STATE COLLEGE

The chaf has hardly settled from the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture's 10th annual Farming for the Future conference and plans are already underway for number 11, plans that will build on the inspiration and ideas generated by over 1000 attendees and the stellar speakers at this year's event.

There was something for everyone at "Food Is Our Commonwealth: Beyond Business As Usual," and something special for Lancaster County native Steve Groff.

Steve Groff was this years winner of the Sustainable Agriculture Leadership Award. Groff is the owner/operator of Cedar Meadow Farm. He demonstrates leadership in his field. Steve is a proponent of no-till agriculture and of soil health and soil fertility. Steve has served on the board of Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture(PASA) for five years. Steve hosts an annual educational field day at his farm which draws a crowd of hundreds from his local community, the state and the region. He has demonstrated a real commitment to sustainable agriculture and PASA's mission.

Groff's efforts to implement environmentally-sound farming practices have also received national media attention. In April 1999, Cedar Meadow Farm was featured in a three-part mini-series, Journey to Planet Earth,which was nationally broadcast on PBS. Groff was also selected as the 1999 National No-Till Innovator of the Year. The April, 2000 issue of Successful Farming Magazine featured a story on Cedar Meadow Farm.