This episode covers the Agriculture Resilience Act (ARA), the sustainable agriculture community's flagship bill for the 2023 Farm Bill. The ARA focuses on building a diverse and resilient system that reduces the negative repercussions of climate change and that curtails agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. Our guest today is Cathy Day, Climate Policy Coordinator at the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.

NSAC's Farmer Letter in Support of the ARA sums up the reasons why the signatories support the bill:

1. Farmers need quality agricultural research on climate issues. The ARA includes funding for climate and agriculture research, including critical on-farm research and farmer technical assistance through the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program and the regional Climate Hubs.

2. Farmers need crop insurance options that support resilience and adaptation. To that end, the ARA requires the Risk Management Agency to recognize all Natural Resources Conservation Service practices as good farming practices.

3. Beginning farmers and farmers of color need financial support for their expert work on building climate-friendly systems. The ARA offers expanded assistance to farmers of color and beginning farmers.

4. Farmers need investments in climate-friendly systems like advanced grazing management, agroforestry, organic agriculture, improved manure management, soil health, composting, user-friendly on-farm renewable energy, and other practices that sequester carbon. The ARA invests in these ecologically beneficial systems across a range of programs.

NSAC Blog: The Agriculture Resilience Act in 2023NSAC members

Michael Fields Agricultural Institute

National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

Regenerative Agriculture Foundation

Park Coffee by Filo Starquez | ⁠https://soundcloud.com/filo-starquez⁠

Music promoted by ⁠https://www.free-stock-music.com⁠

Creative Commons / Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-ND 3.0)

⁠https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/⁠