Passages Sustainable Food and Farming Systems - PASA

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Director’s Corner continued from page 6 ripped off from the language of sustainable certification. So here is the gist of the good advice for farmers from the USFRA…don’t talk to consumers about what you’re doing on your farms; ask them how they feel about their food. You might be wondering how I’m able to have any optimism about the future at all. Sometimes I wonder that too. But it’s really not all that difficult to maintain hope in the face of dire global circumstances and an organized, industry-fueled disinformation campaign… because every day on this job I get to talk with farmers who are proud as can be to talk about what they’re doing on their farms! Now, isn’t it nice that we belong to a community that likes to talk about their farming practices At PASA, we realize that every conversation counts, and we encourage you to use process-oriented language whenever possible. My other reason for optimism is that every day we find more giants in this community on whose shoulders we can stand in order to see a brighter future coming. Sitting among us today are many examples of the giants I am referring to. We have featured such individual farmers and businessmen and women over the years as speakers and award winners, and we have had several on the PASA board of directors. We will once again be honoring a couple leaders of this caliber tomorrow as part of our PASAbilities award series. But today, I’ll just give you two other very current examples. Nearly a year ago, our retiring president Kim Seeley was in Philadelphia to speak with an audience on the effects and potential dangers of drilling for gas in the Marcellus Shale. On his way home the next morning he got a call that his family’s farm store and dairy processing plant was engulfed in flames, and of course all he could do was continue the trip home to see what was left. Today, they are nearly ready to fully reopen in a much improved, more sustainable type of facility, and this July, Milky Way Farm will celebrate 50 years of being in business. No one would have blamed them to shut down permanently, and take their farm in other directions, but it was their concern for the community they live in that counted most — “Where will they buy their dairy products” is a question I heard repeatedly as they considered how decisions would affect their customers. Here’s another example. Just last fall, our good friends at the Rodale Institute hosted their inaugural Organic Pioneer Awards banquet, and among the very first award winners were PASA members Drew and Joan Norman, who operate One Straw Farm in Whitehall, MD. They can be very proud of that achievement, and also proud to be operating one of the nation’s largest and most innovative CSA operations. But that’s not enough for them. Just last week they voluntarily surrendered their organic certification, because the NOP has so far refused to approve the mulch product they use on the farm that is made of 100% biodegradable, non-GMO, cornbased material. You see, they just couldn’t stand to continue filling their local landfill with dumpster loads of the petroleum-based plastic they had used with NOP approval in the past. For them, this is a matter of principle…they are not willing to just accept the status quo, even of the organic program, and instead are willing to lead the way in insisting on continuous improvement! Those of you who are just beginning to farm, or are hoping someday soon to be farming, would do well to take heed of the example set by many PASA members who have come before you. Yes, there will be many hardships involved in running your farms…nature may be our “friend,” but due to our unfortunate prior negligence, this friend is becoming more erratic and demanding all the time. And there’s nothing easy about selling your products once you’ve figured out how to produce them. All of us in this organization commit ourselves to helping PASA Annual Meeting Saturday, March 24 10am–3:30pm Wildwood Conference Center Harrisburg, PA RSVP & details at pasafarming.org you as best we can with these parts of the process. But the really hard part will come when it’s your turn to make the tough decisions that will take this entire community into places we’ve never been before, and help us break down the barriers to a more sustainable future that are being erected every day by the defenders of industry and the status quo. We will be with you then, too, but you will be leading the way. One of the biggest challenges we will face is the one I alluded to at the beginning…how to get the word to all those farmers out there who have not had an opportunity to hear it, or have so far refused to listen. I believe it’s true that PASA, and other organizations like this, are already speaking publicly on behalf of at least 80% of the farmers in this country, even though most of them do not know it, and may not understand just how much trouble they are in. We must work hard to inform them, and to welcome them into this community, because without a faster pace of change, we will all fail in our endeavor to head-off catastrophe in economic and environmental terms, and in our efforts to serve the needs of a fast-growing world population. You, the farmers of the future, are engaged in the process of creating a new food system with every bold action you take, sometimes running with, and at other times against, the prevailing current of laws and regulations. In this PASA family, we all stand on the shoulders of the giants who have come before us, and with that special opportunity comes the equivalent responsibility to farm not just for today, but to cultivate the versatility and resilience that will make farming for the future, and even the future itself, a PASA-bility for our children and grandchildren to enjoy. ■ 18
A PASA member since 2005, Jeff Biddle’s milking herd includes a variety of breeds, among them Ayrshires, Jerseys, Guernseys and Holsteins. By Sylvia P. Onusic, PhD, PASA Member It is near milking time at Bear Meadows Farm near Boalsburg just under the Tussey Mountain in Central PA, not far from the Penn State Campus. The cows are coming down from the pasture to the paddock outside the parlor, occasionally bellowing a long moo, which says its milking time. I stand outside with the owner of the place and tell him that the cows look beautiful, and that I especially like the white one. Farm owner, Jeff Biddle says, “Yeah, it’s all pasture, and that’s Elsie May, an old girl.” In fact, he knows each cow by name, as well as their personality and habits. Nearby three farm cats are lined up closely together in silhouette, along with Jeff’s two guinea hens, anticipating that something good is about to happen. Until 1948, farm fresh milk (raw milk) and pasteurized milk coexisted PASA Member Finds Success and Happiness in Grass Farming and Raw Milk Production: The Story of Jeff Biddle legally. But in 1948 a federal mandatory pasteurization law ended national access to fresh milk. Now it is up to the individual states to determine if fresh milk is legal. In Pennsylvania we are fortunate to be able to purchase raw milk at the farmgate and in specific shops. In Virginia purchase of raw milk by consumers is illegal unless you own part of the cow, as in “cow-shares.” In several other states, raw milk is sold as “pet food.” The website realmilk.com lists the status of raw milk in the fifty states. According to the Federal government, there are about 15 million raw milk drinkers in the U.S. and the number continues to grow. When people are asked why they drink raw milk, the majority proclaim, ‘the taste.’ And Jeff’s milk is long and creamy, its distinctive taste determined ultimately by the soil and what is growing in it, something that the French call terroir. The plants and grasses growing on Jeff’s fields and nourishing his animals are the products of this terroir, which ultimately translate into tasty milk. Another major contributor to the taste of raw milk is the amount of butterfat it contains. Cow breeds vary in the amount of butterfat in their milk with Jerseys being high fat producers. Jeff’s herd is a variety of breeds, among them Ayrshires, Jerseys, Guernseys and Holsteins, which contribute to the ultimate taste of the milk product in the bulk milk tank. Among his herd are four Holsteins, which he adopted from industrial dairies. He says that they are good milkers. The types and number of bacteria it contains also influences the taste of the milk. We know that bacteria can be friendly and good for digestive health, as well as useful, helping us prepare fermented dairy products like yogurt and kiefer (probiotic) or unfriendly (pathogenic) which can make us ill. Pasteurization destroys some pathogens but more so the friendly probiotic lactobacillus bacteria, enzymes and healthful substances which raw milk contains, like lactase, the enzyme which enables digestion of the lactose in milk. Pasteurization renders the lactase inoperable. But because the raw milk still contains its lactase, many people who are lactose intolerant and cannot drink pasteurized milk, can drink raw milk, says raw milk safety expert, Ted Beals, MD. Jeff’s milk is the only raw milk that I buy in the area, which I could successfully “clabber” or sour. Clabbering was done in my grandma’s day by putting a covered container of raw milk in a warm place, such as on the back of a counter or in a cupboard, for a few days depending on the time of year and temperature of the room, then used for drinking, cooking and baking. Clabbered or sour milk is a popular traditional beverage in Eastern and Central European, as well as Middle Eastern countries, especially during summer months. It has a refreshing smooth rich taste with an acid finish. Sour is not the same as spoil. Pasteur- continued on page 20 19
Page 1 and 2: Passages Sustainable Food and Farmi
Page 3 and 4: Conference Review We Salute Our Con
Page 5 and 6: Conference Review PASA’s Annual L
Page 7 and 8: PASA Board Perspective It Will Be L
Page 9 and 10: Former board member John Hopkins sp
Page 11 and 12: PASA board member and conference sp
Page 13 and 14: Buy Fresh Buy Local Update What is
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Page 17: Membership Update PASA’s Annual M
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Page 25 and 26: and GMOs makes us idealists at best
Page 27 and 28: Education Opportunities WESTERN REG
Page 29 and 30: Regional Marketing EASTERN REGION
Page 31 and 32: Table 3. Land, labor and energy eff
Page 33 and 34: Classified Ads Due to space we are
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