As recent headlines show, investing in soil is a growing trend.* Building soil organic matter mitigates climate change, enhances food quality, and creates new financial opportunities for innovative land managers. Four speakers, each an authority on soil health and agroecological practices, share the latest science and discuss emerging markets.
Richard W. Black Center
48 Lebanon Street, Hanover, NH
Free and Open to the Public
Speakers
Sally Dodge - Sally is with Iroquois Valley Farms, a food and farmland company making impact investments in organic and local agriculture using triple bottom line principles. Sally has been instrumental in promoting small, diversified farms in Vermont, and has strengthened the link between farmers, restaurants, and direct sales through farmers’ markets and CSAs.
Precious Phiri - Precious, founder of Earth Wisdom, Zimbabwe, and former outreach coordinator and village facilitator of the Africa Center for Holistic Management, trains villagers in managing land and livestock for improved soil health. She has seen firsthand how better soil improves water retention, increases food production, and allows myriad economic opportunities to flourish.
Ridge Shinn - Ridge, a social and business entrepreneur, was founding director of the New England Livestock Alliance, co-founder of Hardwick Beef, and co-founder of Rotokowa Cattle Company. Currently he is building the supply of 100% grass-fed beef in the Northeast to meet market demands. His new venture, Grazier LLC, will provide sales opportunities for existing small farmers in the region and provide nutritionally superior beef for distribution in the Northeast, all while improving soil and capturing carbon.
Didi Pershouse - Didi, author of “The Ecology of Care,” will report on her work with the Soil Carbon Coalition. At farms and ranches in flood- and drought-prone areas in the U.S. and Canada, she teaches how to monitor changes in soil carbon and water infiltration. By connecting the dots between soil carbon, human health, the microbiome, and the climate, she is expanding the dialogue wherever she travels. Didi is currently working with scientists, teachers, and students to develop a curriculum that engages learners in a hands-on, whole-systems view of landscape function.
Hosted by: Soil Carbon Coalition & Soil4Climate
* Notes:
France Backs Soil Carbon Plan Ahead of Climate Summit: Le Foll - Bloomberg Business
Why Tom Steyer's latest fight against climate change involves raising his own cattle - LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/la-na-politics-steyer-ranch-20151002-story.html
SLM's holistic hook nabs investors - Farmonline National
Regenerative Capitalism: How Universal Principles and Patterns Will Shape Our New Economy - John Fullerton, The Capital Institute