The Student Farm Club was kept plenty busy this week, with members attending two notable conferences: the Mid-Atlantic Fruit and Vegetable Convention and the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture’s “Farming for the Future” conference.
The annual Farming for the Future conference is PASA’s signature event, and it proved to be an excellent opportunity for networking, outreach, and service by Student Farm Club members.
Held this year at the Penn Stater Hotel and Conference Center, Farming for the Future brings together an audience of 2,000 farmers, processors, consumers, students, environmentalists and business and community leaders every year. Programs at the Conference include educational workshops, a trade show, social hour and a children’s program called Future Farmers.
Volunteers from the Student Farm Club led the “Seedlings” section of the Future Farmers program for 3rd through 5th graders. Through activities, crafts, and games, Student Farm Club members helped children explore healthy, sustainable foods and farming.
Students and program coordinator, Leslie Pillen, attended PASA’s Farming for the Future Conference
In addition to volunteering to help with the children’s program, Student Farm Club members maintained an informational booth at the conference. They were able to educate other conference-goers about the mission of the Student Farm at Penn State, and Student Farm program coordinator Leslie Pillen said the Conference’s educational aspect was not a one-way street.
“The Student Farm is truly an interdisciplinary project, so a lot of students in the Club aren’t necessarily studying agriculture,” Pillen said. “For those students, the Conference was a great chance to learn more about a variety of topics in agriculture.”
In addition to volunteerism and outreach, the PASA conference allowed Student Farm Club members interested in careers in agriculture to network with a host of employers that were present. Student Farm Club president Keirstan Kure happens to be one of those professionally-minded students.
“Not only do we get to go to workshops and learn from experts and professionals, but we also get to network with these people and other vendors attending the conference,” Kure said. “It’s a great way to make contacts, meet potential employers and learn about the work that’s going on in the world of sustainable agriculture and food systems.”
Prior to the PASA conference, Student Farm Club co-director Keirstan Kure and program coordinator Leslie Pillen travelled to Hershey, Pennsylvania earlier in the week for the Mid-Atlantic Fruit and Vegetable Convention.
Held this year at the Hershey Lodge and Convention Center in, the Mid-Atlantic Fruit and Vegetable Convention is the “premier grower meeting in the Northeast.” It includes educational sessions, a large industry trade show and networking opportunities that help growers and direct marketers stay on the cutting edge.
This Convention proved to be a “fruitful” one for the Student Farm, as a few attending organizations expressed interest in donating supplies to help further the progress of getting the Penn State Student Farm up and running. Specifically, the Club is hopeful that donations will include a drip irrigation system and biodegradable plastic mulch.
These conferences are just the latest events that the Student Farm Club has had a presence at. Members were featured in a new, sustainability-focused section of the 100th Pa. Farm Show earlier this semester. You can read more about that trip here.