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Author: Hannah Kinney Smith, Executive Director
Each year, we honor farmer, community, and business leaders who serve as examples for advancing sustainable agriculture through innovation and collaboration. In addition, this year, we recognize two lifetime service awards.
We are pleased to share this year’s award recipients.
Philadelphia, PA
Representative Chris Rabb brings the values of sustainable agriculture into the heart of public policy. As a legislator representing Northwest Philadelphia, he uses his platform to connect environmental health, food access, economic justice, and climate resilience—demonstrating that agriculture is not only a rural issue, but a cornerstone of thriving communities across Pennsylvania.
Through his service on the House Agriculture & Rural Affairs Committee and his leadership in founding the Pennsylvania Climate Caucus, Rep. Rabb has taken a more holistic approach to building a more just food system. From agrivoltaics to urban land use, from pesticide exposure to drivers’ licenses for all, Rep. Rabb has lent his voice to a range of important issues across the food system, elevating sustainable land use, clean energy, and environmental justice within the legislative process. His sponsorship of urban agriculture incentive zones reflects a deep commitment to community-based food systems, ensuring that city residents have access to land, fresh food, and economic opportunity through local agriculture.
As an educator, author, and former professor, he brings clarity, thoughtfulness, and a systems-level perspective to complex challenges. He understands that viable farms, healthy soil, renewable energy, and equitable economic structures are all part of the same solution. By bridging urban and rural needs, policy and practice, and climate and community, his leadership ensures that farmers, gardeners, and food system workers are seen, supported, and protected by the laws that shape our shared future.
Philadelphia, PA
The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS) has redefined what stewardship looks like in the 21st century by proving that sustainable land care can transform entire communities. For nearly two centuries—and especially through its modern programs—PHS has demonstrated that soil health, green infrastructure, food access, and social equity belong together.
Through initiatives like the LandCare Program, PHS has restored more than 13,000 vacant urban lots, transforming neglected spaces into living landscapes that absorb stormwater, reduce crime, improve air quality, and rebuild neighborhood pride. Its City Harvest network supports more than 200 community gardens and farms, producing over 250,000 pounds of produce and expanding access to fresh food, seeds, tools, and growing knowledge in neighborhoods that need it most.
PHS also invests in people. Programs like Roots to Reentry create pathways into green-sector careers for formerly incarcerated individuals, linking ecological restoration with economic opportunity and justice. Its horticultural education and professional training programs build the skills needed to steward land, grow food, and design climate-resilient landscapes across the region.
For Pasa, honoring PHS affirms that sustainable agriculture does not stop at the farm gate. Urban greening, soil restoration, pollinator habitat, and community gardens are essential parts of a regenerative food system. PHS’s leadership shows how place-based action, equity, and ecological care can work together—strengthening both rural and urban communities in the shared work of healing land and people.
Nationwide
Good Roots is redefining what it means to support sustainable agriculture by bringing financial clarity, strategy, and stability to the farms and food businesses that feed our communities. At a time when many farmers and food entrepreneurs struggle to balance mission with margins, Good Roots steps in as a trusted partner—helping values-driven operations become economically resilient without compromising their ecological or social commitments.
Specializing in agriculture-focused accounting, financial planning, business strategy, and marketing, Good Roots provides the behind-the-scenes support that allows sustainable farms and food enterprises to thrive. From bookkeeping and profitability analysis to business planning and fractional CFO services, their work equips clients with the tools they need to make informed decisions, access capital, and weather uncertainty. Good Roots has been a valued partner in Pasa’s Financial Benchmark Study, lending their expertise and helping farmers connect about the importance of knowing their numbers and setting up systems for financial success.
What makes Good Roots truly distinctive is its deep understanding of the food system. They recognize that regenerative practices, fair labor, and local food economies depend on strong financial foundations. By helping clients prepare for grants, loans, and investment, Good Roots opens doors that would otherwise remain closed—especially for small and mid-scale farms working outside industrial models.
In doing so, Good Roots strengthens not only individual businesses but also the entire sustainable agriculture ecosystem. Their work ensures that farmers can invest in soil health, climate resilience, and community relationships while remaining financially viable. By rooting sound finance in mission-driven agriculture, Good Roots is helping grow a food system that is both regenerative and durable.
Huntingdon County, PA
George Lake embodies the kind of farmer-leadership that makes sustainable agriculture real, resilient, and replicable. For nearly 40 years at Thistle Creek Farms in Huntingdon County, George has shown that soil health, ecological balance, and economic viability can grow together. Through intensive rotational grazing of grass-fed cattle and sheep, his multi-generation family farm has transformed pasture into a living system—one that absorbs rainfall, builds organic matter, and buffers against drought, flooding, and climate extremes.
George’s fields tell the story: infiltration rates reaching up to 12 inches per day, deep-rooted perennial pastures, and livestock that thrive without routine antibiotics or synthetic inputs. But George’s leadership extends far beyond his fence lines. As a long-time participant in Pasa’s Soil Health Benchmark Study and a featured voice in Pasa’s Farmer Climate Stories, he has helped translate data and lived experience into inspiration and practical guidance for other farmers across the region.
George is generous with his knowledge and grounded in collaboration. Whether through grazing coalitions, interviews, or conversations with neighbors, he shows how regenerative practices can be both scientifically rigorous and deeply human. By involving his daughter and granddaughter in daily farm work, he also models how stewardship, resilience, and care for the land are passed from one generation to the next. His work proves that healthy soil builds healthy farms, families, and futures—and that leadership rooted in the land can strengthen the entire food system.
George Lake has been recognized many times for his dedication to the land and agricultural community. Most recently, he was awarded the Pennsylvania Veteran Ag Entrepreneurship Award by the Shapiro Administration.
Harrisburg, PA
Steve Bogash’s career is a testament to the quiet, steady power of education in transforming agriculture. For decades, Steve has served farmers across Pennsylvania and the Mid-Atlantic as a horticulture educator, researcher, and extension professional—bringing practical science, curiosity, and deep respect for growers into every field, tunnel, and classroom he touched.
Through Penn State Cooperative Extension, Steve led and supported countless applied research trials on vegetables, tomatoes, and high tunnel systems, helping farmers adapt to new challenges with tested, field-ready solutions. He mentored interns, collaborated with Master Gardeners, and co-organized innovative programs like Biocontrol School, expanding growers’ access to biologically based pest management and ecological production tools.
Steve’s relationship with Pasa farmers has been especially impactful. As a frequent Pasa Conference presenter and trusted educator, he bridged university research and on-farm reality, ensuring that knowledge flowed both ways. His commitment to farmer-centered learning made him not just a resource but a partner in problem-solving and innovation.
Even after retiring from extension, Steve continued this work in the private sector, overseeing on-farm trials of biologically-based crop protection products across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. His lifelong dedication to advancing practical, sustainable horticulture has strengthened farms, protected ecosystems, and empowered generations of growers. Steve Bogash’s legacy lives in healthier fields, better tools, and a more resilient agricultural community.
Centre County, PA
Tracey Coulter has devoted her career to helping people see forests not as boundaries to farming, but as partners in it. As an agroforestry leader with the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and a key collaborator with Pasa, Tracey has been instrumental in bringing agroforestry into the mainstream of sustainable land management in Pennsylvania.
With deep training in forestry and the human dimensions of land stewardship, Tracey bridges science, ecology, and community. She has helped landowners and farmers design forest farming, silvopasture, riparian buffers, alley cropping, and windbreaks—systems that protect water, build soil, support biodiversity, and create new income streams. Through her leadership, agroforestry became not just an idea, but a practical pathway for working landscapes.
Tracey’s work with Pasa helped establish agroforestry as a core service area, expanding the organization’s ability to support diversified, climate-resilient farms. Her collaborations with Penn State, conservation networks, and research partners have strengthened both technical knowledge and on-the-ground adoption.
Beyond her professional role, Tracey lives her values. On her own forest farm in Centre County, she and her spouse cultivate mushrooms, medicinal plants, and chestnuts while restoring native species and historic land. Her lifelong commitment—to forests, farms, and people—has created lasting roots for agroforestry in Pennsylvania’s sustainable agriculture movement.
Do you know a farmer, community, or business leader growing new Pasabilites for our food system?
Nominate them to be recognized at next year’s conference.
