A Mezcal Boom Spurs Creative Approaches to Dwindling Agave

Mountains are particularly vulnerable to climate change, and a mountain city in India is finding sustainable solutions in traditional agriculture. Women overwhelmingly make up the farming workforce in Uttarakhand and are using a number of ways to combat the effects of the temperature increase. These solutions include bringing back an ancient grain, finger millet, to appeal to new tastes and dishes, storing seed banks of traditional varieties, and opening a cafe serving local food using the ancient grains to attract outside visitors.

The women of India's Dongria Kondhs, with some assistance from grassroots organizations, are leading an effort to move away from monoculture and back to lost seed varieties. A community can grow as many as 50 plant varietals on a single farm. Not only do such practices empower growers to navigate pests and climate change, but also to improve health.

Communities across Uganda have been realizing the benefits of agroforestry, an old farming system that mimics natural ecosystems. Apart from creating a diverse, stable local food supply, the practice promotes soil health, bolsters biodiversity, creates wildlife habitat, and sequesters carbon. An NGO is working with communities to spread the practice across the region, with marked effect.

Cows will produce the same amount of milk no matter the demand for the product, and with supply staying steady and demand decreasing, a surplus of milk is thrown out routinely. Through a collaborative effort by farmers and a local non-profit in Pennsylvania, however, a solution has emerged that not only turns the extra milk into cheese and yogurt, but supplies the products to those in need.

The coronavirus pandemic has exposed the fragility of the U.S. food supply chain, yet for indigenous led-operations there has been little interruption thanks to practices that rely on shorter supply chains that "work with local ecosystems, not against them." In Virginia, one farmer is using the lessons from this traditional knowledge to create a small-scale farming collective.

Indigenous seed banks preserve and reintroduce native agricultural varieties, which in some cases are more nutritious than other varieties. Qachuu Aloom runs a one-room seed bank that provides raw materials for its 500 active members, 80% of whom are women, to practice agroecological farming. The Cherokee Nation Seed Bank preserves more than 100 different kinds of seeds, distributing over 10,000 packets to growers in 2019. Several international organizations are working with seed banks to drive more resilient and diversified food production with native varieties as a way to address food insecurity.

The Turkish organization, Living Soil, Local Seed, is working with Turkish women and Syrian refugees to help rebuild and diversify the local agricultural system that was once thriving. Using local knowledge and surveys, the organization has gathered different varieties of native crops which it then uses to work with local farmers and employ women in order to create more complex ecological systems. In 2019, the program yielded over 400 tons of wheat and has proven to be more financially beneficial to farmers.

Emerald Garden farm in Colorado is a microgreens hydroponic farming operation that is using a comprehensive approach toward conducting business. From experimenting with new practices to reduce food waste to diversifying partnerships to enhance crop development, the owners have successfully scaled the initial operation and are providing food for fine restaurants as well as grocery stores a local school district and potentially hospitals.

In 1980, the Ugandan government signed an agreement with local communities in the Mugandu–Buramba wetland that gave them the right to own, manage, and conserve their own property. Today, the wetlands are thriving —reducing degradation and improving biodiversity— and creating a livelihood for the 276 people that live there. The government says that since they are using the land responsibly, their agreement will continue.

Environmental degradation and drought have led to conflict, poverty, and severe food insecurity in Kenya’s Baringo county. Hand In Hand International is helping communities rebound by offering training to women in entrepreneurship and new farming methods - particularly beekeeping - which provides economic empowerment, improves the ecosystem by boosting pollinator populations, and provides a steady source of nutritious food for those families eking out a living in these harsh landscapes.