By Richard L. Gaw
Staff Writer

Pennsylvania H.B. 2034 – an act amending Title 3 (Agriculture) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes and intended to hold the mushroom industry to higher standards for quality and safety – passed by a vote of 23-3 at a Pa. House Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee meeting on Nov. 17. 

All Democrats on the committee voted in favor of the bill, and nine of the 12 Republican committee members – including Rep. John Lawrence (13th District) - voted “Yes.” Those rejecting the bill were Reps. Stephanie Borowicz, Joe Harris and Tom Jones.

While edits are still expected to be made to prevent “unintended consequences,” the bill will now proceed to the House floor for further consideration, where it will await a final vote. 

If H.B. 2034 does proceed to becoming law, it will require mushroom growing and composting operations to submit their plans for phorid fly and Hydrogen Sulfide mitigation to the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA); require the PDA to conduct random inspections of mushroom operations in order to assure that they are complying with safety standards; and authorize the PDA to administer fines to mushroom operations that are not in compliance with their plans or are found not be in compliance after inspection,

In addition, $3 million would be appropriated to the PDA to administer this plan. 

Introduced by Rep. Christina Sappey (158th District), the bill aims to strengthen the PDA’s oversight and enforcement authority over mushroom growing composting operations, most specifically in southern Chester County, where local mushroom farming operations have come under severe criticism by area residents for taking what many critics have deemed a cavalier approach to the practice of eradicating phorid flies emanating from mushroom houses and maintaining a healthy air quality free from pollutants like Hydrogen Sulfide.  

Over the past several years, Sappey has held policy meetings, toured several mushroom farms throughout the county, sponsored public town hall meetings and met with mushroom growers – all with the intention of enacting best management practice procedures for the industry. During her remarks to fellow House Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee members, she said her goal is to help the DPA “gain more oversight and enforcement in indoor agriculture, and to nurture a better relationship between the mushroom and composting industries and Pennsylvanians living in close proximity to these operations.”

Over the last decade, she said many businesses and residents in the southern part of the county continue to experience negative impacts of phorid flies in their homes and offices.

“Roughly ten years ago, phorids began leaving mushroom farms at the end of the growth cycle, seeking warmth and a place to reproduce before dying,” she said. “Residential neighborhoods in proximity to mushroom farm operations began experiencing swarms of phorid flies inside their homes, particularly in warmer weather.”

‘From the public’s perspective, living with phorid flies is a nightmare’

While there have been efforts to reduce phorid fly quantities – most notably by Penn State University’s Department of Entomology, through the use of spray, screen and netting treatment experiments – the problem still exists, said Sappey. 

“Unfortunately, after several years of unimaginable numbers of flies tormenting residents in an ever-increasing number of municipalities, PDA responded by issuing a quarantine order for two of the most heavily impacted townships [New Garden and Kennett] early in 2025,” she said. “This quarantine is still currently in effect, and it has required growers to steam off growing rooms and if they cannot afford to purchase or repair necessary equipment, grant funding was set aside for these operations.”

Sappey told her board members that “from the public’s perspective, living with phorid flies is a nightmare. I have heard from hundreds of residents during my tenure depicting life with these flies. They swarm homes by the thousands. They cover walls and ceilings. They fly into the faces of adults and children. They cover toothbrushes. They burrow in your food.

“One young mother crying to me over the phone recently explained what it is like to see these flies in her newborn infant’s eyes and mouth.”

Some ‘bad actors’ have been allowed to operate without repercussions

In committee, Sappey also discussed the impact of Hydrogen Sulfide on neighborhoods that border mushroom facilities and the severe damage they are causing to household appliances. Several complaints brought to the attention of New Garden Township led to the township developing a partnership with Dr. Lorenzo Cena, an environmental professor at West Chester University, to conduct a study of the air quality in the township in the vicinity of mushroom operations.  

On Sept. 4, 2024, Cena shared the study’s findings before Sappey and other state health regulatory officials, revealing that Hydrogen Sulfide levels were 33 times higher than the recommended levels established by the DEP during particular periods of the year.

“To be fair, large amounts of private industry money and taxpayer money has been spent to study phorid fly and Hydrogen Sulfide levels in southern Chester County,” Sappey said. “The industry is aware of the problems, and most of the mushroom operations in Chester County follow best practice management, but like problems of this nature, there exists some bad actors who have fueled these issues and have been allowed to operate without repercussions.”

Addressing the increasing numbers of phorid flies and high Hydrogen Sulfide levels at mushroom farms, Sappey said, is limited by a lack of regulatory enforcement over the industry, which the bill, if ultimately passed, would provide on the state level. In an interview with the Chester County Press, she said these proposed checks and balances will help put regulatory markers in the sand. 

“It’s not necessarily forcing the industry to do more or do something exponentially different,” she said. “We’re really giving the PDA more authority for oversight and enforcement – the ability to fine and do random inspections. Having [mushroom growing operations] submit their integrated pest management plans and being inspected occasionally helps the industry, but it also helps keep everybody on the same page.”

‘We have no alternative but to co-exist’

In committee, Sappey told her fellow members that the issue has led to an “untenable” situation in parts of the 158th District where residential neighborhoods are near mushroom growing operations.

“We have no alternative but to co-exist,” she said. “It is not my intent to injure an industry, which I should point out has been warned for years that they can check themselves or have the government do so. Residents have often shared with me that they do not resent the industry and they respect [the industry’s] right to do business and provide for their families and workers too, but they cannot be permitted to operate at the expense of their neighbors’ quality of life and well-being, both of which we are sworn on oath to protect.”

Sappey told the Chester County Press that she has communicated with one local mushroom grower following the approval of the bill in committee, who told her that there needs to be significantly increased communication between the DPA, the mushroom growers and legislators.

“I have tried to explain to other legislators what this billion-dollar industry means to southeastern Pennsylvania and to the Commonwealth,” she said. “It is a unique industry, but we have unique challenges in southern Chester County that other areas that grow mushrooms in this country do not, and we need to get to the bottom of that. 

“It is time to ramp up – yet again - our efforts around this, and I think the communication between the department [PDA] and the industry could be improved.”

 To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, email [email protected].