March 6, 2020
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Rachel Keidan
Maine farmers have long been stewards of the land – soil, water, and natural resources that we all depend upon. As our climate continues to change, our farmers are on the frontlines and need to be prepared to adapt to unpredictable weather, storms, drought, and increases in pests and disease.
To prepare for these changes, Maine farmers can adopt and implement climate smart and other conservation practices to mitigate the impacts of climate change while increasing farm profitability. Farmers employing such practices serve all of us by lessening the impacts of climate change, as these practices store carbon, reduce greenhouse gases, and improve water quality. But Maine farmers need more tools and support to weather the uncertainty.
Ellen Stern Griswold, MFT’s Policy and Research Director, is part of the Maine Climate Council’s Natural and Working Lands Working Group (NWL Working Group), which is developing recommendations related to agriculture, forestry, and natural lands for the state’s updated climate action plan. Ellen presented at the last NWL Working Group meeting about different state policy and programmatic approaches for addressing climate change and agriculture.
You can view Ellen’s presentation slides, along with those of her co-presenters Rick Kersbergen, Extension Professor of Sustainable Dairy and Forage Systems, University of Maine Cooperative Extension, and Adam Daigneault, E.L. Giddings Assistant Professor of Forest, Conservation, and Recreation Policy, University of Maine, HERE.
Ellen and other Working Group members are developing recommendations related to farmland protection, support for farmers to use climate-smart agriculture practices, development of the local and regional agriculture economy to ensure food security, consumer education, as well as other topics. Learn more about the NWL Working Group and the Maine Climate Council HERE.