Return of indigenous crops helps reduce farm distress and restore ecosystems

Drastic solutions to climate change tend not to pan out (like trying to get everyone to stop eating meat), but careful adaptation is making real progress. In California, many smaller-scale farms are trying out new methods of adapting to the new realities of climate change, including not tilling the land so that nutrients build up and the soil strengthens. This article covers a range of approaches that farmers take to protect their livelihood and conserve their resources.

In Abuja, a Nigerian community, farmers are practicing agroforestry practices and shifting away from monocropping. Agroforestry is more sustainable, leads to biodiversity, and helps mitigate the harmful effects of climate change. With agroforestry, farmers plant several crops among trees, versus one crop. While not all farmers have made the shift, the ones that have are seeing positive results.

Quinn Organic Research Center sits at the hub of innovations slowly transforming farming culture away from industrial agriculture toward organic and regenerative strategies. Countering the decades-old "get big or get out" thinking about farming in Montana, the Quinn operation conducts small-scale experiments to develop new markets based on tactics that decrease soil erosion, improve biodiversity, and capture carbon. These climate-change-ready operations have seen many setbacks. But they've also been embraced by more locals and helped Big Sandy enjoy a subtle but real rejuvenation.

Faced with the effects of climate change, in Montana, some farmers are turning towards organic or regenerative practices, a form of farming that includes thing like crop rotation, and using fewer pesticides. It’s a switch from conventional farming, which usually involves mono crops, heavy use of pesticides, and genetically modifies seeds, producing thehighestt yield. A technique that has led to soil erosion. Nationally, farmers are turning towards regenerative farming which builds the topsoil, meaning it is better for the land and the environment.

More and more farmers are turning to regenerative agriculture techniques as a way to cut down on costs, increase crop yields, and sequester carbon into soil as a way to reverse the effects of climate change. One farming family in Minnesota switched to no tillage farming and also planted cover crops and used animals to fertilize their land. Some people question their methods, but these farmers saw their cost of production decrease and increased the amount of organic matter in their soil compared with their neighbors.

A community gardening project growing the guajiro bean has allowed Wayuu farmers in the Colombian desert to achieve food security despite the effects of climate change and external pressures. While scaling this agricultural success to other Indigenous clans can be difficult, using a low-tech irrigation system and red earthworm compost has allowed one settlement to feed its community and make their soil fertile again.

Bhojdari, a town in India, faced a severe drought in the early 2000s. The town doesn't have a river or canal nearby. However, after implementing an ecosystems-based approach, the town has reliable access to water, even in the dry months. Some of the methods that were incorporated in this approach included the creation of irrigation models, planting bamboo trees, and creating fish ladders so that fish can move up the stream. Ultimately, the model led to an increase in cultivation for local farmers and sufficient water for the town.

By reviving millet farming, farming communities are adapting to climate change. In India, the Millet Farmers Group, organized by a women’s rights nonprofit, the North East Network (NEN), helps farmers cultivate millet, an ancient grain that is less water-intensive than white rice. NEN Nagaland helps farmers from around the Nagaland district share knowledge about growing millet and obtain the necessary machinery to dehusk the grain.

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.

Restoring biodiversity to agricultural land improves food security and helps to sequester carbon. In Honduras, the revival of indigenous agroforestry techniques includes the use shade-grown organic coffee, grown alongside fruit-producing trees and other useful crops. Cosagual Lenca, an all-female cooperative of coffee growers, works to introduce and popularize the techniques.