Fwd: Funding farmers to tackle climate change
David Yarrow
This great idea is similar to a proposal we crafted for a project in Southern Brazil in 2009:
grants, small loans and/or financing at very low or zero interest
to farmers willing to change their ag. paradigm, “from conventional to agroecological”.
Results from a pilot have been successful so far
and it helped spark policy changes that greatly broaden the original idea.
Here is the first publication:
How Valuing Nature Can Transform Agriculture
Volume 2 | Issue 6 | Page 64-73 | November 2011
Joshua Farley, Abdon Schmitt F., Juan P. Alvez, Norton Ribeiro de Freitas Jr.
https://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/article/how-valuing-nature-can-transform-agriculture/
Key Concepts
* Our conventional food system is the leading cause of habitat, soil, and biodiversity loss and nitrogen and phosphorous pollution. As a result, it is perhaps the single greatest threat to ecosystem function.
* Agroecology—the study, design, and management of agroecosystems based on ecological principles, with particular attention to the needs of small farmers—is capable of increasing the production of both food and ecosystem services while reducing the use of harmful and expensive agricultural inputs.
* Payments for ecosystem services (PES), a policy through which those who benefit from ecosystem services compensate those who adopt land-use decisions that provide them, can potentially provide the resources and incentives required to scale up agroecology.
* The promotion of agroecology demands significant investments in public goods such as R&D, extension services (i.e., farmer education), infrastructure, and affordable, low-risk credit. The returns on investment flow to all farmers adopting the practices, not to private investors alone. Similarly, the returns from ecosystem services flow to all of society. An effective PES scheme for agroecology must account for this.
JUAN P. ALVEZ, Ph.D.
Pasture Program (Outreach Profesional Senior)
College of Ag. and Life Sciences |
UVM Extension, Center for Sustainable Agriculture
23 Mansfield Avenue, Burlington VT, 05401-5933
E-mail (best way to contact): jalvez-at-uvm.edu | P: 802-656-6116 | F: 802-656-8874
“Helping individuals and communities put research-based knowledge to work”
VT Pasture Network | pasture calendar | pasture blog | pasture videos | Rsch. Gate | Linked In
From: VT Healthy Soils Coalition <VH...@list.uvm.edu> On Behalf Of Seth Itzkan
Sent: Wednesday, April 4, 2018 1:00 AM
To: VH...@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: Funding farmers to tackle climate change
This could be helpful info for our Healthy Soils initiatives. It's from a UN Environmental Program website.
https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/story/funding-farmers-tackle-climate-change
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Seth J. Itzkan
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