Farmers on the frontlines
Climate change and the Farm Bill
The 2023 Farm Bill presents opportunities for Farmers and Ranchers on the frontlines of climate change. Farmers and ranchers, the people who produce our food, are often on the frontlines of the challenges facing our society. Among the most pressing of those issues are the changing climate and an industrial food system that prioritizes profits over the well-being of people and the planet. Combined with the unprecedented loss of biodiversity, these issues can be considered a triple threat to humanity. Fortunately, agriculture also offers solutions to these challenges when practiced in a sustainable, organic way. And despite an increasingly divisive political climate, support for agriculture continues to be a bright spot for bipartisan legislation. The upcoming Farm Bill cycle presents an opportunity to support farmers and ranchers who are uniquely poised to address these issues.
The Farm Bill is a package of legislation, updated once every five years, that sets the stage for our food and farming systems. The current Farm Bill expires in October of 2023, and a new suite of legislation will be developed and put into action. This Farm Bill cycle is a ripe opportunity to make advances toward types of production that mitigate and adapt to our changing climate, support the health of the land and the people producing our food, and can help prevent food insecurity by increasing the amount of organic, nutritious food on America’s plates.
Farmers keenly feel the challenges presented by warmer temperatures, increased flooding, and other extreme weather events. Caroline Baptist, owner of River Valley Country Club, a small farm in Washington state that recently experienced an extreme flooding event, said, “Some areas of the farm were underwater by 15 feet and accessible only by canoe,” Baptist said. “This flood and every flood since is a sobering experience, illustrating clearly that the climate crisis is real, and it affects farmers firsthand.”
Many methods of conventional food production are an outgrowth of the technological and chemical advancements of the mid-20th century, which resulted in a rapid increase in the ability to export calories in the form of commodity crops, such as corn and soy. This production depends on the ubiquitous use of cheap agri-chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and continued expansion of farmer debt to increase scale and maintain technological relevancy. This ‘get big or get out’ production system decreases biodiversity and weakens the landscape’s capacity to adapt to our changing climate or slight shifts in things like crop production or labor availability. In contrast to industrial agriculture systems, organically managed lands help build resilience in adapting to climate change through increasing ecological vitality, while providing safe, high-quality food. Expanding public investments into solving organic agricultural management challenges will help to continue growing domestic organic production to match the growing demand for organic goods, whilealso moving us closer to climate goals.
Because of their place on the front lines of these challenges, farmers and ranchers represent a vibrant space of innovation and creativity to meet them. These farmers and ranchers should be sources of inspiration on policy tools and instruments for the 2023 farm bill.
One example is Jesse Buie, president of Ole Brook Organics in Mississippi. One of the main environmental factors that Buie deals with is frequent and intense rain. To combat this, he focuses on building healthy soil by making sure that he is constantly adding organic matter. Any grasses or crop residue left after a crop is harvested are tilled back into the fields, forming a closed loop of nutrient cycling. This makes the soil better able to absorb moisture in extreme water events.
At Sumpter Cooperative Farms, farm manager
Shaheed Harris deals with the opposite environmental concern: too little water. Harris addresses this challenge by implementing Dry Farming practices learned from his family's farming heritage. This style of farming, which combines unirrigated crop production with shallow cultivation, offers a promising alternative in times of uncertain water resources. The USDA itself has made historic investments in financially supporting and providing technical assistance to growers transitioning to organic production, with the $300 million committed to the Organic Transition Initiative. Ensuring that assistance is backed by high-quality scientific, economic, and cultural research is imperative.
What is needed now is a continued commitment to meet the challenges facing organic and transitioning producers.
Federal research, conservation, and market development programs created and funded by past Farm Bills have helped but expanded support is necessary to continue to support farmers and create a healthier future for people and the planet. To that end, the Organic Farming Research Foundation has outlined three priority areas for the 2023 Farm Bill. First, increase the organic research funding at the Agricultural Research Service to represent its market share, producing environmentally and economically sound management systems for all producers. Second, continue to support and develop the investments the National Institute for Food and Agriculture has been making in organic agriculture research. Lastly, fully fund and expand the Organic Market and Data Initiative.
If you want to learn more about the 2023 Farm Bill or get involved in advocating for a better food system, contact Gordon Merrick (gordon@ofrf.org) at the Organic Farming Research Foundation!