Outreach and Organic Coordinator for the Energy and Sustainable Agriculture Program of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. I am also a grass-based natural beef and pork producer. I work with hundreds of organic and sustainable farmers in the Upper Midwest. One of the toughest issues is the difficulties that these farmers have in their rural / small town societies is peer group pressure that encourgaes conformity to the industrial, agro-chemical approach to agriculture. Those developing more socially, economically and environmentally sustainable farm production systems are often pressured to 'get normal' and stay on the conventional paradigm. Unlike urban residents, these individuals have the same peer group in the neighborhood, at church, at work and in social groups. They can't 'pick and choose' who they want to associate with as much as urban residents. What are some solutions to this? I'd like any ideas or help you might have to offer.