Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., made several stops at University Park yesterday to speak with constituents about everything from bees to ice cream manufacturing and agricultural research.

After Casey visited Penn State's honeybee research facility yesterday morning, he told faculty members he had a "much better sense" of their research.

"This is important and not something I had any sense of before," Casey said.

Casey donned a beekeeper suit and observed the bee colonies that are used for research.

"They gave me warning -- I have the right shoes on," he said.

There are only 2.6 million honeybee colonies now, compared with 4.2 million in 1980, said Dennis van Engelsdorp, a bee specialist involved with the research. The diminishing population could affect crops like apples, pumpkins and cucumbers, he said.

Richard Di Eugenio, special assistant to Penn State President Graham Spanier for governmental affairs, gave Casey a tour of the Berkey Creamery at 11:45 yesterday morning after which Casey enjoyed a milkshake and took pictures with a few customers.

"This is a $46 million building," Eugenio said on the second floor of the Creamery.

"Yeah, that's a lot of fundraising," Casey joked.

After the Creamery tour, Casey spoke to about 90 students in an Agricultural Business Management class.

"I want to thank you for engaging in the studies that you are," Casey said.

He went on to highlight some key points he sees in the Farm Bill, which was not renewed in 2007, including funding for cleaning the Chesapeake Bay, making it easier for farmers to compete, and fruit and vegetable options for school children.

Casey then fielded some questions from the students. When asked by a student about his thoughts on free trade, Casey replied that he criticized the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) back in 1997.

"I was right about it then and I'm right about it now," Casey said. "What a lot of people will call free trade, there are groups of working Americans who will call it unfair trade."

Accompanying Casey on campus were College of Agricultural Sciences Dean Robert Steele and Penn State Director of Federal Relations Zack Moore.

Steele later spoke well of Casey's support in the U.S. Senate for Penn State research programs.

"You can't expect someone to ever support what you're doing if they can't understand what you're doing," Steele said. "We work with [Casey's] staff on an almost daily basis."

To Casey, Penn State's impact on agricultural research is "incalculable."

Moore, who lobbies for Penn State, said he is happy with Casey's standing in the Senate.

"Because he's on the Senate Agricultural Committee, he understands the impact of agriculture and agricultural research," Moore said.