the past few months, and I’m excited to share the latest developments. Our Board of Directors experienced several vacancies due to resignations, which have been thoroughly addressed. We’ve ushered in a nearly entirely new leadership team to guide us through 2025. I’m honored to have been elected as your president, with Jarrid Barry serving as vice president, Lloyd Stoltzfus as secretary, and Jason Stefanowicz continuing as treasurer. “PDFA as the largest and longest standing cervid association in the Commonwealth will always represent its members in a professional manner,” I assure you.

The new Board of Directors has a substantial workload ahead, but with your support, we’re prepared to meet the challenge. Having previously served as president, I understand the steps needed to restore structure to the board and advocate effectively for PDFA members. Just last week, we held an intensive four-hour board meeting that extended into the early morning hours. Despite the length, it was highly productive. I appointed, and the board confirmed, several new directors to fill vacant positions: Bruce Snyder, Glenn Dice, John Ervin Stoltzfus, and Sammy King. 

Additionally, “We have established a series of committees,” I’m pleased to report. We’ve appointed a chairman and co-chair for each and assigned board members to ensure focused efforts. These committees will operate transparently, providing regular updates to the board, which will keep you, our members, informed about the work being done on your behalf. Our mission remains clear: “Preserve, Protect, and Promote deer farming and private deer management, not only in Pennsylvania but also nationally.”

We want to hear from you—what are your priorities?

With nearly three decades in the cervid industry since the late 1990s, I bring a broad perspective on private deer management in Pennsylvania. Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) continues to be our most pressing challenge, impacting our businesses daily. CWD is unique because it carries both health and regulatory implications. I often get asked, “Why am I always focused on CWD?” The answer is straightforward: unlike other diseases, such as pneumonia or EHD, CWD can lead to farm lockdowns, shutdowns, or quarantines. This dual nature—animal health and regulatory oversight—makes it a critical focus. Fortunately, we now have more tools than ever to combat CWD, including enhanced biosecurity measures, improved live testing, greater awareness and education, and advanced genomic analysis like GEBV technology.

In recent years, we’ve been actively educating legislators about our role in managing CWD, both within our farms and in its broader impact on wild deer populations. My goal is to build strong relationships with researchers, universities, wildlife agencies, regulators, policymakers, and conservation groups to minimize CWD’s impact on our industry and the whitetail deer population for decades to come. I grow increasingly confident that our industry will set a standard for others to follow.

We are actively engaging with these stakeholders, strategically aligning efforts to build a coalition of knowledgeable, well-intentioned individuals committed to reducing CWD’s impact to a minimum. “We will get there,” I assure you. It’s a humbling process that tests our patience, but it’s a challenge we must face head-on.

This newsletter is both a platform to share the board’s achievements and a call to action. “We need your help and support!” Your involvement is vital—not just for your operation but for your neighbors and fellow deer farmers across Pennsylvania.

In the following pages, you’ll find details on our ongoing initiatives:

• Legislative and Government Affairs Update – Milliron-Goodman

• Legislative and Government Affairs Update – Milliron-Goodman

• Farm Tour Highlights: Dr. Seabury Addresses PA Legislators

• PDFA Heads to Washington, D.C.

• New Gun Raffle

• PDFA Fall Sale Announcement

Key Takeaways

•    New Leadership Team: The PDFA welcomes a dynamic leadership team for 2025, with myself as president, Jarrid Barry as vice president, Lloyd Stoltzfus as secretary, and Jason Stefanowicz as treasurer, all dedicated to professional representation.

•     Rebuilding Structure: The board is establishing transparent committees to tackle critical tasks and keep members informed, with a focus on “Preserve, Protect, and Promote deer farming.”

•     CWD Focus: Chronic Wasting Disease remains our top priority due to its health and regulatory impacts, but new tools like biosecurity, live testing, and genomic analysis are empowering us to manage it effectively.

•    Member Engagement: Your participation is essential—share your priorities, get involved, and help strengthen the deer farming community in Pennsylvania and beyond.

We look forward to your continued support as we work together to advance our industry.

All The Best – Josh Newton, President PDFA

It’s springtime again, and we’re all readying for fawns. But spring also means it’s time for the Pennsylvania Deer Farmers Association (PDFA) to prepare for our annual advocacy trip to Washington, D.C., to push for policies that advance the sustainability of the cervid industry. Pennsylvania is home to more cervid farmers than any other state in the nation. The PDFA has embraced this responsibility, serving as a leading voice in advocating for sound cervid industry policies in the Commonwealth and nationwide. “Our continued interactions developing relationships federally play a key role in the preservation of the cervid industry,” said Glenn Dice Understanding this importance, the PDFA has funded trips to the North American Deer Farmers Association (NADEFA) Fly-In in Washington, D.C., for over a decade, and these trips remain critical to our industry’s future.

In years past, I’ve written this legislative trip update to share what we did in Washington, D.C. This year, I’m changing things up a bit to provide more detail about the issues we’re advocating for and why they matter to us.

In April 2025, PDFA President Josh Newton and Past President Glenn Dice attended the four-day NADEFA Washington, D.C., Fly-In. Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is always a hot topic in our meetings, but we also take the opportunity to educate policy groups, congressional staff, and members of Congress about what our industry does and the impact we have on our local, state, and national communities.

Our two main objectives this year were maintaining level funding for the national Cervid Health Program and pushing for seed-level funding for the CWD Research and Management Act. Both programs can provide funding to combat CWD, but the CWD Research and Management Act addresses limitations in the Cervid Health Program, which I’ll explain later in this article. Understanding these two priorities helps frame our meeting agenda.

As in previous years, Monday’s agenda included meetings with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF). The USDA oversees the national Cervid Health Program, which sets standards for disease surveillance and movement requirements that states must follow to enable interstate commerce in the cervid industry. “The Cervid Health Program is currently funded at $17.5 million annually, split between stakeholder, conservation, and tribal nation affiliates,” a USDA representative noted. These funds support CWD indemnity initiatives, research projects, educational outreach, diagnostic tool development, surveillance, and state grants. In Pennsylvania, you may be familiar with grants supporting animal testing for CWD Genomic Estimated Breeding Values (GEBV), GEBV stock improvement, and better animal identification projects. By engaging with the USDA, we ensure our industry has a voice in shaping these regulations. If we don’t show up, the USDA mainly hears from conservation groups that may oppose our industry or push for tougher rules.

This year, it’s more critical than ever to be seen and heard. Many federal employees have taken the administration’s buyout offer, leading to staff shortages that will limit what the USDA can tackle. “USDA shared that staff shortages are one of their greatest concerns for all agriculture sectors this coming year,” Josh Newton reported. Thanks to our years of raising concerns about CWD’s impact on our industry, the USDA assured us that CWD remains a top priority. I tell my wife all the time that her wish list is a top concern for me. That doesn’t mean I always get everything done, but it means we’re both aware and working together to address it. Similarly, “Every single person which places a call to their elected members has an impact,” Newton stressed. If you’re unsure about the issues, don’t hesitate to call PDFA leadership—we’re here to help you feel confident before reaching out to your representatives.

The Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) represents a broad community of sportsmen and women, including those involved in recreational, non-hunting activities. Finding common ground with the CSF is vital, as the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus is the largest bipartisan caucus on Capitol Hill. The farmed cervid industry, CSF, and other conservation-based non-governmental organizations worked together to pass the CWD Research and Management Act into law in 2022. Authorized for up to $70 million, this act has yet to receive congressional funding. When funded, the USDA would distribute these dollars to support efforts to combat CWD.

Let’s dive into the differences between the Cervid Health Program and the CWD Research and Management Act. First, both fund CWD research, but private companies can’t access grants through the Cervid Health Program. “Can the government by itself solve all our disease-related concerns? Should the government be expected to provide all scientific breakthroughs?” asked Glenn Dice. “If the private sector has a new approach of how to identify or combat CWD, why would we not want to foster those potential disease-solving discoveries?” Second, CWD is a slow-progressing disease, and research can take years. The Cervid Health Program provides funding for one year, with a possible one-year extension, which may not be enough for long-term projects. Third, the largest grant from the Cervid Health Program is $250,000, but some multi-year CWD research projects exceed this limit. The CWD Research and Management Act addresses all three issues, offering more flexible funding to accelerate solutions. I’m not knocking the Cervid Health Program—it’s valuable—but “If we can possibly accelerate discoveries which could limit CWD’s impact in either the farmed deer or wild deer communities, we should absolutely pursue them,” Dice concluded.

The PDFA’s continued funding of these trips to the NADEFA Fly-In is critical. Without them, we risk losing our voice in Washington, D.C., where decisions affecting our industry’s future are made. Your support ensures we can keep showing up, building relationships, and advocating for policies that protect and advance the cervid industry.

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Key Takeaways

•Advocacy is Essential: The PDFA’s participation in the NADEFA Fly-In ensures the cervid industry’s voice shapes federal policies, and funding these trips is critical to maintaining that presence.

•CWD Focus: The PDFA is advocating for sustained Cervid Health Program funding and seed funding for the CWD Research and Management Act to address gaps in combating CWD.

•Collaboration Builds Strength: Partnerships with groups like the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation bolster bipartisan support for cervid industry initiatives.

•Your Voice Matters: Every call to elected officials amplifies our impact, and PDFA leadership is ready to support members in understanding the issues.

Respectfully,

Glenn Dice & Josh Newton

“The enthusiasm and positivity that Dr. Seabury’s presentation provided for both the farmers in attendance and the legislators cannot be overstated. It was a great day.”

On May 1st, 2025, the PDFA held a spring legislative farm tour. The tour was hosted by Rocky Ridge Whitetails, owned and operated by John Ervin Stoltzfus and family, in Narvon, PA. The invite list included the Pennsylvania House Agricultural & Rural Affairs Committee, our lobbying team from Milliron & Goodman, PDFA board members, and our special guest speaker, Dr. Christopher Seabury. The goal of the event, to provide continued education and outreach on CWD technology to our Pennsylvania Legislators.

Dr. Seabury presented directly to over a dozen of our Pennsylvania legislators and staff during the tour. 
He described the science and his research regarding genetic resistance in whitetail deer and the tools that it is providing for our industry, and to the field of CWD research. We discussed some of the benefits and potential long-term solutions that this technology can provide for industry and to the regulatory decision-making process into the future. 

The day was an enormous success and very well received by all in attendance. To interact directly with our legislators is an extremely important part of the advocacy of the PDFA. 
The enthusiasm and positivity that Dr. Seabury’s presentation provided for both the farmers in attendance, and the legislators, cannot be overstated, it was a great day. I want to thank our host, Rocky Ridge Whitetails, for graciously opening their beautiful facilities for this tour, to our PDFA & Milliron Team for organizing the tour, and to Dr. Seabury for taking the time to visit with us in Pennsylvania for a day of CWD education.