Sustainable Food and Bioenergy Systems Seminar, Bozeman MT

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You are Invited to Join Us!

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Sustainable Food and Bioenergy Systems (SFBS) Seminar on MSU Bozeman Campus – 3:00-4:30 pm, Reid Hall Room 103

Is Sustainable Agriculture Climate-Ready?


As we enter the 21st century, farm and food businesses face novel challenges created by resource scarcity and climate change.  Author, educator, scientist and farmer Laura Lengnick explores agricultural adaptation to climate change through the adaptation stories of 25 award-winning sustainable farmers and ranchers producing vegetables, fruits and nuts, grains and livestock products across the U.S.  These producers, many 3 or 4th generation farmers and ranchers, have managed sustainable businesses in the same location for 25 to more than 40 years.  Since about 2000, most have experienced increased challenges associated with more variable weather and more frequent and intense weather extremes.  These producers are innovating new strategies of sustainable management that reduce climate risk on their farms and ranches.  A masterful story-teller, Laura weaves practical lessons from the field with the latest climate science and resilience theory to assess the climate resilience of sustainable agriculture.

Biography

Laura Lengnick has explored agriculture and food system sustainability and resilience through more than 30 years of work as a researcher, policy-maker, educator and farmer.  Trained as a soil scientist, her work in soil quality and sustainable farming systems was nationally-recognized with a USDA Secretary's Honor award in 2002 and she contributed to the 3rd National Climate Assessment as a lead author of the 2013 USDA report Climate Change and U.S. Agriculture: Effects and Adaptation. Laura led the academic program in sustainable agriculture at Warren Wilson College in Asheville, NC for more than a decade.  She also served as the Director of Sustainability Education, led the development of an innovative Sustainable Dining Policy, and worked with students to create an energy descent action plan for the college.  In 2014, Laura left the college to launch Cultivating Resilience LLC, a private firm offering ecosystem-based climate risk management services to business and government.  Laura is on the advisory board of the Agriculture, Forestry and Climate Learning Network, a new web-based Cooperative Extension program created through a partnership between the Northeast and Southeast USDA Climate Hubs and she is contributing to climate adaptation planning for North Carolina Agriculture and Forestry as a member of the NC Adapt Work Team.  She is an affiliated researcher with the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project's Local Food Research Center and holds an adjunct faculty position in the Horticulture Department at North Carolina State University.  Laura's new book, Resilient Agriculture: Cultivating Food Systems for a Changing Climate was released in June 2015 by New Society Publishers.

You can learn more about Laura at www.cultivatingresilience.com

Please let me know if you have any questions.  Hope to see you on April 5th and/or 6th in Bozeman!

Anna Diffenderfer, MS, RDN, LN
[MSU-horiz-cmyk]

Strong Hearts for Montana Project Manager, Extension Nutrition
www.strongheartsmontana.org

Program Coordinator and Faculty, Sustainable Food and Bioenergy Systems Program
www.sfbs.montana.edu

anna.diffenderfer 
320 Reid Hall
Office:  (406) 994-4074
Fax:  (406) 994-7300

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