Farming for the Future – 2016 PASA Conference

Each year our conference seeks to inform our members of the latest innovations in sustainable agriculture, while also giving them an opportunity to celebrate the past year and look forward to the next. We are especially mindful that our community is part of a movement that has taken the national and international stage and is making a real difference. Whether we’re talking about sensible food safety, food sovereignty in a time of tremendous environmental and social challenges, or limiting the influence of genetic engineering in farming, this movement toward more sustainable food systems offers great promise for the future of our society.

Our theme this year builds on the success of last year’s conference, when we began to look more closely at the role of nature in leading us toward sustainability. We will be exploring our reliance on Nature as Mentor this year, with an emphasis on the part we all play as students, and not masters, of the precious resources at our hands. As such, it is a proper relationship with the natural world we seek, in helping to heal the damage that has accumulated over time, while also healing our own bodies of the ravages of an industrial food system run amuck. Never before have we known so much about the choices that must be made and stood so powerless to turn the tide wrought by cheap and faceless food. Maybe this is because it’s not really “power” that we lack or need, but an attitude of openness to learn from and a willingness to acknowledge the healing energy inherent in nature. Maybe sometimes we need to stop and pay attention to the way nature can heal itself, if we just get out of the way.

Brian Snyder
Executive Director, PASA