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Farm Aid Promotes Sustainability
Dan Simon
 It
was music to the ears of those who advocate sustainable farming in
Pennsylvania. This year's Farm Aid in Pittsburgh celebrated many of
the goals of movement, going so far as to include Kim Seeley of the
Milky Way Dairy Farm in Troy, Penn., as a guest speaker at the event.
"The Seeleys, the entire family, embody the type of farm operation
that will help us get us to where we need to go: sustainable, profitable, regional,
and they produce a superb product," wrote Mark Smith, a Farm
Aid staffer in reply to a GreenWorks query. "We were lucky to
have crossed paths with the Seeleys, and Kim and his wife Ann are
such good spokespeople to articulate the vision of farming that Farm
Aid promotes."
Smith said the show's goals this year included promoting three key
messages:
- "Industrial agriculture has us on a dead end street.
- "The alternative is a sustainable and regional food production
system that strengthens rural communities, protects the environment
and provides good, quality food; and,
- "Family farmers are the key building block on which to base a
new food production system."
Farm Aid turned to Pennsylvania this year in part because the organization
felt many of the local issues with regards to family farming represented
a microcosm of issues felt nationwide Smith wrote.
"Pennsylvania turned out to be a perfect place for this year's
show," he said.
The Seeleys family farm had once drifted into "conventional"
style dairy, but disillusioned with chemical agriculture began turning
toward sustainable farming methods in 1984. Now as members of the
Pennsylvania Association of Sustainable Agriculture, they try to encourage
others to adopt sustainable farming methods.
 "People
were inspired, empowered, enthused, and I think many seeds were planted
that evening," Kim Seeley wrote in response to GreenWorks questions.
"I was overwhelmed with the response I got while speaking at
the pre-event rally.
"My speech told a story about how the farm crisis has made me
both mad, then sad…which led me to become empowered about changing
my farming practices."
Seeley described himself as being overwhelmed at the idea of speaking
at such an event, but hoped telling the story of his farm might benefit
other struggling family farms. He said he was impressed by the Farm
Aid effort too.
"I was highly impressed with the knowledge the musical performers
had about weaknesses in our food production system," he wrote.
"I liked the way television was used to educate viewers. I was
impressed by the fact that the Farm Aid organization is fine-tuning
their mission to better educate the public about farm and food related
issues.
"One last comment is that directly after the event we had visitors
at the Milky Way from Virginia and North Carolina. The folks from
North Carolina saw the production and had already been planning a
trip to New England. After seeing the Farm Aid show, they re-routed
their trip so they could visit our farm. Pretty empowering!"
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