Over the course of two sunny days in Seattle,
CalCAN and 13 other sustainable agriculture organizations convened a strategy meeting to advance healthy soil legislation. We gathered as farmers, farmer-based organizations and advocates working in more than 20 states and nationwide to explore pathways at the forefront of healthy soils advocacy.
The meeting was the culmination of more than eight months of webinars and resource sharing building upon a burgeoning interest nationwide in the potential of agricultural soil health to mitigate climate change, enhance on-farm resilience to extreme weather and drought, and improve water and air quality.
The organizations present (listed in the footnote) share a common understanding of the climate volatility threatening America’s farms such as flooding, drought and fires. We also understand the powerful solutions farmers and ranchers have to offer to address environmental problems, especially when equipped with sufficient resources to adopt practices that increase organic matter and the biological health of the soil, enhance water quality and water retention rates, and sequester carbon. To that end, we recognize the importance of using farmer-informed policy to scale up these solutions, leveraging robust funding and incentives, technical assistance and research to accelerate the widespread adoption of soil stewardship practices.
There were several objectives for our meeting: to become more familiar with the work of our organizations; to compare and contrast existing and emerging models of legislation and policies that incentivize healthy soils practices; and to share grassroots organizing and campaign strategy experience and lessons.
We familiarized ourselves with several creative state and federal policy tools that could incentivize healthy soils practices including:
- Cap-and-trade programs (such as those existing in CA and the northeast and proposed in OR and WA)
- Bond measures
- Creation of state healthy soils programs
- Impact fees on fertilizers and water quality contaminants
- Reform of various federal farm bill programs (e.g., crop insurance, Conservation Stewardship Program) to expand use of healthy soils management practices
- Water quality mitigation programs
- Funding healthy soils as a disaster preparedness tool for flooding and drought
We discovered the value in discussing challenges faced by farmers struggling to stay in business while facing natural resources limits, climate change impacts and a host of other difficult trends in the agriculture sector. Though our work takes place within many different contexts spanning the entire country, common themes emerged. We all work with and on behalf of some of the country’s most innovative farmers and ranchers leading the way on techniques that are both economically advantageous to producers and ecologically beneficial. We all appreciate the importance of pursuing policies that deliver funding and technical resources that support transitions to ecological and regenerative agriculture practices. And we know that it is imperative to form coalitions that put farmer leaders at the center while also building relationships with other politically influential partners in sectors such as conservation, environmental justice, health and others.
The group left inspired by one another and with a desire to stay connected, to continue sharing resources, to research and strategize at the regional level on specific legislative ideas, and to expand our conversation to include other experts and potential allies.
If you are a member of a farmer education or advocacy organization and would like more information about this emerging network, please contact Renata Brillinger, CalCAN’s Executive Director, at Renata@calclimateag.org.
Meeting Participants:
California Climate & Agriculture Network (CalCAN) (CA) • Center for Rural Affairs (NE & IA) • Earthjustice Sustainable Food & Farming Program (national) • Illinois Stewardship Alliance (IL) • Kansas Rural Center (KS) • Land Stewardship Project (MN)• Maine Farmland Trust (ME) • National Young Farmers Coalition (national with chapters in several states) • Northeast Organic Farming Association (MA, NH, NY chapters) • Northern Plains Resource Council (MT) • Oregon Climate and Agriculture Network (OR) • Vermont Healthy Soils Coalition (VT)
