MILLHEIM, Pa. — The Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA) announces the 22nd annual Farming for the Future Conference to be held Feb. 6-9 at the Penn Stater Conference Center in State College, Pa.
PASA conference
The 2013 conference is expected to attract more than 2,000 farmers, chefs, students, business leaders and others from over 30 U.S. state and several foreign nations.
Conference programming is slated to cover policy issues, financial skills and labor topics, as well as cheesemaking, small fruits, season extension, beekeeping and other topics.
“No longer a fringe idea, ‘sustainability’ has entered the lexicon of mainstream America,” said Brian Snyder, PASA’s executive director. “For us, the idea is more than a buzzword; it is a driving vision that must be implemented if humankind is to survive on this planet in the balance with the natural environment.”
Keeping with the theme of new thinking and transformation, renowned speaker and author Charles Eisenstein will be keynote speaker on Friday. Eisenstein focuses on themes of civilization, consciousness, money and human cultural evolution.
Local food system
Ben Hewitt, main speaker for the PASAbilities Award Series Plenary, is best known for his 2010 book The Town that Food Saved, which chronicles the story of Hardwick, Vt., and the efforts to blueprint and implement a localized food system.
Leaders
The conference will present numerous other leaders in sustainable agriculture, including Atina Diffley, Organic Farming Works, LLC, an expert in wholesale marketing and food safety; Steve Moore, a pioneer in greenhouse and high tunnel production; innovative farmstead cheesemaker, Gianaclis Caldwell, Pholia Farm; and Abe Collins, Collins Grazing LLC, a leader in soil and pasture husbandry for over two decades.
In addition to more than a dozen full-day pre-conference tracks and over 100 conference workshops, Farming for the Future will host a full schedule of events and activities, including a seed swap, live music and youth programming.
To learn more about the Farming for the Future Conference, visit pasafarming.org/conference or call 814-349-9856.
