Agroecological approaches, soil and toil
The National Farmers Union of Canada hosts a convention with guest speaker Darrin Qualman, Director of Climate Crisis Policy and Action, on policies that can make a difference in the area of climate change and agriculture. [50:38]
| Union of Concerned Scientists
“As our climate continues to heat up and the impacts of that warming grow more frequent and severe, farmers and farm communities around the world will be increasingly challenged. And US farmers won’t be spared the damage that climate change is already beginning to inflict.” Published March 20, 2019
| NRDC
“A new report warns that the health and safety of workers across the country, both indoors and outdoors, is increasingly at risk from excessive heat, increasing air and water pollution, spreading infectious diseases, extreme weather, challenges to their mental health and other impacts from climate change.” Published July 28, 2020
| Union of Concerned Scientists
The Union of Concerned Scientists published a report showing that climate change poses dire threats to farmworkers. “Farmworkers’ health, safety, and dignity need to be among our top priorities as we deal with the impacts of climate change on agriculture.” This article outlines six reasons why. Author: , published December 9, 2019
| Statesman Journal
This article offers one example from Oregon of farmworkers’ vulnerability to extreme weather. Author: , published June 29, 2021
This video introduces the climate related issues impacting farmworkers and explores one organization’s efforts to provide Florida farmworkers “with opportunities to apply and experiment with agroecological techniques to grow healthy, organic produce for their families and for local markets.” [12:37]
| Organic Without Boundaries
“Agroecology is the ‘ecology of the food system’ and a farming approach that is inspired by natural ecosystems. It combines local and scientific knowledge and applies ecological and social approaches to agricultural systems, focusing on the interactions between plants, animals, humans, and the environment.” Published August 8, 2018
| La Via Campesina
This brief provides an overview of The Farmer to Farmer Agroecology Movement (MACAC) in Cuba, a grassroots movement that has empowered peasant farmers to adopt more sustainable, efficient, healthy agricultural practices and has opened the way for food sovereignty throughout the country.
Factory Farming Awareness Coalition (FFAC)’s mission is to “empower people to end factory farming,” envisioning a just and sustainable food system for all. This organization was represented in tUrn6 (spring 2022).
| Farm Sanctuary
“With more than nine billion animals raised and slaughtered for human consumption each year in the U.S. alone, modern animal agriculture puts an incredible strain on natural resources such as land, water, and fossil fuel.” Farm Sanctuary offers facts on the industry’s contributions to climate change, as well as curriculum modules and solutions for addressing this problem.
“Narrated by Larry Kopald of Carbon Underground, The Soil Story reveals how soil can reverse climate change. ‘The answer is literally right under our feet.’” [03:29]
“Regenerative practices and knowledge come from Indigenous and Black farmers, and support healthy soil, animals and people… Through rematriation (or remothering the land), this centuries-old sustainable agricultural system has the power to connect Indigenous and Black people with their land in a way that is restorative, healing and rejuvenating for both people and the planet.” [10:39]
“ĘThe massive expansion of palm oil plantations has destroyed critical rainforests in Indonesia, home to millions of Indigenous peoples and some of the world’s richest biological diversity.’ Sacrificing the lives, health, and safety of the people who work on palm oil plantations is far too high a price to pay for the cheap palm oil used in snack foods made by companies like PepsiCo.” [03:17]
| The Washington Post
“Mars, Nestlé and Hershey pledged nearly two decades ago to stop using cocoa harvested by children. Yet much of the chocolate you buy still starts with child labor.” Authors: and , published June 5, 2019
This list provides a helpful reference on which brands do not source chocolate from areas where child labor and/or slavery are prevalent. The Food Empowerment Project encourages healthy and compassionate food choices “by spotlighting the abuse of animals on farms, the depletion of natural resources, unfair working conditions for produce workers, and the unavailability of healthy foods in low-income areas.”
Edible Education 101 is a free public lecture series launched by the Edible Schoolyard Project in partnership with UC Berkeley. It invites “food systems leaders to present on their insights, research, and experiences.”