PASA Conference Highlights

(Photo: Food, Sustainability, and Place course members at the PASA Conference. Credit: Chaone Mallory.)

Emily and I went to the PA Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA) Farming for the Future conference on Friday with the Philosophy Department's Food, Sustainability and Place class. It was a long journey, but we had fun and got to learn about some really interesting and inspiring things. Raj Patel, author of Stuffed and Starved, was the keynote speaker, and a very talented one at that. Some facts, points, and soundbytes from his main presentation and subsequent Q&A session include:

• In 2008, 40 million people went hungry in the U.S., the richest and most obese country in the world.
• The rules established by the "free" market economy are - 1) If you have money, you can buy food, no matter where it's from, and 2) if you have no money, you starve, even if there is more food than ever before.
• Hunger is gendered. Sixty percent of hungry people are women and girls.
• Unilever, which owns SlimFast and Ben & Jerry's, "sells you the fat on your ass and then sells you a way to get rid of it."
• Presently, our freedom as Americans is only restricted preference; "we've had consumer choice, not free choice!"
• We cannot look to President Obama as the "pizza delivery guy of steaming hot change delivered in 30 minutes or less....We can't wait for him....We are not consumers of democracy, we are its proprietors!"
• "There is no such thing as a good head of the USDA, because the USDA isn't good....We need a department of food, not of agribusiness."
• "We need to recruit and get angry! We can't just send emails - we need to start projects and cause a stink with the government!"

(Photo: Students at the opening remarks and keynote address of the PASA Conference. Credit: Chaone Mallory.)

Patel highlighted Via Campesina and MST as leaders of the kinds of movements we need, and advocated eating locally, subsidies for sustainable agriculture, food sovereignty as the goal, and collective and passionate political action as the method. Overall, Patel's content wasn't entirely new, but the way he presents it, both in the book and in person, is vivid, engaging, and motivating.

(Photo: Candid shot of me [far left] and Emily [far right] at PASA Conference. Credit: Ryan Feigenbaum.)

Many other displays, organizations, and people attended and presented at the conference, in addition to Patel. I attended a fairly technical workshop on meeting regulations for raw milk, and Emily went to one about outwitting bugs and bunnies in the garden and another on public policy. Please ask if you want any more details!

Finally, one of the most surprising things we saw at the conference was a group of students from Radnor Middle School, right down the road from Villanova. These kids were amazing! They are working on an "integrated learning program for seventh graders" all about the watershed. They were very knowledgeable and well-spoken and we were so impressed. Maybe they will be able to come to Villanova and share some of what they've learned with us.