Since 2017, CAFF’s Climate Smart Farming program has worked closely with farmers, researchers and technical assistance providers to investigate and promote climate smart farming practices through on-farm research and demonstration projects, education and outreach. As we continue to work at the important interface of agriculture and climate, we at CAFF also recognize that the practices we promote–and have promoted for over four decades–are rooted in an even broader ecological approach to farming.
While this more holistic approach most certainly addresses the dire threats posed by climate change, it extends beyond that to also promote goals such as farmworker and community health, biodiversity, and a general stewardship of the natural cycles on which all life depends. For starters, we are now developing projects that revitalize CAFF’s work in ecological pest management and the promotion of on-farm biodiversity.
Our Climate Smart work, more specifically focused on goals such as carbon sequestration and in partnership with our allies such as CalCAN, will carry on in full force. But they will now operate beneath a broader agroecosystems-based approach, what CAFF will from here forward call our Ecological Farming Program Area.
To learn more about our program, check out our online resources here or contact sara@caff.org