I was talking with energetic farmer Scott Crandall last night about our obligation to spread practical knowledge about sustainable ag as widely as possible, hoping that 'a seed take root somewhere.' Knowing that the time that was once used for reading has all but disappeared from all of our lives, while the timesink of auto travel has grown exponentially, the value of car audio was obvious to the both of us.
One of the easiest ways of getting information packed cassettes and CDs to make the most mundane car trip an inspirational passage is from sustainable ag conferences. I'll be attending the PASA conference this coming weekend. I'll be making tapes of the talks I attend and will have access to locally made tapes of the talks I can't attend. Let me know what you are interested in (OFF LINE! [EMAIL PROTECTED]) and I'll see it I can send them out to you (if you're in the US. If you are overseas, or if you're in one of our yet to be conquered neighboring countries, you're going to have to kick in postage, etc) Tell me what lectures you are interested in and if you want CD or cassette. (A limited number of 8-track copies will be availble for those of you in the real outback.) -Allan Healthy Farms and Communities Focus at 11th PASA Conference STATE COLLEGE, PA. - There's still time to join more than a thousand farmers and friends who will convene for the 11th annual Farming for the Future Conference Feb. 8 and 9 in State College, Pa. "Healthy Farms, Healthy Communities: Our Link to a Sustainable Future" is sponsored by the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA) at the Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel. Farmers, researchers and ag professionals will be featured in 48 workshops in five time slots. Receiving lots of attention will be "The Farmers' Own School of Family Farm Economics," with other multi-workshop themes on human nutrition and food, soil and livestock health, diversifying farm enterprises, grass-based livestock and agriculture building community. Keynote speakers are John Ikerd, Professor Emeritus of Agricultural Economics at University of Missouri, and Cathrine Sneed, executive director of The Garden Project, San Francisco, Calif. Ikerd has inspired many farm audiences with his message that a "people-centered" agriculture allows farmers to succeed by utilizing greater creativity, dignity of work and attention to social equity (<http://hometown.aol.com/jeikerd>http://hometown.aol.com/jeikerd ). Sneed will describe how teaching life-skills to former inmates through commercial urban farming gives a real chance for them to contribute to their communities once released. (www.gardenproject.org) The four "Farmers Own School of Family Farm Economics" sessions are part of eight workshops dealing with financial aspects of sustainable farming. A dozen producers will come ready to share their intimate financial details, using standardized reporting forms. "I've been thinking about this for years," says series organizer Jim Crawford of New Morning Farm, in Hustontown, Huntington County. "I didn't want to have to settle for one workshop. Finances demand more explanation." Experienced vegetable producers will share their farm's financial records in two sessions on Friday. The intent is to allow others to learn from their mistakes, successes and financial analysis. Livestock and dairy producers will hear dairy, beef and poultry farmers use the same financial reporting system to open up their accounts. Vegetable farmers who are willing to their share finances will have the chance in the conference's final workshop slot. To participate in this "learning circle" format, contact the PASA office in advance of the conference to obtain the suggested accounting format. Other economics topics include: -- "After 16 Years of Grazing: Keeping It Simple Works the Best." Art Thicke reflects on managing life, work and finances on a Minnesota family dairy farm. -- "Big Bucks and Capital on the Vegetable Farm." Five Pennsylvania farmers explain their struggle with how and when they've made capital improvements. These farms each started "from scratch" from 19 to 30 years ago. -- "Not Just Chicken Scratch-100 to 10,000 in Four Years." Canadian farmers Ron and Sheila Hamilton will present two poultry farm development workshops with the common heading The first is on how they scaled up production from 100 to 10,000 birds in four years, the second on how they marketed them. The conference will have informal "tracks" of multiple workshops on the themes of ecological health; human health and healing; food policy, politics and economics; and diversifying farm enterprises. Highlights include: -Will Brinton of Woods End Research Labs will share his international expertise on compost. He will present compost quality benchmarks for agricultural use. In a second workshop, explain how well-made compost, in a biologically monitored system, can achieve new levels of productivity in intensive cropping systems. -Sally Fallon, founding president of the Weston A. Price Foundation, will outline 11 common factors of healthy traditional diets. She will point out dangers in modern soy foods. In a second workshop, she will show how to implement traditional diets in your own kitchen through breakfast foods, snacks, soups, salads, condiments and beverages. -Dr. Gregory Pais, with 20 years experience in natural health care, will explain his weaving together of clinical nutrition, herbal medicine, and homeopathy. -Dr. Paul M. Otten, editor of Northland Berry News, is also a professional health director. He will explore the link between soil health and human health, explaining how depleted soils may be a root causes of degenerative diseases and declining family farms. -Antonia Demas, teacher, nutritionist and anthropologist, has developed food-based curricula for 30 years for socially and ethnically diverse groups. She will show how early education can help children reduce their risk of diet-related, chronic diseases. Also featured: K-8 youth program, by reservation only; scholarships for young and beginning farmers; PASA annual meeting; and a PASA awards banquet. Three of the conference meals will feature sustainably, organically, and regionally raised foods. The Sustainable Trade Show and Marketplace will fill the center's exhibit area with companies offering the latest agricultural hardware, ag products and services. Farm and food advocacy organizations will exhibit their efforts to build new markets and educate consumers. As a convenience, vendors selling farm-fresh and ag products will be grouped together. A "PASA Mercantile" display will offer PASA-imprinted gear and feature signed books by major conference speakers. For details, contact PASA, 114 West Main St., P.O. Box 419, Millheim, PA 16854-0419, (814) 349-9856, fax (814) 349-9840, <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>[EMAIL PROTECTED] Complete details and on-line registration at <http://www.pasafarming.org/>www.pasafarming.org The conference opens 9 a.m. Friday, Feb. 8, and closes 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 9.
