Title : Fostering climate smart agriculture in diverse communities
Abstract:
This presentation represents applied research conducted as part of a climate smart cohort training that rural BIPOC identifying women participated in during 2023 in eastern North Carolina. During 2023, 29 BIPOC identifying women joined American Farmland Trust, NC State and the Black Family Land Trust for a “Get Climate Smart Food and Agricultural System’s Resilience Training”. The focus of the training sought to engage historically underserved women producers to:
(1) Implement conservation skills and climate smart practices, including monitoring and implementation.
(2) Improve technical skills regarding diversifying production and marketing systems for greater economic and food system resilience.
(3) Develop leadership and mentoring skills to build community resilience around food and agriculture. Participants were enrolled and engaged in both virtual, in-person, asynchronous and hands on activities throughout 2023.
During the winter of 2023 and early 2024, we conducted 18 in- depth semi-structured interviews with a subset of participants. We found that the role of the network for beginning and experienced BIPOC women producers helped them enact changes on their land while planning for a more resilient future. Through our preliminary analysis, we found that an area of transformative change that was facilitated through the network of the cohort led to these women began to see their farms as a community-center and gathering place; a place for building a more resilient farm, community and land. This presentation will help the audience understand how to better activate women and underserved producers to adopt and integrate climate smart agriculture in their operations. The context for this work is based in the United States, however, take aways will be applied to an international emphasis on gender equity in agriculture.
Audience Takeaway:
- The audience will learn about an applied climate smart program focused on supporting gender equity among underserved farmers
- Participants will learn about how they might apply aspects of this climate smart training to their unique context and audience
- Participants will also learn how the power of the network and peer education can and has fostered social learning that can lead to climate smart outcomes on the land.
