| Adamah Blog https://adamah.org/category/farm/ People. Planet. Purpose. Tue, 15 Apr 2025 15:19:16 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.2 https://adamah.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/favicon.png | Adamah Blog https://adamah.org/category/farm/ 32 32 Northwest Corner farmers aided by climate-smart grants https://adamah.org/climate-smart-grants/ Wed, 09 Apr 2025 14:53:31 +0000 https://adamah.org/?p=17385 [April 9, 2025] …Seven farms in the Northwest Corner have been awarded a combined total of $100,000 in the second round of Northwest Connecticut Land Conservancy’s climate-smart agricultural and forest grant program.

The initiative provides direct funding to farmers to enable them to adopt practices that enhance sustainability, productivity and climate resilience. In total, 15 awardees from across Litchfield County and northwestern Fairfield County received a combined $212,000 in the program’s second round....

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KENT — Seven farms in the Northwest Corner have been awarded a combined total of $100,000 in the second round of Northwest Connecticut Land Conservancy’s climate-smart agricultural and forest grant program.

The initiative provides direct funding to farmers to enable them to adopt practices that enhance sustainability, productivity and climate resilience. In total, 15 awardees from across Litchfield County and northwestern Fairfield County received a combined $212,000 in the program’s second round.

“It’s very motivating to have been awarded an agricultural grant from NCLC,” said recipient Sheri Lloyd of Carlwood Farm, whose fifth-generation family farm will receive $10,000 to purchase seeds and soil amendments for crop rotations.

Janna Siller, Adamah Farm Director and Advocacy Coordinator

The project aims to reduce compaction, controls erosion and improve soil biology.

“We are looking forward to making some crop rotations to continue focusing on soil health and sustainability while being able to provide forage for our cattle,” said Lloyd.

In March 2023 the Kent-based land conservancy received an award of $750,000 from the state Department of Agriculture through the Climate Smart Agriculture & Forest Grant program. The program allocated $7 million to agricultural and conservation entities, and NCLC was one of 12 recipients selected for an award.

In 2024 the land conservancy announced 10 implementation grant awardees, and after a final competitive grant round last fall, 15 additional sites were selected. This year’s cohort includes beef, dairy, poultry, fish, forestry, vegetable, fruit and flower farms across Litchfield County and northwestern Fairfield County.

“Connecticut’s farms are in the top three for most at risk of loss in the country,” said the land conservancy’s Executive Director Catherine Rawson.

“Connecticut’s agricultural producers are committed to being part of the climate change solution through on-farm energy, soil health and carbon sequestration projects to further increase their sustainability and resiliency,” said Bryan P. Hurlburt, Connecticut Department of Agriculture commissioner.

High temperatures, more frequent and severe drought and more intense and damaging storms with associated flooding and power outages have been “huge challenges” for the Falls Village-based Adamah, a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm, said director Janna Siller, who noted that CSA shares are still available to the public at fvcsa.adamah.org.

“The $16,000 we’ve been granted from NCLC will help us adapt by purchasing supplies to improve our resilience to these challenges through greenhouse, field production and irrigation improvements like shade cloth, temperature-neutral insect netting, greenhouse climate control, automation, high tunnel ventilation, a generator for the greenhouse heating system, irrigation upgrades and an electric mower.”

The distribution of the grants, for which the Falls Village farm is “incredibly grateful,” said Siller, comes at a time of great uncertainty for farm businesses.

In addition to Carlwood Farm and Adamah, other Northwest Corner farm grant recipients include: $24,000 to Canaan View Dairy LLC in East Canaan; $30,000 Conundrum Farm in Kent; $8,000 to Howling Flats Farm LLC in North Canaan; $9,000 to The Stead Farm LLC in Barkhamsted; and $3,000 to Wright Farm LLC in Goshen.

The Building Resiliency program also includes funding for 22 climate-smart agricultural assessments conducted by Berkshire Agricultural Ventures.

Later this spring, NCLC plans to celebrate Building Resiliency awardees and program partners with an on-farm celebration.

“Small farms serving local customers like ours have long relied on federal grants like the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and the Conservation Stewardship Program, both of which are federal programs that have supported farmers in serving local customers while mitigating climate change and preventing pollution.”

She further noted that federal funding for those programs and many others supporting local farm economies “have been frozen for months and are under threat of drastic cuts in the federal budget.”

In addition to Carlwood Farm and Adamah, the following Northwest Corner farm grant recipients include:

Canaan View Dairy LLC in East Canaan, which will receive $24,000 to purchase a dragline toolbar. This equipment promotes efficient manure application, which reduces nutrient loss and fuel consumption, decreases greenhouse gas emissions and improves soil and water quality.

Written by: Debra A. Aleksinas


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Take Action with Adamah’s Farm Bill Campaign https://adamah.org/take-action-with-adamahs-farm-bill-campaign-070124/ Mon, 01 Jul 2024 18:24:15 +0000 https://adamah.org/?p=11122 [July 1, 2024] …On a personal level, Jews have always taken seriously the connection between what happens in farm fields and what is ethically and spiritually fit...

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Dear Adamah friends,

As the farm director at Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center, I am surrounded daily by the breathtaking and ancient abundance of the land (dozens of potatoes grown from one! sugary sap dripping straight out of a tree trunk!)

At the Adamah fellowship program, we respond as generations before us have. We express our awe and gratitude at each ripening by using the same words our ancestors used to express theirs “שֶׁהֶחֱיָנוּ וְקִיְּמָנוּ וְהִגִּיעָנוּ לַזְּמַן הַזֶּה” (has kept us alive, sustained us, and brought us to this season).

Adamah fellows spent last week in big sun hats and layers of sunscreen, walking up and down rows of growing vegetables laying out water-conserving drip lines to keep crops hydrated in record high temperatures. Farming lays bare the tenderness of our role within larger ecosystems, weather and precipitation patterns, the world.

For this experience too we look to our tradition. How to make sense of ourselves as vulnerable to and partners in the cycles that sustain us?


On a personal level, Jews have always taken seriously the connection between what happens in farm fields and what is ethically and spiritually fit- kosher (כָּשֵׁר)– to put into our bodies. We have also always thought on a systems level with respect to farming and our broader society. Growing up in a suburb, my Jewish education gave me the barest familiarity with Jewish agricultural wisdom. It wasn’t until years later, after learning to coax a whole head of lettuce out of a tiny diamond shaped seed and other secrets revealed by my farming career, that I recognized the commonality between the biblical practice of laying land fallow- shmita ( שְׁמִטָּֽה)– and the modern movement to farm more regeneratively with cover crops for soil health, or of leaving the corners of one’s fields for those in need- pe’ah (פֵּאָה)- and today’s hunger safety net. It is deeply Jewish to take a systems approach to feeding ourselves well and for the long term. 

That is why Adamah continues to build on our long legacy of engaging in Farm Bill advocacy. A huge piece of legislation that is currently up for reauthorization, the Farm Bill shapes what food we fill our tables with and how it is grown. With programs relating to climate, hunger, water conservation and pollution, equity across our food system, local food availability, forestry, research, and inflation, the Farm Bill presents a powerful opportunity to invest in a more just and resilient modern food system.

In partnership with the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, an alliance of grassroots organizations of which we are a member, Adamah has honed priorities for 2024 Farm Bill advocacy including conservation incentives for farmers to mitigate and adapt to climate change, nutrition funding, sustainable agriculture research, justice initiatives, and food safety net reform. Join us by learning more and taking action!

Farming in a heat wave is exhausting. And yet, under the care and attention of young Jewish farmers, cabbage leaves are folding over one another to make beautiful heads and tiny tomatoes are forming below bright yellow flowers as you read these words.

Farmers and eaters alike are confronted with the big question of what to do with these two experiences – the wonder at our luck to be on such a bountiful planet and the awareness that our ways of relating to the land have big consequences.

Between rows of carrots, with the music of hens clucking, with the hope of gentle rain clouds forming in the distance, we bear daily witness to stark realities on the farm, and we choose to take action in joyous community rather than be stilled by overwhelm. Join us.

Best,

Janna

Janna Siller

Janna Siller
Farm Director and Advocacy Coordinator

We’ve made it easy to call your legislator! Use this script, or riff on the words we’ve come up with to compose your own message.

What’s happening right now with the Farm Bill?

The Farm Bill is overdue for reauthorization. Congress passed an extension in the fall of 2023 that is keeping the country’s farm safety net and hunger relief programs functional, but we need a new bill.

The House Agriculture Committee and the Senate Agriculture Committee each have very different visions for the 2024 Farm Bill. The house draft, which passed a committee vote, threatens climate-smart farming provisions that were hard-won in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)), making funding vulnerable to reallocation. It also weakens critical nutrition programs and encourages consolidation in the food system rather than investing in a more diverse network of farms.

The Senate proposal, however, protects IRA climate funding, strengthens access to the farm safety net for a more diverse set of farms, invests in local and regional food systems, protects nutrition assistance, and takes meaningful steps toward a more racially just food and farm system.

We at Adamah know from our partnerships with research and advocacy groups how important the climate, food systems, and equity solutions in the Senate’s version of the bill are. We also know it from our own experience on our farms in Connecticut and Maryland, both of which use Farm Bill funding for innovative, ecologically in-tune practices like reforesting with carbon sequestering nut trees, or rotating crop fields with prairie plants that provide nectar for pollinators, prevent erosion, reduce fertilizer needs, and increase soil health. There are good programs out there that work. We need a Farm Bill that invests in solutions.

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Connecting to the Source https://adamah.org/connecting-to-the-source-janna-siller/ Mon, 04 Mar 2024 21:39:03 +0000 https://adamah.org/?p=9896 [March 4, 2024] Our interconnectedness with other species is abundantly clear when you are plucking a fresh berry off the vine with a bee nestling into an adjacent flower or while digging a potato out of loose dirt under the flapping wings of a red-tailed hawk. The imperative to be thoughtful in those relationships through food becomes unavoidable....

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Connecting to the Source Through Food at Adamah Farm

At Adamah Farm in northwest Connecticut, we grow organic vegetables, fruit, nuts, berries, beans, and mushrooms – everything that health and climate experts (not to mention our local bees, birds and fish) tell us should make up a conscientious diet.   

We turn food scraps from the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center where we are located into life-giving compost fertilizer; cultivate flowers beloved by insects that are beneficial to our crops and the ecosystem; and plant trees that capture carbon and store it in the ground while holding precious soil in place with their roots. At this time of year, we intercept sweet sap flowing up and down the awakening trunks of maple trees and boil it down at a ratio of 40:1 to make syrup.   

Our interconnectedness with other species is abundantly clear when you are plucking a fresh berry off the vine with a bee nestling into an adjacent flower or while digging a potato out of loose dirt under the flapping wings of a red-tailed hawk. The imperative to be thoughtful in those relationships through food becomes unavoidable. Join us to experience such clarity for yourself at an Isabella Freedman retreat, or, depending on your stage of life, for the residential young adult Adamah Fellowship program or a week at the Teva Learning Center for Jewish Day schools.   

Of course, you don’t have to schlep far to see plainly your connection to the more-than-human world, to have the experience of having your sight restored, as it says in the morning shacharit liturgy, poke’ach ivrim. You can notice our entwinedness in the opening leaf buds of the tree on your block the first day you wear a t-shirt outside, or in the smell of rosemary wafting from a lichen-covered planter in front of a city building, and you can let it inspire you to choose to connect with the wider world through every bite.

By: Janna Siller, Farm Director and Advocacy Coordinator at Adamah Farm

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USDA Celebrates Jewish American Heritage Month https://adamah.org/usda-jewish-american-heritage-month-celebration-2023/ Wed, 17 May 2023 20:51:14 +0000 https://adamah.org/?p=7233 [VIDEO] USDA celebrated the contributions of the Jewish community in agriculture & food security for Jewish American Heritage Month...

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USDA celebrates Jewish American Heritage Month
Jewish community members, anti-hunger activists, and interfaith partners joined Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack for the first-ever Jewish American Heritage Month event at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to celebrate Jewish contributions to agriculture and the fight against hunger.

Janna Siller with Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz

Janna with leaders of the Jewish Farmers Network

Janna with Congresswoman Kathy Manning

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Adamah leads blessing at White House Passover Seder https://adamah.org/adamah-at-white-house-passover-seder-2023/ Mon, 10 Apr 2023 15:11:49 +0000 https://adamah.org/?p=7225 [VIDEO] …what better place to say the blessing than a vegetable farm called Adamah. In this part of the Seder when we bless the fruits of the earth, we notice our place in the cycles of the world and how to live better within it...

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Adamah was honored to lead the blessing over karpass at the third annual virtual White House seder.
This year’s “People’s Seder” was co-hosted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and focused on food insecurity.

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Adamah Farm Bill Campaign https://adamah.org/adamah-farm-bill-campaign/ Mon, 27 Feb 2023 01:36:49 +0000 https://adamah.org/?p=5747 [February 26, 2023] Join us in advocating for a just and climate-friendly 2023 Farm Bill! The Farm Bill is a package of legislation with enormous impacts on all of us and on the planet. Congress is currently drafting...

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Join us in advocating for a just and climate-friendly 2023 Farm Bill! The Farm Bill is a package of legislation with enormous impacts on all of us and on the planet. Congress is currently drafting an updated version to be voted on ahead of the previous bill’s scheduled expiration this Fall. 

This process presents a historic opportunity to 1) lower the nearly one third of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions spewed by the food system; 2) reshape food production and distribution toward justice and equity; and 3) lean into Jewish food and farming wisdom that paints a vision of food sovereignty for all.

Recently passed other legislation, including the game-changing Inflation Reduction Act, has laid the groundwork for decarbonizing our economy. Now it’s time to spring into collective action to build on this momentum, transforming our food system toward justice and climate resilience.

Ways to Take Action with Adamah’s Farm Bill Campaign

Farm Bill Webinar and PDF

Watch our webinar to learn more about the Farm Bill and how your voice can make a difference. Check out our supplement to the webinar PDF to understand how critical the Farm Bill is to our food system and how you can weigh in.

Call your Representatives

Take a few minutes to call your representatives and ask them to support The Agriculture Resilience Act, a roadmap for reducing emissions from agriculture to net-zero by 2040. This bill lays the groundwork for centering climate action and equity in the Farm Bill process moving forward. Make it easy and quick by using our handy script. 

Rally

Join Adamah at the Rally for Resilience March 6-8th in Washington DC! Demand a just and climate-friendly 2023 Farm Bill along with farmers and eaters from across the country

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Hazon Farm Bill Campaign: for Justice and Climate Resilience https://adamah.org/hazon-farm-bill-campaign/ Tue, 26 Jul 2022 19:53:40 +0000 https://adamah.local/hazon-farm-bill-campaign/ [July 26, 2022] Join a robust, intersectional movement from a Jewish perspective! There has never been a better time for working together on behalf of our food future...

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The once-every-five-years Farm Bill authorization process is in full swing! This presents an historic opportunity to lower the nearly one third of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions spewed by the food system and reshape food production and distribution toward justice and equity.

Join a robust, intersectional movement from a Jewish perspective! There has never been a better time for working together on behalf of our food future.

A Just and Climate-Friendly 2023 Farm Bill Could Help the Food System…

  • bring its emissions to net-zero by 2040
  • adapt to a changing climate
  • prioritize racial justice
  • reduce food waste
  • incentivize land, soil, and water conservation
  • increase equitable access to healthy, fresh food
  • uplift community-led land use and food sovereignty

Seven Ways to Take Action with Hazon’s Farm Bill Campaign

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Advocacy Alert Email

Sign up for our advocacy alert email list. We’ll let you know when your voice is needed without overwhelming your inbox. You don’t have to track the daily twists and turns of food and environmental policy on Capitol Hill in order to be heard!

 

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[tab title=”Farm Bill Webinar”]

Farm Bill Webinar

Watch our webinar to learn more about the Farm Bill and how your voice can make a difference.

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Farm Bill PDF

Check out our supplement to the webinar to understand how critical the Farm Bill is to our food system and how you can weigh in.

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[tab title=”Call Your Representatives”]

Call Your Representatives

Take a few minutes to call your representatives and ask them to support The Agriculture Resilience Act, a roadmap for reducing emissions from agriculture to net-zero by 2040. This bill lays the groundwork for centering climate action and equity in the Farm Bill process moving forward. Make it easy and quick by using this handy script.

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[tab title=”Rally for Resilience”]

Rally for Resilience

Join Adamah at the Rally for Resilience March 6-8th in Washington DC! Demand a just and climate-friendly 2023 Farm Bill along with farmers and eaters from across the country.[/tab]

[tab title=”Next Steps”]

Next Steps

We will likely have drafts of the Farm Bill coming out of the House and Senate agriculture committees by mid-spring 2023 with votes hopefully coming in the fall of 2023. Keep an eye on your inbox (assuming you’ve followed action step number one and signed up for our advocacy email list) and take action by calling your representatives to demand the passage of a robust bill full of climate solutions and justice initiatives.[/tab]

 

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Rest! Relax!

You’ve taken six incredible actions toward a more just and climate-friendly food system. Jewish tradition teaches us that the essential work of protecting our beautiful world and of pursuing justice go hand in hand with the experience of pausing to marvel at our profound opportunity to do so.[/tab]
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Building on centuries of Jewish wisdom, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel Z”L said that “The opposite of good is not evil; the opposite of good is indifference. In a free society where terrible wrongs exist, some are guilty, but all are responsible.

Terrible, fixable wrongs exist in the food system. Thirty-five million people in the U.S. confronted hunger in 2019 while 30-40% of food produced was wasted, accounting for millions of tons of unnecessary pollution and trillions of gallons of irrigation water used to no effect.

While Heschel left us guidance on combating indifference and taking responsibility, he also taught us to wake up in the morning and feel the radical amazement of being alive, to seek happiness through wonder. Join us in eschewing the practice of doom scrolling through all that is wrong in favor of the very Jewish twin practices of action and awe.


“When we start to see the choices that are not available, we can begin to see the role of political power in our daily lives. Who decides what options are available for us to choose in the first place?”

– Dr. Leah Stokes, from her essay A Field Guide for Transformation in the All We Can Save anthology.


Want to learn more about the brilliant work being done around food system reform and the opportunities ahead of us? Check out some recommended resources here.

We are grateful to our partners in food system advocacy with whom we work in coalition including the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.

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Food and Farm Advocacy: Recommended Reading https://adamah.org/food-and-farm-advocacy/ Fri, 12 Mar 2021 04:47:53 +0000 https://adamah.local/food-and-farm-advocacy/ The Jewish practice of determining what is “fit to eat” (a literal translation of “kosher”) is complex in this age of global food systems. It is not simply upon us...

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The Jewish practice of determining what is “fit to eat” (a literal translation of “kosher”) is complex in this age of global food systems. It is not simply upon us to find the purest ingredients for our tables at any financial cost to ourselves, but rather to weigh in on the systems that determine what food is available and what the consequences of its production will be. Integral to influencing whether we have ethical, healthy, climate-smart options on the table is a deeper understanding of how the policies work. Check out the articles below to gain some of that insight.

Where to Start in Taking Action

A Matter of Degrees Podcast: What Can I Do? 

How to Find Joy in Climate Action

Food and Farm Policy Background:

How 2 Save a Planet Podcast: Soil: The Dirty Climate Solution

How 2 Save a Planet Podcast: The Beef with Beef

How 2 Save a Planet Podcast: Is Your Carbon Footprint B.S.?

World Resources Institute: Creating a Sustainable Food Future

Here’s how America uses its land

What is the Farm Bill?

Staying Up to Date on Food and Farm Policy Happenings:

October 2022

On big federal legislation:

What the Historic Climate Bill Means for Farmers and the Food System

How the Inflation Reduction Act Affects Food and Agriculture – Mother Jones

Inside the Inflation Reduction Act: $20 billion to help fix our farms – Vox

As Congress funds high-tech climate solutions, it also bets on a low-tech one: Nature

On executive and administrative action:

Voices from the White House Conference on Hunger and Nutrition | Civil Eats

On state and local policies:

California Farmworkers Gain Historic Union Win | Civil Eats

December 2021

On big federal legislation:

Build Back Better’s Fate Uncertain

A Second, Broadened Attempt at Debt Relief Moves Through Congress

Here’s How the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill Could Promote Environmental Justice

Infrastructure Bill is a Win for Bees and Butterflies, Including Monarchs

Agriculture Resilience Act Delivers Bold Vision for Net Zero Agriculture

On executive and administrative action:

Sustainable Agriculture Research the Aim of Huge USDA Investment

The Ban on Chlorpyrifos and the Power of Community Organizing

EPA Restores Water Protections Weakened Under Trump

The Collective Future of America’s Food System

On state and local policies:

The Fight Over Healthy Soils

Meet the Black Women Driving New Ag Policy

Seven Locals Tackling New York’s Toughest Climate Problems

July 2021

More than 450 organizations urge Congress to invest $200 billion in climate-focused agriculture improvements in the American Jobs Plan

Advocates: Agriculture needs $200 billion increase for climate mitigation

IPCC steps up warning on climate tipping points in leaked draft report

The Food System’s Carbon Footprint Has Been Vastly Underestimated

What Will Happen for USDA’s Loan Forgiveness for BIPOC Farmers

Biden’s 2022 Budget Proposal for Agriculture

May 2021

Is Biden’s Jobs Plan a Skinny Green New Deal?

Balancing infrastructure and conservation goals

What do voting restrictions and anti-protest laws have in common? Both have sponsors funded by fossil fuel companies

April 2021

Biden’s infrastructure plan aims to turbocharge U.S. shift from fossil fuels

Biden unveils a once in a generation infrastructure plan

Biden to place environmental justice at center of sweeping climate plan

What’s in Biden’s Infrastructure Plan?

Nine Ways Biden’s $2 Trillion Plan Will Tackle Climate Change

Deb Haaland makes history as first Indigenous cabinet secretary

White House names members of environmental justice panel

Covid-19 stimulus bill to provide $4 billion in debt relief for Black farmers, other farmers of color

March 2021

What Biden’s Climate Plan Means for Regenerative Agriculture

How the Biden Administration is Prioritizing Diversity and Justice in Federal Food Policy

A Vision for the U.S. Department of Agriculture from The Young Farmers Coalition

Two Biden Priorities Meet on Black Owned Farms

Relief bill is most significant legislation for Black farmers since Civil Rights Act

Everything you need to know about Biden’s climate policy spree

Beyond Bees, Neonics Damage Ecosystems—and a Push for Policy Change Is Coming

Analysis of Incoming USDA Secretary, Tom Vilsack’s Confirmation Hearing

Biden Orders an Executive Order to Boost SNAP Benefits

Redirecting Agricultural Subsidies for a Sustainable Food Future

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Take action for a just and climate-smart food system https://adamah.org/take-action-for-a-just-and-climate-smart-food-system/ Thu, 07 Jan 2021 04:06:12 +0000 https://adamah.local/take-action-for-a-just-and-climate-smart-food-system/ [January 6, 2021] We are tracking opportunities for the Jewish community to tip the scales toward effective policy. Join our advocacy alert list and we’ll call you to action...

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Take action for a just and climate-smart food system… even if you aren’t following all the complexities taking place on Capitol Hill!

We are tracking opportunities for the Jewish community to tip the scales toward effective policy. Join our advocacy alert list and we’ll call you to action (well, we’ll email you to action) whenever a groundswell of grassroots voices would make a difference.


Sign up here to receive Hazon’s Advocacy Alerts!


Does calling your legislator and asking them to support, or oppose, an upcoming bill sound intimidating? We’ll make it easy by providing a clear script. You don’t need any prior understanding of what a filibuster is or what political infighting is happening in which relevant subcommittees!

Does commenting on a Department of Agriculture rulemaking process sound kind of boring? We’re not going to lie, it is. But with our help, it will take only five minutes or less out of your day!

Jewish heroism has never been limited to the story of young David with a loaded slingshot or Judah Maccabee with his shield. Our work on behalf of a just and abundant future has mostly manifested as stories of individuals joining together to collectively do the small, and sometimes boring, and sometimes intimidating, work.

According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the food system accounts for more one third of global greenhouse gas emissions. Thirty five million people in the U.S. confronted hunger in 2019 while 30-40% of food produced was wasted, accounting for millions of tons of unnecessary pollution and trillions of gallons of irrigation water used to no effect. 

Join us in heeding the call of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel Z”L who said that “The opposite of good is not evil; the opposite of good is indifference. In a free society where terrible wrongs exist, some are guilty, but all are responsible.”

While Heschel taught us to take action, he also taught us to wake up in the morning and feel the radical amazement of being alive, to seek happiness through wonder. At Hazon, we recommend heeding both of his teachings by trading out your doom scrolling practice for a practice of acting on our advocacy alerts, freeing yourself up for more radical amazement and more wonder with the knowledge that you spoke up at this pivotal moment in history.

Advocacy Alert: October 2022

Join Hazon’s Farm Bill Campaign over the next fourteen months as we take up the mantle of steady persistence that has achieved so much in climate advocacy. 

Where do we start in our Farm Bill journey? By voting in the election on November 8th! Turnout in these upcoming midterm elections will foretell what kind of climate action we get in the 2023 Farm Bill, among a great deal else.

Studies show that getting your vote across the finish line is often dependent on having made a plan for how you’ll vote far ahead of time. Polling location information can be shifty, ballot request deadlines can sneak up on us. Click here to make your voting plan now!

and

  • Join our partner organization, Dayenu, for their chutzpah 2022 campaign, a non-partisan get-out-the-vote effort focused on climate-concerned and Jewish voters in key states. Whether it is your first time phone banking or it’s an old habit, Dayenu offers all the training, framing, encouragement, and logistical support you’ll need to help save democracy one call at a time.

Stay tuned for further Farm Bill action opportunities after the election.

Advocacy Alert: December 2021

This week’s Torah portion culminates with a perceived dead end. Pharaoh refuses Moses’ entreaties for liberation, leaving Moses despondent and confronting a crisis of faith.

We heard another famous ‘no’ this week, this time from a senator whose vote was critical to the passage of historic climate and social legislation – the Build Back Better Act. While the stalled nature of the bill is a major setback in our work toward resilience and equity, and while it is fair to take some time to feel the disappointment of this dead end for 2021’s policy momentum, we have so much to gain by continuing to believe in the power of our persistence.

There are a lot of unknowns at this crossroad. Will the Build Back Better Act be revised and reintroduced in 2022? Will pieces of it pass via other legislative maneuvers? We have some assurances that the transformative food and farming provisions that advocates fought so hard for, including conservation program funding and sustainable agriculture research, are some of the less vulnerable pieces of the legislation.

2021 Sustainable Food and Farming Policy Wins

Build Back Better wasn’t our only vehicle for increasing the sustainability of food systems. Of course the bipartisan infrastructure package was signed into law and included investments to support farms, pollinators, and moving away from fossil fuels in food transportation. We also saw a wholesale shift in administrative support for sustainable farming and racial justice from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency with bans on dangerous pesticides, restored water protections, investment in agroecological research, support for local food, and more. Pandemic aid made its way to farmers who use conservation practices like cover cropping. The Agriculture Resilience Act, a bill that sets the stage for net zero emissions for agriculture in the 2023 Farm Bill, was introduced in congress and gained a wide range of cosponsors.

How to take action

If you have been dreaming of increasing your participation in the steady work of preserving our democracy by participating in it, we’ve got you covered! Here are some ideas for how to integrate advocacy into your life:

Leaning into community (safely) can be an antidote to the overwhelm of this difficult moment of the ongoing pandemic and of this inflection point for the climate crisis and justice movements. We hope you’ll join us over the coming year in lifting our voices as a means of nourishment, of hope, and of honoring our tradition of persistence.

Advocacy Alert: July 2021

View this alert as a PDF

BACKGROUND

Imagine if Congress took transformative action on climate change and agriculture through a racial and economic justice lens. How different would our food system look in two, five, ten, or fifty years if our country made a serious investment this year in just, climate-friendly agricultural solutions? Imagine how much more ‘fit to eat’ our food would be!
We have an opportunity to make progress on that vision today. Congress is currently working on legislation that offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity to fund climate-friendly agriculture conservation practices, climate and agriculture research, and resilient local supply chain infrastructure. Let’s remind lawmakers in the House and Senate that their constituents want them to take bold, transformative action for the future of our food system.

HOW TO HELP

Take a few minutes to call your legislators. You have two Senators and a Congressperson.

Dial: (202) 224-3121

Tell the operator that you’d like to speak to one of the senators for your state. Use the provided script and feel free to add details about why you care. Go ahead and leave a message if no one answers. Hang up and dial the switchboard again to ask for your other senator, and then again for your representative in the house.

SCRIPT

Hello, my name is [YOUR NAME] and I am a constituent. I am calling about pending infrastructure legislation. I hope that the [SENATOR or REPRESENTATIVE] will support a just transition in the food system by investing at least $200 billion to help farmers adopt climate-friendly practices, allow researchers to develop climate-resilient crops, and support local and regional supply chains. Historically marginalized farmers should be intentionally included in these investments to correct for past discrimination. Can I count on your office to champion this critical funding for a resilient and climate-friendly food system?

Thank you.

Advocacy Alert: May 2021

View this alert as a PDF

BACKGROUND

Congress is writing an infrastructure bill with a great deal of climate mitigation potential. They need to hear from their constituents that climate is a priority in order to make the bill as ambitious as it needs to be. 

HOW TO HELP

Take a few minutes to call your members of congress to tell them you want sweeping climate legislation.

You have two senators and a representative in the House of Representatives. Dial: (202) 224-3121

Tell the operator that you’d like to speak to one of the senators for your state. Use the provided script and feel free to add details about why you care. Call back to ask for your other senator, and then again for your representative in the house.

SCRIPT

Hello, my name is [YOUR NAME] and I am a constituent. I’m calling to tell you that I want ambitious climate action in the upcoming infrastructure package. The plan should include (choose any or all of the items on the below a-la carte menu of climate solutions.)

  • clean electricity standards 
  • investment in renewable energy 
  • the establishment of a civilian climate corps
  • incentives for farmers to use climate-friendly practices
  • a guarantee that 40% of investments will go to disadvantaged communities

Thank you.

Advocacy Alert: April 2021

View this alert as a PDF

BACKGROUND

The President recently laid out The American Jobs Plan, a broad infrastructure bill that aims to transition the U.S. off of fossil fuels via investment in green jobs, clean energy standards, and incentives for green technology. Now it is up to congress to write and pass a bill based on, and hopefully even strengthening, the plan. 

HOW TO HELP

Take a few minutes to call your members of congress to tell them you want sweeping climate legislation.

You have two senators and a representative in the House of Representatives. Dial: (202) 224-3121

Tell the operator that you’d like to speak to one of the senators for your state. Use the provided script and feel free to add details about why you care. Call back to ask for your other senator, and then again for your representative in the house.

SCRIPT

Hello, my name is [YOUR NAME] and I am a constituent. I’m calling to tell you that I support American investment in the green economy. I hope you and your colleagues will take up and strengthen the American Jobs Plan, passing legislation that creates jobs while centering a just transition off of fossil fuels. Thank you.

 

Advocacy Alert: March 2021

View this alert as a PDF

BACKGROUND
Electric tractors. Crops that pull carbon out of the air and store it in the ground. The Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) Program funds farmer-driven innovation in climate smart practices like these. SARE needs a minimum of 60 million dollars in discretionary funding in the upcoming spending bill in order to order to help farmers get to net zero emissions.

HOW TO HELP
Take 60 seconds to call your senator and ask that 60 million dollars in discretionary spending for SARE be included in the next spending bill. Dial the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and request your senator’s office by using your zip code or by telling them your senator’s name. Use the provided script and feel free to add details about why you care.

SCRIPT
Hello, my name is [YOUR NAME] and I am a constituent. I’m calling about funding for the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) Program. Innovation is critical to feeding the world while averting climate catastrophe by eliminating greenhouse gas emissions. As you write the next spending bill, please allocate $60 million in discretionary funding for the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Extension (SARE) program. Thank you.

That’s it! By focusing on a very specific ask, you’ve helped pave the way for a safer climate future. Thanks for playing a critical role in the Jewish climate movement!

Advocacy Alert: January 2021

Introduce yourself to your legislator! The 117th Congress began it’s session yesterday, January 3rd, with greater potential for climate action than ever in history. The more your members of congress hear from you, the more accountable they are on the issues you care about. For now, just say hello by filling in the blanks of the below script and sending one copy to your congressperson, and a copy to each of your two senators. When you find your folks using the links in the previous sentence, just click through to the contact pages on their websites to find their email address or a contact form.

Dear (Senator or Congressperson) ________________,

The urgent need to put the full weight of the federal government behind a just and climate-smart food system will greet you on day one of the upcoming legislative session. As a constituent living in ___City, State_________. I hope you will rise to the occasion on behalf of our collective future. We have the technology and the know-how to reform the ways that we grow and distribute food. All we need is the political will and I hope that you will have the courage to  incentivize regenerative production models and to penalize pollution; to make healthy food accessible to all regardless of income; and to drastically reduce the amount of food that goes to waste.

Throughout the coming months I will be following up with your office to advocate for just and climate-smart policies with respect to food and farming. I am hopeful for all that we can accomplish.

Thank you,

_______Your Name_______

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Darkness, and light – from the United Nations https://adamah.org/darkness-and-light-from-the-united-nations/ Wed, 09 Dec 2020 15:48:30 +0000 https://adamah.local/darkness-and-light-from-the-united-nations/ Wednesday, December 9, 2020 | Erev Chanukah   Dear All, First: a huge thank you to every single person who has supported us in 2020. A record number of people supported...

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Wednesday, December 9, 2020 | Erev Chanukah

 

Dear All,

First: a huge thank you to every single person who has supported us in 2020. A record number of people supported us on Giving Tuesday. I and we appreciate it. This year we survived, we thrived, we’ve touched people’s lives. And we hope to catapult into 2021 and beyond. If you want to be a stakeholder in Hazon, please click here to give a year-end gift.

Second: practically the last thing I did, pre-Covid, was attend a superb Tu B’Shvat gathering in Seattle, organized by Lisa Colton and Rabbi Josh Weisman and a bunch of their friends.  Now with them and with a growing number of partners we’re happy to announce the launch of The Big Bold Jewish Climate Fest, over Tu B’Shvat in late January – one week after the inauguration. Go to the website for info or – better yet – to propose sessions you’d like to deliver.

Third: Campus at Camp looks like it’s happening. Registration closes tomorrow. If you want to join us, click here.

The remainder of this email I give over to António Guterres – the Secretary General of the UN. He gave a speech at Columbia University last week which we should all read, or watch. It explains better than I can why Hazon exist and why – despite the fact that we none of us have enough time or money or knowledge – we all of us, in 2021, need to start to allocate a little bit more time, and a little bit more money, to raising the Jewish community’s game in relation to environmental sustainability. As we dig out from Covid, as organizations lengthen their planning cycles – this is what we need to move up our to do list.

“Chag urim sameach” to one and all. It means “happy festival of lights.” May the world’s natural resources last eight times longer than our current trajectory. May our clothes and objects be fewer, better, and more durable. And may we bring light to everyone around us. Ok – now here’s the Secretary General…

Dear friends,

I thank Columbia University for hosting this gathering — and I welcome those joining online around the world.

We meet in this unusual way as we enter the last month of this most unusual year.

We are facing a devastating pandemic, new heights of global heating, new lows of ecological degradation and new setbacks in our work towards global goals for more equitable, inclusive and sustainable development.

To put it simply, the state of the planet is broken.

Dear friends,

Humanity is waging war on nature.

This is suicidal.

Nature always strikes back — and it is already doing so with growing force and fury.

Biodiversity is collapsing.  One million species are at risk of extinction.

Ecosystems are disappearing before our eyes.

Deserts are spreading.

Wetlands are being lost.

Every year, we lose 10 million hectares of forests.

Oceans are overfished — and choking with plastic waste.  The carbon dioxide they absorb is acidifying the seas.

Coral reefs are bleached and dying.

Air and water pollution are killing 9 million people annually – more than six times the current toll of the pandemic.

And with people and livestock encroaching further into animal habitats and disrupting wild spaces, we could see more viruses and other disease-causing agents jump from animals to humans.

Let’s not forget that 75 per cent of new and emerging human infectious diseases are zoonotic.

Today, two new authoritative reports from the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme spell out how close we are to climate catastrophe. … Read the full speech here.

And from me – Nigel – if you made it this far: Happy Chanukah, Shabbat Shalom, Merry Christmas, and wishing you a healthy and more sustainable new year.

Nigel

 


Announcements

Thank you! Together we raised $70k+, reached 45k+ miles, saved 18k+ kilograms of car emissions, and prioritized health, community, and nature during the 2020 Vision Rides. Stayed tuned for future initiatives for B’nai Mitzvahs, “Ride in a Box,” and more!

The 2020 Virtual Israel Ride was a success with over 200 virtual riders joining for 7 days of immersive virtual programs. Watch highlights here. We’ve raised over $170K to support Hazon and the Arava Institute. Register now for the 2021 Israel Ride, Oct. 19-26, 2021. (Psst! Use promo code HANUKKAH for $50 off.)

The Climate Crisis & The Jewish People: From “Why” to “What and How…,” Read the first ever Peoplehood Papers on the topic of climate, created by Hazon and The Center for Jewish Peoplehood Education.

Settle. Observe. Renew. Join Rabbi Robin Damsky for a Personal Journey through Chanukah and the Solstice Mondays December 14, 21, and 28 from 7:30 – 8:30 pm EST. RSVP for free to join.

The Z3 Conference is going online (December 10-17), and you are invited! On December 15, join Hakhel for a panel discussion on “Building the Jewish People, One community at a Time.”

Take action for renewable energy this Chanukah with the Jewish Earth Alliance.

Goodbye Phone, Hello World features 60 bite-size, device-free activities scientifically proven to promote true happiness. Learn more here.

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September 9th, 2029 https://adamah.org/september-9th-2029/ Tue, 20 Oct 2020 23:07:43 +0000 https://adamah.local/september-9th-2029/ Thursday, October 15, 2020 | 27 Tishrei 5781 Dear All, The Jewish holidays are over, and the rest of our lives now proceeds. I’ve been thinking about one particular future...

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Thursday, October 15, 2020 | 27 Tishrei 5781

Dear All,

The Jewish holidays are over, and the rest of our lives now proceeds. I’ve been thinking about one particular future date that should be in our calendars – and why it should be in our calendars, and how and why we might work backwards from it.

September 9, 2029
It’s about nine years from now. That’s a long time for most of us. But not that long. Kids born this year will be starting fourth grade? Bar and bat mitzvah kids this year may be in college.
Some of us will be retired, or in new jobs, or new relationships, new cities. And some of us will no longer be here.

But Jewish tradition runs long. We sing lecha dodi on Friday nights, and that dates back a few hundred years, to the kabbalists of Tzfat. We learn from the Rambam and Rashi, each living centuries before Shakespeare. We learn about and from the rabbis of the Talmud, and they lived sixteen centuries ago or more. And when we say kiddush on Friday night, or recite the sh’ma, we’re reciting words that have been said continuously for close on twenty five centuries, give or take.

So nine years isn’t really that long.

But here’s the thing: decisions and choices made these next nine years will have immense consequences on human civilization for the remainder of this century. They won’t make much impact on the next nine years. Whatever climate events ensue in these next nine years, whatever hurricanes or heat waves, droughts, or famines, or fires – those things will happen. If we all drove a Prius as of tomorrow, or never got on an aeroplane ever again, or never ate meat – the changes to the climate wrought thus far, by a century of industrialization and forty years of closing our eyes – those changes are underway.

But what we do in the next nine years will have a huge impact on the planet for the next century and more.

If you’re a kid, a teen, a 30-something, even a 50-something – what happens in the next nine years will have a potentially humongous impact on the entire remainder of your life.

One of the (sort of?) (maybe?) good things in the last year or two, including even since COVID began, is that it does feel like “climate” has moved up the agenda. There aren’t so many people now who aren’t scared or alarmed. But there are an awful lot who are overwhelmed. For whom it feels like we’re on a train hurtling to an unknown dangerous future, and there is nothing we can do about it.

Well… Yes and no. Jewish history reads both ways on this question. On the one hand, we can testify to the bestiality that human beings are capable of. Intolerance. Witch hunts. Passive bystanding. And so on. Jewish history records what should be a whole series of alarm signals about western society right now. The cynicism, the absence of shared values or stories, the untruths, the venal politicians, the inequality, and so on. These things are dangerous, and they’re especially dangerous given that the exigencies of climate actually require of us coordinated actions that involve self-restraint and shared responsibility – precisely the things that are made harder by an erosion of social cohesion.

But, despite this, Jewish history is also always a story of hope, always a story of human agency. “They tried to kill us / we won / let’s eat” is known as the shorthand for the key Jewish holidays. But ours is also the story of averting tragedy. This is why we read Yonah on Yom Kippur. Jews have been disproportionate winners of Nobel prizes not because we are smarter, but (I would argue) because we are immersed, directly or indirectly, in a culture that values creativity, learning, lateral thinking, and a deep desire to effect positive change. That’s what human agency is. That’s where hope comes from, and is made manifest.

So – anyway. The next nine years. This is going to need to be like the moonshot times a gazillion.
Never in human history will so many resources need to be marshalled towards a broadly singular goal: first to slow the growth of the proportion of carbon in the atmosphere, and then in due course to reduce it.

Everything else flows from this task. If we care about “justice” or “inequality” or “civil society” or (more parochially) “the Jewish future” or “engaging our young people” or – frankly – anything else – each and all of these things, and their medium and longer-term trajectories, will be determined by what the world’s carbon output is in 2029, and what happens from now till then, and where we’re pointed at that time.

Succeeding in this task is above my paygrade. It’s above yours. It’s above Melinda & Bill Gates’s, or Warren Buffet’s, it’s above Greta Thunberg’s. It’s above the paygrade of the US government or the Chinese government, by themselves. It genuinely needs all of us. It’s gonna need every national government, every city, every state; every supranational organization. Every company, huge and tiny. Every law firm, every consulting firm, every kid, every retiree.

And it’s going to need all the world’s religions.

His Holiness the Pope is certainly punching above his weight. Laudato Si, published five years ago, remains the single most important religious document ever written in relation to our treatment of this world – with the possible exception of the bible itself. Laudato Si is readable, and if you have never read it, you actually should.

But it’s my understanding that even the Pope and senior leaders of the Roman Catholic church have their own self-critique of Laudato Si – that it was a good and important document, but has it engendered sufficient follow-through in practice?

That’s why I want to mention September 9, 2029. It’s nine years away. Long enough for all of us – and all of our institutions – to have no excuse not to change.
How do you eat an elephant? One mouthful at a time…

We must use these next nine years, coherently and thoughtfully and deliberately, to change the trajectory of Jewish institutions, to influence for good everyone with whom we connect, and in aggregate to add the weight of Jewish life towards the task of helping the world right its course.

Well: how exactly do we do that?

So here are some other dates, for you to put in your calendars now, and to make some notes on your to do list.

January 28, 2021. That Wednesday evening – and the next day, the 29th – is tu b’shvat, the Jewish new year for trees.
Tu b’shvat is not just fruits and nuts, and it’s not just for kids.
It’s the day that comes once a year to remind us of something we should be thinking about every year — how are we treating this natural world that sustains everything we have?
So please put it in your calendar. If you’re part of any synagogue, JCC, Hillel, federation – start to plan something for that night or that day. Do it with your neighboring institutions. Do it with local shuls or schools or churches. Do it virtually or in person. Invite the mayor. Invite your new Congressperson. Invite a local expert. But have this conversation: what could we be doing to live more sustainably? What changes could or should we make? What’s the process we could begin?

Here’s what’s nice about September 9th 2029. You do have some time till then (if you and we don’t waste it). By then you could change the power you consume; the food you consume. You could punch up your educational resources. You could grow food or compost it. You could stop using plastic. You could change and reduce the cars you use. You could change your investment policy, and make sure not merely that you’re not investing in fossil fuels but that, proactively, you’re investing in green growth. You could build coalitions with your neighbors, and learn together, and share together – share resources, amplify impact.

Tu B’shvat – eight days after the inauguration of the new president – is the start of the rest of our lives. Use that day to learn and to gather – and to think about what you might do on April 22nd (which is Earth Day – #SoundTheCall).

And by then, on April 22nd, you could be thinking about the next shmita year, which begins eleven months from now – September 6, 2021. You have a whole year to try to slow your velocity. Learn about shmita. Learn its primary texts — and launch a wide-ranging conversation coming out of them – about our relationship to land, and rest, and time and money and so on. We’re launching a weekly Shmita-Parsha blog this Friday to help you do this.

And then on September 25, 2022, the new seven-year shmita cycle begins.
By that September – 23 months from now – really every Jewish institution should have a seven-year plan. And I don’t really mean a detailed “plan”, though if you do have one, that might be great. I mean what Eisenhower famously meant when he said “plans are worthless – but planning is everything…” So that might mean a task force, a Green Team, a process, a board sign-off, a commitment from the CEO or the senior rabbi. We are not required to complete the task.. But nor may we desist from it.

This is why Hazon exists. There’s no one route from now till September 9 2029. But it needs commitment. It needs planning. It needs direction. It needs determination. It needs creativity.

But first of all: commitment. Foundations and federations need to start with a year or two out – your first blank-ish year  – and say: Ok, we’re going to devote x% of our grant-making to grants that will strengthen all of our grantees in relation to environmental sustainability – whether that’s educational programs, physical plant, new resources, investment policy, food – or all of the above.

A school needs to say: Ok, this year has been COVID and craziness. But not everything is a swivel. This too shall pass. Between Tu B’shvat next year, and the end of the shmita year in 2022, we’re going to put together a team. We’ll brainstorm. We’ll figure out low-hanging fruit. We’ll learn. But – most of all – even if we start small, we’ll commit to move this forward.

And so on. And at Hazon we have programs and resources that help to move the flywheel. Yes, this needs work on the ground (which we’ve piloted in Detroit and elsewhere), it needs leadership programs (AdamahJOFEE FellowsTeva), it needs reconnecting with each other and with the natural world (Isabella Freedman), it needs to support the Israeli environmental movement (our Israel Ride, and the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, and others). It needs us to support and empower teens (the new Jewish Youth Climate Movement). It needs genuine education on the topic of industrial meat and dairy (our work on food and climate). And it needs the many other JOFEE organizations that have sprouted in these last 15 or 20 years, all of them worthy of your support, all important institutions to nurture and grow.

At Hazon, round about Tu B’shvat, we’re going to be launching two overarching frames for all of this work, one for individuals and one for institutions.

For individuals: a new Brit Hazon. A new commitment, a new covenant. Just three things:
(1) make some further change in your own behavior. By itself it’s not enough. But it lets you look yourself in the mirror – and it gives you some standing to encourage others to effect change;
(2) give time and money to organizations that are striving to make a difference. That includes Hazon, and any or all of the other JOFEE organizations, and the secular environmental organizations;
(3) amplify your voice. Right now that means – for instance – do not forget to vote. In every election, always, vote for whomever is most serious about passing and implementing policies that will unleash our creative energies for a healthier and more sustainable world. But “amplify your voice” also, very much, means speak up in your shul, your school, your foundation. Put this on the table.

And then the Hazon Seal of Sustainability. This is for institutions. Again we have many resources. Again we intend to invest in this going forwards. Again, we want to increase the velocity of best practice. But know that the heart of the Hazon Seal is its very beginning:

Pass a board resolution that –
(1) launches or recommits to a Green Team or Task Force (that is not just “the obvious suspects” or “the environmentalists” – a Task Force that includes some of your strongest people, however defined);
(2) commits the institution to doing all that it can, slowly and steadily, through September 9, 2029;
(3) includes the CEO or senior rabbi or head of school or chair of the board all committing to moving this steadily forwards.

September 9, 2029 is the end of the next full seven year shmita cycle in Jewish life.
Let’s make this election count.
Let’s make this coming Tu B’shvat count.
Let’s use next year to plan for the shmita year.
Let’s use the shmita year to look back and look forward.

And let’s use from now till the start of the next shmita cycle as the time to set up our Task Force or our Green Team, commit to the Brit Hazon, join the Hazon Seal of Sustainability, and point your institution in the direction to be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

Apart from whatever election-related activity you’re involved in, I commend:

The Hazon Vision Rides (and get in shape from now through December 1st) – bike, swim, walk, hike, also;

The Virtual Israel Ride starting October 25th, with a wide range of events so that you can really have some equivalent experience of being on our Israel Ride, and supporting both Hazon and the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies;

And click here if you want intellectual food for thought – the four remarkable lectures by Rabbi Yedidya Sinclair, given from Jerusalem last week, on the development of an overarching Jewish theology in relation to climate change.

Finally, please join us at this year’s General Assembly, 3-4:30pm ET on October 25th, for “The Post-Covid Climate Challenge.” I’m chairing it. Panelists include Prof. Alon Tal (whom I’m hoping will have been elected chair of the Jewish National Fund by then), a leader from our Jewish Youth Climate Movement, and other distinguished guests. Register here.

Finally – yes – we’re now in year-end fundraising. Hazon’s board and staff have been amazing this year. Our institutional funders have been solid. But we need to raise about another $150k+ to balance the books this year, and more still to have a decent chance of going into ‘21 with some money in the bank. Click here to give a donation. Better yet — if your stocks have held up better than you might have expected – feel free to give us some appreciated stock, while the going is good. Seriously. Just email me or call if you’d like to chat about how you can make a difference.

So: may we be blessed. May we strive to act well. May we encourage and support, may we be kind, may we be resolute.
And may we use these next weeks – and year – and next nine years – for good.

Shabbat shalom and chodesh tov,

Nigel

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Visions for Our New Land https://adamah.org/visions-for-our-new-land/ Thu, 04 Apr 2019 19:08:38 +0000 https://adamah.local/visions-for-our-new-land/ The history in our little corner of Falls Village mirrors broader patterns across the continent. Indigenous communities going back many generations used slash and burn techniques to create abundant edge habitats for foraging and hunting and......

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Thursday, April 4, 2019 | 28th Adar II, 5779

Dear All,

I had asked Janna, Rebecca, and Shamu – leaders of our Adamah program – to write something for all of us, about the new land we have been able to buy at 181 Beebe Hill Road, contiguous with our existing Adamah land at Isabella Freedman. They’ve written an extraordinarily beautiful piece, and I hope you enjoy it and are inspired by it as much as I am. In the Jewish tradition of fractal sevens, between the seven days of Shabbat and the seven years of shmita, we have sefirat ha’omer, seven weeks of seven, starting the second night of Pesach. Seder night – just two weeks from now – is our gateway to this journey. I hope that what they have written offers wisdom for all of us.

Shabbat shalom, chodesh tov,

Nigel


“Our design at 181 deepens the resilience of our farm while nurturing the land and a community. And maybe it will offer inspiration to you ahead of Pesach…”

As we walked on the new land across crusty snow this January, we were tempted to shout out and point: Put fences here! Plant trees there! Fix that shed! Till that flat area! It is easy and so tempting to project our desires on what we might imagine as a blank slate of available land.

But what we learn from the wisdom of Shabbat and shmita, from Moses pausing and noticing at the burning bush, from the act of reciting blessings, from the wisdom of permaculture and indigenous ways of living on this land for generations before us, is:
pause;
notice.
And observe before we make any changes, to get to know a place before we inhabit it.
(And this may be true for all of us, in our lives – even if we didn’t just become trustees of a new piece of land…)

So we took a deep breath.

As the new “owners”, which is to say, in fact, as trustees of this land,  and as a people long rooted in landscape, history, and diaspora it is aleynu – on us – to work to uncover the nature of this land, its past and its present, and figure out how it informs our choices today and in the future. That past includes local dairy and hay farmers who are still our neighbors, and the mostly-erased past of Native peoples. And what’s our plan towards the next shmita year in 2021-22, and then the next full seven-year cycle after that, and after that?

The history in our little corner of Falls Village mirrors broader patterns across the continent. Indigenous communities going back many generations used slash and burn techniques to create abundant edge habitats for foraging and hunting and to produce fertile ground for growing crops. Sheep dominated this landscape in the 19th century, and dairy cows in the 20th. And to some degree, the land follows the plate; wild plants, animals, and the three sisters of corn, beans, and squash were at the center of the diets of native peoples while meat and dairy have been at the center of the diets of affluent Americans in the centuries since property lines were drawn. Forests have been pushed back and grass and corn became king.

Today we have new questions and new imperatives.

Does climate change, with its associated imperative to sequester carbon, reduce meat consumption, and tend habitat for wildlife call on us to reforest parts of the land?
Might walnuts and hazelnuts be part of the vision for a more perennial, less intensive way of feeding ourselves that builds carbon, habitat, and protein?
How can we deepen the resilience of the farming we are already doing on Beebe Hill? Can we move our compost operation to the flat pad that once held a hundred dairy cattle, opening up suitable vegetable growing ground? Should the brushy hillside become a playground for meat goats or should it be reseeded for hay production?

As humble members of the place we like to call “The Interdependent Republic of Housitonica,” named after our watershed, we are grateful to be in a design phase that allows us to sit with the questions.

Shmita, the seventh year of rest that mirrors Shabbat, the seventh day of rest, is both an inspiration and a design principle for us. While it is not a legally binding law outside of Israel, the spirit of the law is powerful. In the seventh year, because our tradition teaches not to sow or harvest, perennial and wild foods become central. Debts are forgiven, and private property is erased. How can we invite wide access to our land and food to counter the myriad damages of private property or unfettered capitalism that the Torah rails against? Shmita literally means ‘release,’ which reminds all of us to loosen our hold on land, money, ideas, possessions, and other people.

The design process challenges us to marry our goals with the ecological details of the land, to weave goat pasture and pollinator habitat, erosion control and vegetable beds, vehicle access and a multispecies orchard. The design process challenges us to ‘think like a mountain’, as Aldo Leopold wrote: to embrace a vision of the land that is long-term and places humans in the land, but not at the center.

So this year of design we will:

  • Observe patterns of water flow and deer movements
  • Talk to past farmers of the property
  • Gather on the land for song, prayer, and learning
  • Work with the Natural Resource Conservation Service of the Department of Agriculture to repair past damage through erosion control and water conservation
  • Start mapping the land
  • Rotate our goats onto parts of the new land
  • Introduce Adamah Fellows and Isabella Freedman guests to the land and the design process

The address of the new property is 181. As tempted as we are to find a new farm name (and we might) we are enjoying the symmetry of two 18s, read from the right or the left (we are deeply committed to pluralism in all its forms, after all.) The Hebrew numerical equivalent of 18 is the word ‘chai’, ‘life’.

So we invite you to visit us and to experiment with these ideas and questions in your own life and backyard.

  • Learn about the Indigenous history of a piece of land that you’re in relationship with
  • Read “Braiding Sweetgrass” by Robin Wall Kimmerer
  • Explore Shmita, the Sabbatical Year
  • Visit us and tell your friends about Adamah

Shamu Sadeh, Janna Siller, and Rebecca Bloomfield
Adamah Staff

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