Gaesser, Shea Share Growth of Climate Smart Ag During Panel at COP 25

(Solutions from the Land) ... SfL Steering Committee member Ray Gaesser, an Iowa corn and soybean producer, and SfL President Ernie Shea appeared on the panel, which focused on climate change and the agriculture sector. They spoke of the role farmers are playing in addressing climate change, sharing with those attending the U.S. Climate Action forum the climate smart agriculture (CSA) initiatives being undertaken at the state and national level....

However, Shea warned that enabling policies are needed to incentivize the solutions that the sector can deliver.

Shea also made clear that enabling policies must be developed in a way that recognizes there is no "silver bullet" solution to the challenges a changing climate can pose and that they reflect the reality that working lands are complex natural systems that cannot be managed "in silos."

"No one size policy solution can fit all of the challenges we face," he told the panel audience.

Gaesser noted the significance of the topic of the panel discussion, recalling that in previous years, agriculture has been cited as a problem contributing to climate change. But the conversation now, he says, is focused on the solutions the sector can bring to meeting the challenge.

Farmers, he said, are well aware of the changes the climate is undergoing, and have used the tools they have had available to meet those challenge. But those tools must be constantly widened and improved to remain effective.

Gaesser cited his own operation's efforts to retain soil quality for more than 20 years through no-till practices. But he said recent years have brought with them deluges that have often dropped more than four inches of rain in less than an hour, wiping out terracing and other steps taken to hold the soil in place. Those torrential experiences have now prompted him and other farmers to grow cover crops to better hold the integrity of the soil.

The SfL president said that in addition to food and fiber, these landscapes also produce clean energy (biofuels and wind- and solar-generated power, as examples), they filter and store water, and they enhance biodiversity.

"What's really exciting," Shea said, "is that when we farm with economically viable and sustainable practices, we're also providing solutions to the climate crisis. We're sinking carbon in the ground. We're producing clean, alternative transportation fuels," including regeneratively produced, low-carbon biofuels that are 39-70 percent less greenhouse-gas intensive than petroleum-based gasoline.

In response to a question by an audience member, Gaesser defended the efficacy of ethanol in combating a changing climate and went on to cite the "circle of life" that characterizes his operation.

"All of our corn goes to creating ethanol, which is a much cleaner fuel than what we take up from the ground," he said. "It's about producing from the air and the water and the sun that we have. We're taking that corn to our ethanol plant to produce the cleaner fuel that you use."

Furthermore, "the proteins that come from that distilling process is brought back to feed the animals in our area. We use the waste from those animals to feed the new crop. It's a great circle of life," Gaesser said. READ MORE

Excerpt from Planet Forward: All of my life, I have had access, adequate access — maybe even an overly adequate access — to food. It was in these heavy moments soaked in the unimaginable number of 821 million that my privilege was unveiled. I began to see the importance of accepting the potential of technology, and understanding that food cooperatives, organic farming, and things alike cannot be the only solution. Throughout the week, I was beginning to realize that food insecurity is a far bigger issue than I have been able to imagine within the walls of my college classrooms, from my corner on the planet.

In order to fulfill the U.N. Sustainable development goals for the 2030 agenda, solutions need to be multifaceted with the embrace of technology on the foreground. This, at first was a hard pill to swallow, but with the 821 million people in mind, the pill went down really smoothly.

My questions during my time in the FAO building ultimately became, “Can technological innovation and sustainable agriculture work hand-in-hand? And, can technology actually work to make the gap smaller between humans and the earth?” I carried these with me as I attended a side event called “Innovation and Agroecology.” It was held in the "green room" and as the diverse group of panelists filled the seats on stage, I found my seat near the front, so I wouldn’t miss a thing. The panel was complete with farmers from Argentina, New Mexico, Italy, and Nigeria, along with business owners of agrotechnology companies. When dialogue began, I felt as if my questions were being directly answered.

Agroecology is a farming practice that centers on food production and aims to make the best use of nature’s goods and services while not damaging these resources. Farmers that include agroecology in their practices seek to improve and increase yields for balanced nutrition while simultaneously strengthening the ecosystems and fair markets in place for their products. Typically, agroecology is associated with a more natural and organic approach to agriculture, as its origins are deeply embedded within indigenous knowledge. Needless to say, I was looking forward to what Luciano Loman was going to share as the executive director of Metos Brazil, an agrotechnology company.

He shared about how, through the technology and services Metos provides, farmers can become more in tune with their crops. For example, with the iMETOS® DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM, farmers can closely monitor the soil parameters and relevant climatic conditions. The data collected through this technology directly increases the yield and decreases the input, whether that’s water, fertilizer, or even physical labor. Essentially, the software speaks for the plant, letting the farmer know what they need, and exactly when they need it.

This insight from Loman highlighted the value and proved to me how beneficial adopting technologies as such can be, especially for farmers working in harsh and unpredictable climates. It was beginning to seem as if technology could actually work to make the gap smaller between humans and the earth. READ MORE