Climate Land Leaders Board member Dr. Michelle Montgomery is a Haliwa Saponi (enrolled)/Eastern Band Cherokee (descendant) and tenured professor at the University of Washington, Tacoma. She recently attended a Climate Land Leaders meetup to lead an exploration into the landowners’ heartwork for 2050. Here she expands on her comments at the meetup on justice and…

Reprinted with permission from our friends at Illinois Farmlink. Agriculture is a climate problem – and a climate solution. This is the belief of the non-profit, Climate Land Leaders, now beginning to serve farmland owners in Illinois. The organization views landowners as powerful decision makers capable of implementing agricultural and conservation practices that alleviate climate…

Last week the House Agriculture Committee released its draft Farm Bill. The Climate Land Leaders Initiative joins many agriculture, food systems and hunger relief organizations in opposing the bill. While the bill brings the remaining Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) conservation funding into the Farm Bill – a move toward more robust, long-term investment in farmer-led…

Wendy Johnson, an Iowa farmer and Climate Land Leaders’ Policy Co-Lead, writes with clarity and heart about the challenges of regenerative farming in corn and soybean country. Here’s an excerpt from her recent newsletter. Sign up for her newsletter at Joia Food & Fiber Farm. One thing I love about Iowa is being able to…

Throughout 2023 and as Farm Bill drafting and negotiations continue in 2024, Climate Land Leaders have been voicing their support for a Farm Bill that prioritizes climate, meets farmer demand for conservation, and grows resilient farms and rural economies. As one said, federal conservation programs are “for right now and for future generations.” Climate Land…

Climate Land Leaders Maggie McQuown and Matt Vermeersch of Red Oak, IA, recently shared their (ongoing!) story of what Maggie calls an “intergenerational passing of the baton” – their process of transitioning stewardship of the land from one family to another. Maggie McQuown and her husband Steve Turman own Resilient Farms. Matt and Jocelyn Vermeersch…

Farmer and Climate Land Leader Wendy Johnson shared the following remarks at a panel discussion on the Farm Bill hosted by Taxpayers for Common Sense in February, 2024. I am a farmer that sits in a few different worlds and sees the need for the diversification in the Midwest. I am a commodity farmer, an…

This story was originally shared in the February 2024 Illinois FarmLink newsletter. Illinois FarmLink, a program of The Land Connection, provides farmland access services (including free advising) to farmers and landowners across Illinois. Illinois FarmLink helped make this farmland connection between the Harbecke and Kanchwala families happen in Kane County last year. Rozina Kanchwala is…

Climate Land Leaders Paul and Sanna Mairet of Nine Hazels Farm grow 12 acres of hybrid hazelnut, a cross between the European hazelnut and the native American species. As a perennial crop, hazelnuts have an extensive root system, which increases water infiltration, soil organic matter and carbon sequestration – and the shrubs provide shelter and…

Which nonprofit organizations do you support that center Black, Indigenous and People of Color communities? We asked Climate Land Leaders that question, and here’s the list. Check out these groups doing wonderful heart work: 1619 Freedom School All Square Appetite for Change BIPOC Foodways  Dream of Wild Health Ear Hustle podcast Honor the Earth Indigenous…