While Beyonce’s Renaissance Tour may be capturing our collective attention at the moment, there’s an admittedly less compelling event on stage in 2023: the Farm Bill. By some accounts a dusty relic of the New Deal Era, the Farm Bill contains billions of dollars for anti-hunger and agricultural programs. And it may be one of our best tools for addressing the climate crises. Advocates are pushing for it to include climate action, building momentum on billions of dollars set to be funneled by the USDA to support farmers to adopt climate-friendly practices.
The interest in agriculture as a source for climate mitigation is a welcome, overdue and critical shift. But if funding only goes to prop up our dominant industrial farming model, we’ll perpetuate the very system that’s driving climate change. What we need is a radical food system transformation towards an agriculture that feeds people while cooling the planet. For this transition to be truly successful, we need to listen to the demands of young farmers.
Young farmers are stepping up to the plate to grow nutritious food using sustainable methods. They’re increasingly diverse and majority women, which more accurately represents our country than the outgoing crop of retiring farmers. Combined, these factors make them more likely to be alarmed by climate change and demand action than previous generations.
