Farm Aid is a national organization, but farming is a pretty local business — from climate, topography, and soil types, to opportunities and resources for farmers that vary from state to state and county to county. In order to connect with local producers and other organizations around the country, our team travels often and eagerly around the country, attending conferences, meeting with partners, and — when we are lucky — going on farm tours.
As the Farmer Services Network Manager at Farm Aid, a few of the things I work on are maintaining and improving our Farmer Resource Network, working on our disaster response, and collaborating on building out the Distressed Borrowers Assistance Network. I also get to interact with thousands of music fans at our festival through my work in the HOMEGROWN Village. But today, I thought it would be interesting and fun to bring you along on a trip to the Pasa Sustainable Agriculture Conference.
At the conference in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, I bring you along for a glimpse into these conferences to show how people come together, hear what folks are thinking about and maybe invite you into thinking more about the farmer experience. Bringing a little HOMEGROWN Village onto your screen year round.
Farming is beautiful, but farming is challenging and farmers are struggling. We asked folks at the conference to share music and books that inspire them.
We asked people at the Pasa conference to share what was on their mind, tell us what they love about the conference and a bit about their work.