A Call to Address Climate Change: Food Producer Perspectives on the Path Forward

As the growing climate crisis impacts food producers across the country, the call for a Just Transition toward climate resilience is echoing in the halls of Congress.  In response, the Biden administration has made climate change adaptation a top priority for the U.S. government.

In the agriculture sector, USDA Secretary Vilsack is advocating carbon markets, livestock methane capture, and other market-based strategies and capital-intensive technologies to reduce emissions. Having been down this path before we simply cannot allow corporate capture of the climate agenda in DC. A diverse group of food, farm, and environmental organizations will highlight the problems with carbon trading, and provide local food producers’ perspectives on addressing the climate crisis through policy action.

The National Family Farm Coalition, Friends of the Earth US, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, and Organic Consumers Association invite you to a free webinar on Thursday, April 8, from 2:30pm to 4:00pm Eastern. You may register here.

Featured speakers include:

• Mardy Townsend (organic pastured beef farmer and local foods organizer, Ashtabula-Lake Geauga Farmers Union, Ohio),

• Elizabeth Henderson (retired organic farmer and Agricultural Justice Project founder, Northeast Organic Farming Association-New York)

• Rosanna Marie Neil (policy counsel, Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance, District of Columbia)

• Shannon Anderson (staff attorney/organizer, Powder River Basin Resource Council, Wyoming)

Key issues for discussion include:

• The importance of existing USDA conservation programs, pasture-based livestock, and family-scale organic production

• The risks of industrial kelp farming

• The impacts of extractive fossil fuel infrastructure on rural communities

• Opportunities to engage on USDA policy and legislative advocacy

The webinar is free, but click here to reserve your place today as we may reach capacity. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email with information about joining the meeting.