Modern day Paul Revere riders began at Joe Jenkins’ Grove City farm. The message – delivered during a horseback trek across the state – conveyed wasn’t about the British approaching, but about the concerns of farmers.

Lynn Cohen-Cole, a concerned mother and grandmother from Georgia, organizer of the Ride for Farmers, spoke before a small group of farmers and others Wednesday at the Jenkins home.

She spoke about her concerns about Hillary Clinton, presidential candidate, and corporate giant Monsanto.

To bring attention to the concerns, riders are crossing Pennsylvania in short distances to collect letters expressing the concern of farmers and others about the impact of Monsanto on the family farm. It will highlight their belief that Clinton supports industrial agriculture rather than family farms. according to Cohen-Cole.

“As with most people in the United States, I didn’t know about Monsanto,” Cohen-Cole said. She said she wasn’t aware of the products that the company produced or the impact the company has had on family farms.

Monsanto produces rBST (recombinant bovine somatotropin), a product used to increase milk production in dairy cattle, genetically modified seeds such as Round-Up Ready corn and Round-Up Ready soybeans, and many other farm chemicals and products. Cohen-Cole asserts that these products are creating major health problems in the population at large.

Cohen-Cole decided she couldn’t stand back and do nothing; Amercian voters needed to know about the impact of this corporate giant.

She fears that small, family-operated farms will no longer be able to compete and consumers will no longer have access to the choice of providing organic or natural foods for their families.

This horse riding event is Cohen-Cole’s way of bringing awareness to Pennsylvanians before the primary election that family farms are in peril of being destroyed by corporations. Lee Cornell, a Titusville livestock producer, also spoke about his concerns about the National Animal Identification System that the government is trying to push onto all farmers who own livestock.

This effort, though currently voluntary, is proposing implanting micro-chips in every farm animal, Cornell said. He considers this an invasion of his privacy and an imposition on how he conducts business on his small farm. This program was implemented during the Clinton administration, and he sees Hillary Clinton continuing with these same policies.

Cohen-Cole and Cornell are hoping that the momentum will increase as the group moves across the state.

This project is a grassroots effort, not coordinated or supported by any formal organization. The ride will continue on a diagonal path across the state to end in Lancaster, April 21.

To learn where the ride is each day visit www.rideforfarmers.org. To contact the organizers of the Ride for Farmers, e-mail rideforfarmers@comcast.net.