Tom's Travels

On Sunday morning I flew from Boise to New York, and then took a cab up to the Pocantico Conference Center in Tarrytown, New York. Pocantico was originally the home of John D. Rockefeller, and his heirs, including Vice President Nelson Rockefeller. The Rockefellers donated the estate to the State of New York, which created a state park and then leased the site of the conference center back to the Rockefeller Brothers Foundation to operate it. The mansion and stable have been converted into meeting rooms, sleeping rooms, and a museum, which along with the gardens and hiking trails make a sort of retreat atmosphere.

I met with a small group of people representing a variety of rural stakeholders. We discussed the need for change in the next Farm Bill and developed strategies for achieving this. The conference lasted two and half days, at which point I flew to Washington to attend a conference on rural entrepreneurship.