Meet the Organic Farming Community at Climate Week NYC

Yesterday, we wrote about the upcoming Peoples’ Climate March and many of the amazing events taking place during the week.

Now, we’ve heard about some events hosted by the organic agriculture community:

September 20 at the NYC Climate Convergence conference:  Organic Consumers Association is hosting workshops about the role organic farming in reversing climate change. 

9 a.m.-10:30 a.m. The Carbon Underground. Stopping fossil-foolishness isn’t enough. We’ve got to get the carbon in the atmosphere back underground. There are tried and true, low-tech ways to do this: organic agriculture, composting and carbon ranching. If practiced globally, these soil-building techniques could sequester 100% of current annual carbon emissions.

We’ve lost far more carbon to the atmosphere by disrupting the soil than we’ve added by burning gas, coal and oil!, says the group Biodiversity for a Living Climate.

Speakers: Andre Leu, International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements; Ben Grosscup, Northeast Organic Farming Association; Tom Newmark, The Carbon Underground; Adam Sacks, Biodiversity for a Livable Climate

Remember the Dust Bowl?

10:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m. Film Screening: Soil Carbon Cowboys
Peter Byck’s short film introduces Allen Williams, Gabe Brown and Neil Dennis – ranchers who are regenerating their soils while making their animals healthier and their operations more profitable.

Speakers: Dr. Richard Teague, AgriLife Research and Extension Center, Texas A&M University; Seth Itzkan, Biodiversity for a Livable Climate, Planet-TECH Associates
 
12:30 p.m.-2:00 p.m. and 2:15 p.m.-3:45 p.m.
Family Farmers Can Solve the Climate Crisis, But Only if We Restore Economic Justice.

The world’s 2 billion family farmers, whose low-tech, land-management practices conserve water, improve soil health, prevent soil erosion and increase crop yields, are capable of feeding the world. They also hold the solution to climate change: The more organic matter they add to the soil, the more carbon they draw out of the atmosphere.

But while "subsistence farmers" produce 70% of the world’s food on 25% of its land, they have always struggled and climate change makes it even harder. How do we empower them? Farmers from the US and around the world will offer proposals from support for organic and Fair Trade agriculture, to community rights to natural resources, and the human right to food.

Speakers 12:30 p.m.-2:00 p.m.
Jim Shultz, The Democracy Center (moderator)
Antolin Huascar, Confederacion Nacional Agraria Peru/La Via Campesina
Yvette Aguilar, Latin American and Caribbean Network of Fair Trade Small Producers’ Organizations (CLAC)
Dr. Tolbert Jallah, the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa

Speakers 2:15 p.m.-3:45 p.m.
Nancy Romer, Brooklyn Food Coalition (moderator)
Dena Hoff, National Family Farmers Coalition/La Via Campesina
Will Allen, Cedar Circle Farm, Vermont
Elizabeth Henderson, Northeast Organic Farming Association
 
4:00 p.m.-5:30 p.m. Cook Organic Not the Planet: Now that the US Supports "Climate-Smart Agriculture" Is Reform of Our Climate-Dumb Food System Possible?

Speakers:
Ronnie Cummins, Organic Consumers Association;
Tara Ritter, Rural Climate Network/Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy;
Elizabeth Kucinich, Center for Food Safety;
Anna Lappé, Small Planet Institute, author Diet for a Hot Planet. 

Workshops will be held at:
St. John’s University, 51 Astor Place. Room: CNCRSE C06

Register here: