It gives me great pleasure to serve as the President of the Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture as PSPA enters its 232nd year with the 2016/2017 program. Truly, I “stand on the shoulders of giants” as I begin my term at the helm of the “oldest continuously active agricultural society in the nation.” Last year, in preparation for my term as President and the responsibility of developing this year’s activities and speakers program, I initiated a survey of all our members. I asked what they considered to be the biggest challenges facing agriculture in the future.

From that survey, the topics of key importance were identified as climate change, conservation of our soil and water resources, controversies over the use of genetic and other technologies, organic and conventional agricultural practices, feeding the growing world – especially in urban areas, and local production and value-added processing to achieve better profitability for agricultural enterprises. All these issues will be covered this year in our program entitled “Successfully Meeting the Challenges in Agriculture in the 21st Century and Beyond.”

In these 10 presentations and field trips, we will frequently return to a familiar theme – “Sustainability.” But we will examine more than just the environmental component. True sustainability (the ability to endure) in farming and agricultural and food systems will require good care of the environment (our planet), acceptance by the public (people), and economic viability for the producer (profit). Doing all this is a tall order, but this year’s program will address best practices for achieving all these goals.

I thank all the members of the Executive Committee, the Activities Committee, and all members who provided ideas for speakers and field trips for this year’s program. It was truly a group effort. I invite you to participate in all our lunch presentations and field trips and help us continue to support and promote agriculture as the cornerstone of all civilization. Oh, and don’t forget, bring a guest. We are always looking for new members to keep PSPA growing and continuing to be the “oldest continuously active agricultural society in the nation!”