UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Penn State's Pasto Agricultural Museum will benefit from a $40,000 gift by the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau to the museum's enhancement fund. The statewide farm organization's pledge will support the expansion of the museum building at the Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center at Rock Springs, nine miles southwest of State College on Route 45.

The museum's enhancement campaign, begun in May 2006, has a fund-raising goal of $500,000. The improvements will include doubling the square footage of the present facility and ensuring better climate control for the preservation of the museum's collections.

The Camp Hill-based Pennsylvania Farm Bureau provides legislative support, services and information to the state's farmers and rural families and has a long history of collaboration with Penn State and the College of Agricultural Sciences. The bureau created the E. Chester Heim Scholarship Program Endowment at Penn State in 1993 and has also contributed to 4-H and other programs in the college.

"The Pasto Agricultural Museum supports the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau's goals, helping current and future generations gain a greater appreciation of the rich history of farming and rural life in the commonwealth and the nation," said Carl T. Shaffer, president of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau and member of Penn State's Board of Trustees.

Elected president of the bureau in 2004 after serving as vice president since 1996, Shaffer leads the organization that represents 42,660 farm and rural families organized through 54 county farm bureaus. Shaffer also has a long history of support to the college and created the Carl T. Shaffer Travel Fund for Students in the Crop Sciences in 1999.

"We are grateful for Carl Shaffer's strong leadership of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau and for its support of our college," said Robert Steele, dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences.

More information about the Pasto Agricultural Museum is available online at http://pasto.cas.psu.edu.

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Laura Stocker 814-863-4512 lsp1@psu.edu Michael Bezilla 814-863-4512 mxb13@psu.edu