Passages Sustainable Food and Farming Systems - PASA

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Director’s Corner Standing on the Shoulders of Giants By Brian Snyder, Executive Director If you have been following my recent columns, you probably noticed that I’ve been a bit grumpy lately. Maybe “grumpy” is not the right word, but let’s just call it my “persistent uneasiness” for now, and I can assure you there are plenty of good reasons for all of us to be feeling this way. There is otherwise much cause to be celebrating right now, including the achievement of twenty years of PASA as an organization, and the growth of the sustainable food movement in general, to the point where sustainability itself is now a mainstream idea. But there are storm clouds just ahead that we would do well not to ignore. I’ve talked in various contexts about an increasing, and in some ways necessary divergence of worldviews that now dominates our public discussions about food and farming. I have likened that chasm to the scientific dispute over whether the Sun revolves around the Earth, or vice versa, that once took about 300 years, and not just a little violent persecution, to resolve. In our case the central conflict is over the role of nature in our farming systems…is it a friend or foe For PASA members, it’s almost unthinkable that anyone would consider nature as the enemy of farming, but that’s pretty much the status quo attitude with the dominant, industrial paradigm that now governs most of our food production. Nature always seems to get it wrong, and must be supplemented with various chemicals, trampled by ginormous machinery and even manipulated at the level of genetic structure in order to make it do what we want. And then all too often it adapts, and ends up dashing our best intentions anyway…at least that’s how the industrialists understand the world. Of course, we know different. We know that the tendency to diversify and adapt is exactly the thing that nature does right, and that we would do well to emulate it in that regard. We know that by observing very carefully what happens on our farms and in the different ecological systems in which our farms are situated, we can minimize the hazards and maximize the benefits of our farming practices to the economic, environmental and ethical contexts in which we operate. We know that within all life forms resides the capacity not only to survive, but to prevail, and even to heal when things do not go as we had planned. We know that the most successful farms will adhere to nature, not try to defeat it. But I have some bad news. With all the progress we’ve seen over the past two decades, we are not currently winning the day. We are losing ground, and the reason, I believe, is twofold. First, we are aiming at a moving target. Whether we are talking about economics, the environment or the health and welfare of our people — especially when considered on a global scale — things are getting worse, and by some estimates, there is not much time to turn the ship around. This is not a new idea to PASA members, or anyone who has been coming to our conferences over the years, because a host of keynote speakers have reminded us over and over again what’s really at stake. And as full as the conference center generally is, there are just not enough farmers hearing this message from us, or anywhere else. The second, and to me more ominous reason, is that the other side — that is, the forces of industrialism that benefit from the status quo — are getting more organized in their efforts to avoid change, or at least to resist change that will come quickly enough to make a real difference. I have written before about the formation of an industry-led group called the USFRA, which stands for the US Farmers & Ranchers Alliance, that burst onto the scene this past summer pledging to spend $30M/year “to lead the dialogue on how food is grown and raised in America” according to Bob Stallman, who chairs the USFRA and is also president of the American Farm Bureau Federation. As you would no doubt surmise, this new group was formed to answer the criticisms leveled at industrial farming coming from within the sustainable food system movement. You would also not be surprised to find that the effort is largely being funded by commodity checkoff dollars — some of which are contributed by our members — as well as hefty donations from Monsanto and other corporate players. So in other words, if you are paying into a checkoff system, you are potentially also helping to support messaging that works against the marketing of your own, sustainably-raised products. This helps to reinforce the impression many of our farmers get that the commodity checkoff system is actually a legalized form of organized crime. And if that doesn’t get your attention, maybe hearing about what the USFRA advises farmers to say to consumers will. In a training presentation acquired by some friends and forwarded to me, I was astounded to find that this new organization is advising farmers to talk with the public regarding just about everything except for how they farm. One slide in particular advises them to avoid what they called “language landmines” and technical “process-oriented” language. That same slide is specific in recommending that farmers not use words like Technology, Innovation, GMOs, Antibiotics, Hormones, Pesticides, Fertilizer and Nitrogen. On another slide they talk about ditching the technical talk and, instead, using language that is more “natural,” including words like preventing, nurturing, resilient, healthy and — this is the kicker — better tasting. They recommend that farmers not talk about big, lofty ideas like feeding the world anymore, and also emphasize the need to adopt a strategy of continuous improvement, which is something they rather directly continued on page 18 6
PASA Board Perspective It Will Be Life Changing are too long and the pay not as good as industry. At that time, CEO’s weren’t paid the obscene amounts as today. The culture was still mostly honest and there were many available jobs. Today we have 20- year-old billionaires and corporations pretend that purchasing robots is a better decision than employing and educating young people to perform real work. I have never regretted that I returned to our farm. Our brief detour down a road of unsustainable dairy production I have never regretted that I returned to our farm. Our brief detour down a road of unsustainable dairy production was turned around after coming to my first PASA conference. By Kim Seeley, PASA board president Editor’s Note: This is a reprint of Kim’s speech given at the recent Farming for the Future Conference in early February. Our conference every year is a showcase of world-renowned talent. As I walked around and observed the friendships reunited, the intense conversations, and the positive spirit that this group exudes, I can only conclude that PASA has become one of the most diverse, fairly balanced member organizations to be found anywhere. Why is it possible that Ann and I, and Jess and Jack, could spend four days here for the first time since joining PASA Because my son has gained the knowledge, developed the strength, and focused his determination to sustain our farm while we are gone. Shon is covering many bases at home right now managing 250 dairy and beef animals, facilitating our milk and meat deliveries to Penn College of Technology, a customer of our farm for 12 years, and overseeing our store. His job would be better described as full time with mandatory overtime. My mother still works full time every day as well, cooking, serving, and bookkeeping at 87. She would call it part time, because it is only 40 to 50 hours a week. Shon and Jess, and our youngest son Dane, and many of your children, have ducing food. Chemically contaminated food starting sometimes at the farm and continuing throughout the processing sector, is undermining the intelligence and well being of anyone who doesn’t understand sustainable eating. Jerry Brunetti recently shared a quote with me from Ghandi, “A society can be judged by evaluating the manner in which they feed their animals.” How will our society be judged when future scientists study the way we fed our kids My explanation for anyone who has never made the pilgrimage to a PASA conference is, “it will be…life changing”. PASA is your organization for trustworthy, honest information and knowledge, for farming and living sustainably. PASA members stand together every day to educate, provide leadership and foster relationships that sustain our communities. Our member successes are being used as case studies for sustainable solutions about feeding the world with food, fit for our kids. You and I, as PASA members, can be proud that our animals and children are being fed in a manner that will sustain future PASA members. I started doing my undergraduate courses 56 years ago, when I was born on a dairy farm and rode on my mom’s hip and my dad’s shoulders, as they showed me how to work hard, treat people fairly, have reverence for nature and encouraged me to get an education. They also told me not to be a farmer because the hours grown up in the undergraduate program of the PASA family for sustainable learning. What a proud moment it is for me to look at this amazing group of young leaders. Our organization is sustainable because of them and you. We have among our membership the necessary human chemistry to lead the way to protecting world sustainability. Youth cannot learn right from wrong unless they have real examples in their lives. The biggest reason our country is in such a mess is our compromised values for prowas turned around after coming to my first PASA conference. That is when our family farm joined the PASA family graduate studies program. Over the years, I have been lucky to have met many of you personally and your inspirations and teachings have made our farm what it is today and where it is headed in the future. I am forever indebted to the founders of PASA for their insight into the future of what our food systems would become, without common sense factored into the food chemistry experiment our agricultural leaders condoned and funded. Lessons learned from our hardest problems become the fiber and fabric of life which builds our character. I want to remind you all about the PASA Annual Meeting on March 24 (see details page 14). I encourage all of you to make it a priority to come to that meeting. We will have important votes about by-law changes. This brings me to an interesting observation about different opinions in our membership. Currently I can poll a cross section of our members and get a different answer about the need for PASA to engage in policy work and on fundraising. I hear from members that we spend too much time on these. As a long time farmer, I have seen enough failed farm policies and too much lobbying money buying improper influence. As President of the Board, I have always continued on page 23 7
Page 1 and 2: Passages Sustainable Food and Farmi
Page 3 and 4: Conference Review We Salute Our Con
Page 5: Conference Review PASA’s Annual 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
Page 15 and 16: Fundraising continued from previous
Page 17 and 18: Membership Update PASA’s Annual M
Page 19 and 20: A PASA member since 2005, Jeff Bidd
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Page 23 and 24: PASA Board Perspective continued fr
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
Page 35 and 36: Membership & Contribution Form Plea

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