Resilient Agriculture: Expanded & Updated Second Edition: Cultivating Food Systems for a Changing Climate

Description

Climate Change presents an unprecedented challenge to food and farming in the U.S. and beyond. Damaging weather variability and extremes capture the headlines, but more subtle changes caused by hotter summer nights, warmer winters, and a longer growing season have far-reaching effects on the land, people, and communities that feed us. This expanded and updated edition of Resilient Agriculture takes you beyond the headlines and the hype to shine a light on agricultural climate solutions with the power to cultivate new American foodways that are just, sustainable, regenerative, and resilient. Updated content includes: Current and expected changes in regional weather patterns that disrupt food and farming New adaptation stories from sustainable, climate-smart, organic, and regenerative farmers and updates on the producers featured in the first edition Real-world applications of resilience thinking that connect the dots between food justice, sustainable development, regenerative economy, and planetary health A companion website with stories, videos, issue briefs, reading guides, and more. Whether you are working in food and farming or are simply an interested eater, Resilient Agriculture will take you on a journey into real-world resilience solutions with the power to regenerate the well-being of land, people, and community no matter the challenges ahead. 'What would a more resilient food system look like? Lengnick answers that question with this path-breaking, delightfully informative book.' - Richard Heinberg, senior fellow, Post Carbon Institute, author, Power: Limits and Prospects for Human Survival 'A guidepost for building a better and more resilient food system.' - Dr. Gabrielle Roesch-McNally, director, Women for the Land, American Farmland Trust

Laura Lengnick is an award-winning soil scientist with 30 years of experience working as a researcher, policymaker, educator, activist and farmer to put sustainability values into action in U.S. food and farming. Her research in soil health and sustainable farming systems was nationally recognized with a USDA Secretary's Honor Award in 2002 and she served as a lead author of the 2013 USDA report, Climate Change and Agriculture in the United States: Effects and Adaptation. Over the last decade, Laura has led federal, state and regional projects exploring agricultural climate solutions that cultivate resilient land, people and community. Laura served on the leadership team of NC-ADAPT in 2015, led the Climate-Resilient Agriculture Initiative in the Hudson Valley of New York in 2018, and led the design of Clemson University's Multifunctional Agriculture Destination in 2019. She was the agriculture lead on the Natural and Working Lands Action Plan included in the North Carolina Climate Risk Assessment and Resilience Plan released in 2020. Laura is a Visiting Professor in the College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences at Clemson University and a member of the Planetary Health Lab at the University of Edinburgh (Scotland). She founded and owns Cultivating Resilience, LLC, a private firm that works with organizations of all kinds to integrate resilience thinking into operations and strategic planning. In 2021, Laura joined the Glynwood Center for Regional Food and Farming as the Director of Agriculture. She resides in Asheville, NC.

"Carefully addresses the major issues facing us in agriculture, and brilliantly argues that it isn't some vague notion of "technology" that will show us the way forward but people working together and carefully stewarding the land. This is both an old and a novel approach, and it's exactly what's needed." - Mark Bittman, author, Animal, Vegetable, Junk and How to Cook Everything "Everyone who works a food-related job, or who just cares about what and whether our children and grandchildren will eat, should acquaint themselves with this path-breaking, delightfully informative book." - Richard Heinberg, senior fellow, Post Carbon Institute, author, Power: Limits and Prospects for Human Survival "Whether you are just stepping onto the resilience thinking footpath to those of us that are well-versed in projected climate change impacts to our food and fiber systems, Resilient Agriculture offers guideposts to encourage our individual and collective journeys towards a hopeful agriculture production vision that leaves no one behind." - Michelle Lovejoy, Landscapes Resilience, Environmental Defense Fund "Wonderfully concise, practical, and beautifully written compendium of how to deal with climate change's impacts on agriculture. This book should be on the shelf of every farmer in America and abroad." - Dr. Sally Goerner, research director, Edinburgh University's Planetary Health Lab "Provides the conceptual guidebook and strategic road map for navigating through the perils of climate instability in the quest for economic viability and long-run food security." - John Ikerd, Professor Emeritus of Agricultural Economics, University of Missouri "Gifts us practical insights and plenty of examples of how we can reshape our food system from being depleting to one that is resilient and regenerative. Thank-you Laura for your practical guidance and inspiration." - Mathis Wackernagel, Ph.D., Founder and President, Global Footprint Network, co-author Ecological Footprint "Mixing specific stories from current farmers with theory and analysis, Lengnick lays out a path for systemic, practical, and realistic transformation." - Peter H. Lehner, managing attorney, Sustainable Food & Farming, Earthjustice, and co-author, Farming for Our Future: The Science, Law, and Policy of Climate-Neutral Agriculture. "A brilliant, hopeful book and a call to action." - Marianne Landzettel, journalist and author, Regenerative Agriculture: Farming with Benefits