The annual Farming for the Future conference is PASA's signature event and our main vehicle for community building. Widely regarded as the best of its kind in the East, this diverse event brings together an audience of over 1,900 farmers, processors, consumers, students, environmentalists, and business and community leaders annually. The sheer numbers and diversity of business and organizations that are associated with the conference are notable, through sponsoring, exhibiting and presenting. Typical conference workshops focus on such practical topics as poultry production, cheese making, riparian buffers, organic certification and raw milk marketing. New to the 2004 PASA Conference was a day-long "pre-conference" for in-depth exploration of special topic areas. We look forward to continuing this successful addition.

The conference does not focus entirely on practical training for farmers. The 2004 event featured addresses by well-known environmentalist Paul Hawken; human rights advocate Anuradha Mittal; and Percy Schmeiser, a Canadian canola farmer who was sued by Monsanto Corporation for patent infringement after his crops were cross-pollinated with genetically modified canola. These speakers helped underscore the conference's role as a forum for alternative voices in agriculture. Keynote speakers in recent years have been such visionaries as William McDonough, Vandana Shiva, Jim Hightower, Winona LaDuke, Mark Ritchie and John Ikerd.

The Farming for the Future conference continues to bring the PASA membership a high quality program with knowledgeable field experts, acclaimed keynote speakers, and special events. Year after year, conference staff and volunteers do their best to plan and provide this inspiring event, always with an eye to improve things as we can. Special features of the conference include; youth & teen programming, a babysitting program, auction, the Sustainable Trade Show and Marketplace, and conference meals featuring sustainably, organically, and regionally raised foods from over forty PASA members throughout our region.

PASA's signature event and our main vehicle for community building was a grand success in early February 2008. Widely regarded as the best of its kind in the East, this diverse 3-day spectacular brought together an audience of over 1,900. To review information from this past event, click here.

Workshops and Keynotes Speeches are recorded at Farming for the Future. To order CD recordings from the 2007 event, click here. To order CD/DVDs from the 2008 event, click here.