Regenerative agriculture has the power to change the world
Agriculture faces a trifecta of potentially devastating challenges. As a result of overfarming, development and other factors, soil capacity is dramatically declining, with some experts predicting only less than 60 harvests remaining. The United States is losing soil 10 times faster than it’s replenished. Regenerative farming, however, offers solutions to transform farmers into environmental and societal heroes. It promotes the health of degraded soils by restoring their organic carbon. Regenerative agriculture sequesters atmospheric carbon dioxide, reversing industrial agriculture’s contributions to climate change.
This webinar will explore practices to improve soil health while yielding valuable environmental benefits. The panel will focus on agriculture’s connection to climate change, what farmers and other experts say about regenerative agriculture’s potential for emissions reduction, how to build a sustainable food system and the many benefits of regenerative agriculture practices including increasing biodiversity, improving watersheds and enhancing ecosystems.
MODERATOR
Nate Birt
Vice President, Farm Journal's Trust in Food
Nate Birt is Vice President of Farm Journal’s Trust In Food, the 145-year-old agriculture company’s social impact division. He leads the day-to-day operations of America’s Conservation Ag Movement, a national public-private partnership that empowers collaborators to leverage Farm Journal’s 145+ years of market trust and farmer-to-farmer networks to accelerate adoption of regenerative practices, products and technologies.
PANELISTS
Bradford Baker
Professor
Dr. Bradford Baker is a behavioral ethics professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology and 5th generation rancher and farmer, having grown up in Montana and Washington State. He co-stewards Southern Farm Lab (SFL) with his partner and fiancee in central Georgia. SFL is a non-profit regenerative farm and a laboratory to incubate new practices for a reimagined economy based upon regenerative relations with our land, food, and one another. SFL believes that in order to create food security for our communities, we must transition as much agriculture as possible to regenerative systems before the soil is depleted and rendered useless for growing food. (There are only an estimated 30 crop cycles left in the U.S., if we continue to rely on conventional farming practices). SFL also believes that to heal our soil, we must also heal our relations and if the U.S. is to have a viable future, it must reckon with its history of colonialism, land theft, and white supremacy as we shift toward a regenerative model that works better for people and the planet.
Julia Collins
Founder + CEO of Planet FWD
Julia Collins is a serial entrepreneur who realized food was her calling as a young girl in San Francisco where it was the epicenter of her community. She’s spent her career building food companies, having launched brands such as Mexicue, Murray’s Cheese Bar and
Harlem Jazz Enterprises, the company responsible for the award-winning restaurant, The Cecil. She later went on to co-found Zume Pizza where she became the first Black woman to co-found a unicorn company. When she became a mother, she knew she needed to find
a way to bring delicious food to people in a way that helped heal the planet for everyone including her son.
Today, Julia leads PlanetFWD, a company on a mission to tackle climate change
by making it easier to bring climate-friendly products to market. The company is building a software platform for regenerative agriculture alongside a climate-friendly snack brand, Moonshot.
In addition, Julia sits on the advisory council for Launch with GS, serves on the All Raise operating committee and is an EIR for Cleo Capital. She is an active angel investor focused on funding female entrepreneurs and BIPOC founders.
Follow Julia: Twitter - @JuliaCollins
Felipe Villela
Founder of reNature
Felipe is a Brazilian Regenerative Agribusiness Expert and Founder of reNature. A Dutch organization with extensive knowledge & experience in Regenerative Agriculture & Agroforestry around the globe. Regenerative Agriculture Lead Author at UN Environment for their GEO for Business brief on “The changing role of Business in Transforming Food Systems” and Young World Champion at UNEP in 2019. Felipe’s ambition is to engage international corporations to make a transition in their agricultural practices using successful regenerative ag showcases that ensure economic viability and farmers' resilience. Felipe has been pitching reNature at TEDxAmsterdam, Rabobank, World Economic Forum, COP24 and ICSD at Columbia University in NYC.
Farmer Rishi
Farmer, Artist, Writer and Educator
Farmer Rishi s a small-scale farmer, land-artist, writer, and educator.
Since 2010, he has been working in the field of urban gardening and farming in Los Angeles, where he has helped create and establish hundreds of urban gardens. His work centers on the healing of people and Earth as one body.
Rishi is the Executive Director of Sarvodaya Institute (@sarvodayafarms) and the Co-founder and Chief Gardening Officer of Healing Gardens Community (@healinggardens.co).
Instagram: @farmerrishi; YouTube: Regenerative
John Piotti
President of American Farmland Trust
John has worked at the forefront of sustainable agriculture since the early 1990s, first in his home state of Maine, and now nationally.
In 2016, he became the President of American Farmland Trust, bringing new energy to this storied organization that helped create the conservation agriculture movement.
Under John’s leadership, AFT has engaged in the most comprehensive study of American land use ever conducted, helped secure an additional $200 million/year in Federal funding for agricultural conservation easements, and launched new initiatives that advance environmentally-forward farming practices, combat climate change, and support next generation farmers.
Prior to joining AFT, John served as President of Maine Farmland Trust, which during his tenure became recognized as one of the most innovative and impactful farm-support groups in the nation.
John has also served in the Maine State Legislature, where he chaired the Agriculture Committee and was later elected House Majority Leader.
In 2013, John was named to Maine Magazine’s inaugural list of one of the 50 people who have done the most for the state.
In 2005, he received a prestigious Eisenhower Fellowship, which he used to study agricultural policy in Europe.
John holds three degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology: in engineering, public policy, and systems management.
Jillian Semaan
Food and Environment Director at EARTHDAY.ORG
Jillian Semaan is the Director of Food and Environment at EARTHDAY.ORG, where she focuses on addressing the impact animal agriculture has on the planet. She advocates for plant-based diets for the health of the environment and self. Previously as chief of staff for Civil Rights at the United States Department of Agriculture, she was able to create and implement government initiatives that focused on sustainable agriculture in food desserts and disadvantaged communities. She continues to focus on finding solutions to mitigate the climate crisis.