Healthy Farms , Communities Focus At 11th PASA Conference
STATE COLLEGE (Centre Co.)
More farmers use more land in
more healthy ways to build stronger
communities.
These will be the topics featured at
the 11th annual Farming for the Fu
ture Conference Feb. 8-9 in State
College.
“Healthy Farms, Healthy Commu
nities; Our Link to a Sustainable Fu
ture” is sponsored by the Pennsylva
nia Association for Sustainable
Agriculture (PASA) at the Penn
Stater Conference Center Hotel.
PASA members and guests will
gather “for the sake of our farmers,
our food system, our corrtmunities
and our world,” according to the in
vitation of Brian Snyder, PASA exec
utive director. Fully 14 of the week
end’s 48 workshops relate to some
aspect of health from human nu
trition to compost-enriched soil to
farms that heal communities.
A second strong emphasis will be
farm economics, featuring a series ti
tled “The Farmers’ Own School of
Family Farm Economics.” Using the
same budget forms, six vegetable and
livestock farmers will share their per
sonal farm financial figures to
track what works and what doesn’t,
and how to use careful record keep
ing to know the difference.
Other workshops, which will be
held during five different time slots,
will cover direct marketing, pasture-
PASA Conference Workshops
Related To Grazing
Sustainable Graziers Alert!
Dairy, Beef, Poultry Topics
Await At PASA
Pasture-based dairy, beef, and
poultry operations will be fea
tured in the 11th annual Farming
for the Future Conference Feb.
8-9 in State College.
“Healthy Farms, Healthy
Communities: Our Link to a Sus
tainable Future” is sponsored by
the Pennsylvania Association for
Sustainable Agriculture (PASA).
Location is the Penn Stater Con
ference Center Hotel.
Pasture workshops include:
• After 16 Years of Grazing:
Keeping It Simple Works the
Best. Art Thicke, Enchanted
Meadows Farm, Minn. This vet
eran grazier will give an overview
of his 16 years in dairy grazing,
stressing simplicity, diversity,
longer rest periods for pastures
and outwintering cattle. He will
also talk about the importance of
finding balance between profita
bility, lifestyle, and protecting the
environment. He milks 85 Ayr
shire cattle.
• Not Just Chicken Scratch
-100 to 10,000 in Four Years. Ron
and Sheila Hamilton, Armena,
Alberta, will explain in two work
shops how they went from pro
ducing 100 to 12,000 birds on
pasture in four years. They will
describe the basics of raising
chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese
and laying hens. Topics covered
will include brooding, pasture
raising, processing, health prob
lems, weather concerns, feed pro
grams and marketing, from far
gate to white-tablecloth restau
rants.
• Biodynamic, Pastured Beef:
A Doctor’s Comparison. Dr.
John Foster, associate director of
the Integrative Medical Center of
the Thomas Jefferson Medical
Center in Philadelphia. Dr. Fos
ter operates a 325-acre biody
namic cattle farm in Chester
County. He will make a nutri
tional comparison between the
meat from his farm and commer
cial beef.
• Establishing and Managing
Diverse Pasture Mixes. Matt
Sanderson, USDA Ag Research,
State College. Results on best
mixes, best species to establish,
and animal preference by species
gleaned from research through
out the northeast U.S., including
locations on Pennsylvania farms.
• Sustainable Pastures and
Warm-Season Grasses. Jose Ta
racido, University of California
of Pennsylvania. Focus on how
grasses with higher production in
mid-summer can even out graz
ing capacity. These grass species
based production and sales, niche en
terprises (fiber animals, farm B&B,
microdairies), timber management
for wood harvest, and reforming the
agricultural economy and land-grant
ag education.
Keynote speaker Dr. John Ikerd
will kick-off the weekend with his re
freshingly unconventional message.
After serving 30 years as an agricul
tural economist with the Cooperative
Extension Service in four states, he
came to a radical conclusion from
the farm crises of the 1980 s. “I
started to understand that a focus on
the bottom line eventually destroyed
the viability of the farm environ
mental resources and the farm fami
ly, and led to bankruptcy.”
Retired now from the University
of Missouri, he speaks extensively to
farm groups and even urban audi
ences that want to understand how
to build a better “food system” the
complex mix of producers, consum
ers and distributors who interact
through economics, community val
ues, and political policy. Rather than
production-oriented efficiency, Ikerd
believes the best opportunities for
farming now lie in knowing a partic
ular piece of land well and develop
ing resilient relationships with a par
ticular customer base. When a
farmer finds how to express personal
and farm uniqueness in the market
place, it will be hard for corporate
agriculture to duplicate, he said.
also provide good forage produc
tion on low-fertility, high-acidity
soils and create excellent wildlife
habitat in farm settings.
• Farmer-to-Farmer Learning
Circle: Dairy Grazing. Free
wheeling discussion for advanced
practitioners.
Glenn Moyer, of the well
known Cove Mountain Farm,
Mercersburg, will be one of sever
al presenters in the “The Farm
ers’ Own School of Family Farm
Economics: Family Livestock and
Dairy Farmers Reveal Their An
nual Finances.” Grass-based
beef, pastured poultry, and or
Registration
IWho will be attending?
# Please list yourself and all members in your party who be be attending
Spouse
Student/Youth
Farm, Company (os you would like it to appear on name tog)
Address
County
Are you fanning? □ YES □NO
Daytime Phone ( )
E mad
2 RASA Membership
£ Join PASA today and save on conference registration fees!
You are invited to become a member of PASA With your support we can
restore a vital agriculture and create a thriving and economically viable farm
mg system Benefits of membership include a subscription to the quarterly
newsletter a Membership Directory for networking communication, access to
PASA databases voting privileges discounted admission to the Farming for
the Future Conference, invitations to special events and more' Your tax
deductible membership contribution will help create a brighter future for
Pennsylvania farms and farmers We all have a stake in making sure agncul
ture has a healthy future please take this opportunity to join PASA now'
To join PASA or renew your membership complete below
Are you a currently member of PASA’ □ YES DNO
// Yfs w hot »s the expiration date on mailing label
Under what name would you like your PASA membership recorded
Select one membership category □ individual/Fanuly/Farm $35
By shifting to diverse enterprises
that use more manage
ment-intensive systems to enhance
biological cycles, farmers find profit
areas not offered in commodity pro
duction. He is a student of farmers
who make these kinds of changes,
and sees an expanding field of oppor
tunity. “We have less than 2 percent
of our population in production agri
culture, and only about 1 percent are
fully employed at it. What would be
wrong with having 4 percent of the
population farming for a living?” he
asks. For more of his thoughts, check
http://hometown.aoi.com/jeikerd.
Offering the closing keynote at 3
p.m. Saturday will be Cathrine
Sneed, founder of The Garden Proj
ect in San Francisco. A former law
student, she now heads a comprehen
sive effort to give former inmates the
personal values, job skills and com
munity support to become positive
contributors to society. She started
with a jail garden in 1982 that many
men enjoyed, then followed with the
Garden Project a decade later. By
adding reading and math, counseling
and a supportive environment to hor
ticultural excellence, the project gives
the former prisoners enough advan
tages that more than 75 percent do
not return to jail.
The Sustainable Trade Show and
Marketplace will fill the center’s ex
hibit area with companies offering
the latest agricultural hardware, ag
ganic dairy producers will also
use a common spreadsheet style
to present their farm’s actual eco
nomic data, providing unusual
insights into budgetary details.
Q
State ZIP-
□ Student
□ Nonprofit Organization $5O
□ Business
Q Sustaining Lifetime
products and services. Farm and
food advocacy organizations will ex
hibit their efforts to build new mar
kets and educate consumers. As a
convenience, vendors selling farm
fresh and ag products will be group
ed together. Three of the conference
meals will feature sustainably, organ
ically, and regionally raised foods.
For details, contact PASA, 114
West Main St., P.O. Box 419, Mill
heim, PA 16854-0419, (814)
349-9856, fax (814) 349-9840, in
fo@pasafarming.org. Complete de-
PASA Conference Workshops
Related To Marketing
Five workshops will address mar
keting formats to increase profitabili
• B&B, Cabin, Home-Stay: How
to Bring Paying Guests to Your
Farm.
Sharon Kazary, Blackberry Ridge
Farm, Md. is a former innkeeper who
currently runs a vacation cottage on
her farm. Introducing tourists to
farming can be profitable as well as
socially beneficial as it introduces
guests to an agricultural lifestyle and
farm values. Kazary will describe
how to set up and operate a home
stay, cottage, or B&B on the farm.
She has 11 years’ experience in the
tourism industry.
• Intro to Pricing for Direct Mar
keting. John Berry, Penn State Ex
tension, Lehigh County, regional
marketing specialist; Ed Herrmann,
Penn State Extension, sustainable ag
specialist. This lively workshop will
explore how to set prices for profita
bility in your target market. Berry
spent 20 years on a Pennsylvania
dairy and forestry-products farm be
fore obtaining his MBA. He focuses
on whole-farm oriented risk manage
ment and agricultural retailing. Her
mann brings years of market-farm
ing and market development to his
extension role.
• Planning Strategies for Success
ful Producer Co-Ops. Dick Poor
baugh, Penn State Cooperative Ex
tension, business education and
research. How farmers can benefit
from pooling production, and how to
manage farmer-based co-op endeav
ors.
3 Conference Fees
*
TWO DAY REGISTRATION
Members
Early Bird Members'
Member Spouse
Non members
Early Bird Nonmembers* (® 1150
Nonmember Spouse
je Student
Student
Youth Prot
For forty Bud discount registration must be post
marked by January i J 2002
ONE DAY REGISTRATION
D Friday Q Saturday
Indicate day
Members
Nonmembers
College Student
Student
Youth Program
4 Conference Meals
* Please preregister to guarantee alt meals you
plan to eof at the Conference
Friday Irown
Bag Lunch
Friday Evening
Awards Banquet
Vegetarian
Special Kids Banquet
Meal
Saturday Lunch
Vegetarian
Kids Lunch
(Youth 12 & under)
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 26,2002-A29
tails and online registration are at
www.pasafarming.org.
Sponsors for the PASA Conference
include Fertrell Company, Eberly
Poultry Farms, Tuscarora Organic
Growers, Pennsylvania Certified Or
ganic, Pennsylvania Department of
Environmental Protection, Penn
State University, College of Agricul
ture, Pennsylvania Dept, of Agricul
ture, and Rodale Institute.
• Intro to E-Commerce. Ed Herr
mann, Penn State Extension, Leba
non County, sustainable ag specialist.
E-business connects small- to medi
um-sized businesses to the Internet,
electronic commerce, and global
trade. This seminar will introduce
farm marketers to how e-commerce
can dramatically increase access to
resources and expand marketing op
portunities.
• Appealing to and Selling to the
Urban Consumer. Rochelle Kelvin,
Appalachian Natural, Md.; Virginia
Phillips, Slow Food Pittsburgh, Pa.;
and Bill Fuller, Big Burrito Group,
Pittsburgh, Pa. Rochelle Kelvin has
spent the past 10 years developing
market-based initiatives to increase
support for sustainably produced
foods. She provides cost-shared sales
representation to growers and manu
facturers of organic and sustainably
produced processed foods.
Phillips is a former editor and cur
rent freelance food and travel writer
from Mt. Lebanon. She co-founded
Slow Food Pittsburgh to support bio
diversity, sustainability, and preser
vation of agricultural and culinary
heritage.
Chef Fuller has been corporate
chef at the Soba Lounge since 1997.
He holds a master’s degree in chem
istry and has 17 years’ experience in
the restaurant trade. A “Chef of the
Year” winner (Pittsburgh Magazine),
Fuller dedicates time to developing
relationships with individual farmers
and the Penn’s Corner Farm Alli
ance of PASA’s Community Farm
Initiative-West.
5 Youth Program
* Please list the name and age of each child
attending the program m the field below
Parents will be contacted with more program
details and fat chaperoning hours
® 195
@ 185
g> 165
@ 1160
® 1110
Contributions
(s' 150
® UO
Yes 1 would like to be a
Fnend of the Conference (?■ 1100
@ 130
Yes 1 would like to
contnbute to the Anas
Brownback Memorial
Scholarship Fund
7 Payment
* Add membership dues (Section 2) and subtotals
from Sections 3 4 and 6
& 160
® $95
PASA Membership
fe $3O
Two Day Registration
<• $25
One Day Registration
fci $2O
Conference Meals
Contributions
1~1 Check Hake check payable to PASA and return
with thn form
Q VISA Complete below
□ Master Card Complete below
l p 4i on Djlr
(S' $l9
& $l9
SignaCuie
(S $lO
<s> $lO
Mail this form to:
PASA Farming for the Future Conference
PC Box 419
MrKheim PA 16854 0419