Climate Adaptation in Action
Presenter, a climate and agriculture specialist with American Farmland Trust, spent years working on dairy and vegetable farms before making her home in western Massachusetts. Her 2018 master's research at UMass Amherst looked at how cover crops that die over winter affect nutrient cycling, weeds and soil health. She helps farmers find site-specific answers on adapting to climate change, building healthy soil and producing food sustainably.
Presenter, a soil health specialist with American Farmland Trust in New England, wants to help every kind of farm become more resilient as the climate changes. During a fellowship at the USDA's Northeast Climate Hub she ran peer-to-peer climate programs for farmers and advisers, and she completed a master's at the University of Maine in 2021. She has grown vegetables and cut flowers on farms in both Maine and California and now lives in midcoast Maine.
Guest farmer is a writer, cooking teacher and land steward on a small multigenerational farm in western Wisconsin's prairie pothole country. The farm raises pastured heritage pigs and specialty vegetables such as garlic, ginger and peppers, and mixes wildlife habitat with food production, classes and art. Visitors can come learn about the farm's goal of bringing people together through food.
Guest farmerfarms organically near Chico, California, with his family. Homeschooled in the Sierra Nevada foothills, he developed an early love of small-scale growing and has since raised crops from the Mendocino coast to the Sacramento Valley. He focuses on ecological and regenerative methods and enjoys teaching others about food systems.
Below are the slide deck and written resources from this past webinar.
Held November 7, 2024.
OVERVIEW: Want to get your land ready for a changing climate? We worked with American Farmland Trust to help you start planning for adaptation.
This free session is for farmers and landowners ready to plan for current and future climate impacts. It opens with a short look at how rainfall and temperature trends affect vegetable and flower farms around the country, then covers ways to approach adaptation planning and the tools available. Two farmers who have begun adapting join the discussion: a grower from western Wisconsin explains how they assessed risks and wrote an adaptation plan, and a California organic farmer describes the practices he uses.
The talk lasts about an hour, with audience questions answered afterward.
Webinar Resources
Additional Resources
- Climate Adaptation Worksheet for Farms
- Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Fellowship Planning Tool
- Five Step Guide to Farm Resilience
- Adaptation Resources for Agriculture: Responding to Climate Variability and Change in the Midwest and Northeast
- Cultivating Climate Resilience on Farms and Ranches
- Adaptation Resources for Agriculture: Case Studies
- Soil Health and Organic Farming: Organic Practices for Climate Mitigation, Adaptation and Carbon Sequestration
