Brian Bennett is training an army to help save the planet, one organic farmer at a time.
The St. Lawrence County resident welcomes young people from all backgrounds, college students to troubled teens on probation, to his Bittersweet Farm where they learn the basics of agriculture, quite literally from the ground up.
Bennett was Saturday’s keynote speaker at the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York’s Winter Conference that concludes today at the City Center and Saratoga Hilton with 1,300 people on hand.
“We believe the education we provide reinforces the concept of caring through sharing,” said Bennett, the NOFA-NY 2014 Farmer of the Year. “The more people we have living and working in rural settings, the more people there are to care for agriculture. We look to the agricultural traditions of the past to build a diverse, sustainable future.”
A Rhode Island native, Bennett and his wife, Ann, previously had a Maine farm, but relocated when ABC Television built one the world’s tallest transmission towers next door.
“We were assured it would be safe, so we moved,” he said, during a speech laced with humor.
One day, after arriving in northern New York, he was invited to give a classroom presentation about the “ins and outs” of organic farming.
“From there it all snowballed,” he said.
Some schools seek him out, looking for a place students can gain hands-on experience. Many come from upstate New York colleges such as St. Lawrence University, Clarkson, Alfred, SUNY Potsdam and SUNY Canton. However, the farm has hosted young people from Sweden to the University of North Carolina-Asheville.
“We also solicit them on a regular basis by email, phone calls and networking,” Bennett said.
Many show up with lots of enthusiasm, but no practical knowledge at all.
“I ask them to go get me a wrench or cultivator and they come back with a hammer and wagon,” he joked.
They leave with new-found confidence that comes from accomplishing difficult tasks; encouraged to have a farm of their own some day.
Sometimes kids make costly mistakes, such as breaking equipment or injuring an animal, but he overlooks it for the greater long-term good that results.
“We get a tremendous amount of kids from the judiciary, probation or parole,” Bennett said. “Once they’re done they come back. Is this seeding the future? I believe it is. Small-scale agricultural producers are VIPs – very important people. We must preserve the knowledge of the past and sew the seeds of the future.
Bennettt said he believes that people who work the land with their hands care more for it than big farms with GPS-operated tractors.
“We are more than just a producer of food,” he said. “We need to blend today’s science with basic core values. If we are truly investing in the future, none of us will have excess. Small is beautiful. This, I believe, is the future of agriculture.”
