A Participant's Report of
the Annual Conference of
The Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA)
February 4-5, 2000
by John Lozier
I was astonished at the size of this, my first, the ninth annual meeting of
PASA, the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable
Agriculture. Attendance was said to be somewhere around 1000 people,
about 200 of them NOT from Pennsylvania. West Virginia was well
represented by at least a half a dozen folks I knew, including Donna
Ballard, Gene Bazan, Alan Baliett, Sol Rodd, Mary Beth Bennett, Susan
Sauter, and former West Virginian Keith Dix. In nine years the
organization is said to have grown from about 25 people. Pennsylvania may
be leading the nation, if not the world, to show the way for development of
local economies.
An important minority presence, conspicuous from their distinctive dress,
were many Amish and Mennonite participants. There were academic folks
present and prominent, but I think the majority of participants were
producers. These producers include fifth and sixth generation farmers who
have adopted alternative farming methods and systems, and also many
newcomers to farming. Most of the producers appear NOT to be organic in
the strict sense, but more broadly "ecological."
Keynote speakers were Vandana Shiva and John Todd. For those who don't
recognize the names, both are world-class acts. I can't review their
contributions at length. Shiva is involved at the grass roots in India in
support of diverse and local agricultural production, and is a prominent
spokesperson in the global conversation on WTO. PASA greeted her with
great enthusiasm. In the wider arena of public discussion, of course, she
and her views are dismissed if they are not simply ignored.
John Todd's name was new to me, but I discovered him to be another
world-class thinker and activist in the area of ecological waste
treatment. Picture a badly polluted lake with no oxygen present in the
24-inch layer of bottom sludge. Picture a floating treatment system. It
is a barge with three or more "cells", each of which is an ecological
system. The lifeless water enters the first cell where micro-organisms
improve its quality enough to move to the second cell where plants can
grow, then the third cell where fish and more plants can grow. The
processed water eventually dumps back into the lake. With slides and
diagrams, Todd showed us how this and similar miracles HAVE BEEN DONE, many
times. And after, I think it was two years, THE LAKE WAS CLEAN!
ALTERNATIVE MARKETING was a major theme that ran through several
workshops. One, which I did not attend, said "selling retail is not
against the law!" Two that were especially inspiring were "Producer-only
Farmer's Markets" and "Organizing Farmer-to-Chef Relationships."
In the first workshop, I learned about the important distinction between
producer-only markets and those which allow resellers to participate. I
came away thinking it is a tough call, but that producer-only is best if
there is a critical mass of both producers and consumers. In short, it's
great if you can make it work. The challenge of organizing farmers and
chefs is being addressed in the Pittsburgh area by the Penn's Corner Farm
Alliance (14 producers) and a clientele of mostly up-scale
restaurants. Farmers provide the alliance with a list of available
products each week; the list is compiled and faxed to the restaurants on (I
think) Monday, orders are due Tuesday, farmers pick and deliver to the
Alliance on Wednesday, and the restaurant deliveries are on Thursday. Two
things chefs want: 1) a year-round service, even though product
availability is seasonal; and 2) delivery on Thursday well in advance of
their weekend rush. A woman in the audience asked some pointed questions
and gave a sobering report of her three-year involvement in a similar
scheme in Delaware, which eventually folded for lack of profitability.
I did not attend a workshop specifically on Consumer Supported Agriculture
(CSA). However, in discussions around the topic of marketing, here's what
I think I learned. A producer has a variety of direct marketing
possibilities. CSA is maybe the sweetest; you have a group of subscribers
who underwrite the season, and you can send excess production to markets or
restaurants. But if you are in farmers' markets at all, you need to be
there every week so consumers can find you. Restaurant marketing is iffy,
there are major cultural differences between farmers and chefs, but it can
work in favorable circumstances.
Animal producers are a significant segment of PASA with some special
concerns. Pasture poultry was a topic in a couple of workshops I did not
attend. However, poultry in rotation with cattle and sheep was mentioned
in a grazing round-table that I attended. Those grazers included grass
dairy as well as beef. An important point is that rotation management is
made easy by training animals to know the routine. Better utilization
(less refusal) can be achieved with mixed species grazing (cattle, sheep
and goats in one group). One sheep producer markets all his lambs, whole
carcasses, to restaurants through the Penn's Corner Alliance. Beef
producers find it relatively easy to market select cuts but not whole
carcasses.
The conference had a well-developed exhibit hall filled with producers and
suppliers and advocacy groups and agencies of all descriptions.
On Friday evening, the conference featured an informal "chat and chew"
session. Volunteers offered topics which were announced on big blank pads
in the lobby. I convened a discussion of PERFORMING ARTISTS AND
SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE. Throughout the conference, I had been carrying my
folk harp, and playing occasionally in lobbies and in the exhibit hall. I
received a fair amount of feedback in favor of building upon the common
ground of community and local enterprises, not just farming but also
traditional "downtown" retail businesses; craftspersons; bed-and-breakfast
inns; small manufacturers; restaurants; and, of course, local musicians.
(I'm writing this report chiefly for distribution by email to the WEST
VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY EXTENSION SERVICE, in return for support for my trip to
the PASA conference. I'm posting the report more widely because I'd
welcome responses from anywhere concerning points herein, and especially
concerning the development of connections between performing arts and local
economies.)
John Lozier
Research Assistant, Forage Extension
and
Adjunct Associate Professor of Agricultural Education
West Virginia University
and
President
Harping for Harmony Foundation
www.harpingforharmony.org
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