This Restaurant-Led Agriculture Effort Wants To Help Farmers And Ranchers Fight Climate Change

As the amount of farmland decreases in the United States and climate change brings hotter and drier conditions, many farmers are turning to agrivoltaics — growing crops and installing solar panels on the same land — as a way to make ends meet. Research on a garden in Arizona showed that certain crops like tomatoes and chiltepin peppers were able to thrive under the shade of solar panels, while also improving the solar panels’ productivity. “It’s a very unique positive feedback,” said one of the researchers.

Grasslands are important players in carbon sequestration. In the U.S. and Kenya some farmers are switching to regenerative grazing. For some this entails concentrating herds of cows and resting paddocks for long periods of time, and for others it means reseeding native grasses. This all forms part of a larger global network to restore grasslands.

Thanks to a microloan from a local nonprofit and a willingness to try a new approach, a ranching operation in Colorado has begun introducing regenerative agriculture practices in the form of carbon capture. Using "portable electric fences to keep their cattle moving," the farmers have been able to produce healthier soil which has promoted better grass growth. Although the practice has not caught on across the industry, "regenerative agriculture is considered an important climate solution."

Ranchers and conservationists in Florida are working together to lobby for policies that preserve their farmland, protect wildlife species, and conserve water instead of turning it over to be developed. The Sunshine State has experimented with conservation incentive programs like payments for panther habitat restoration, reimbursements for livestock losses, and water storage projects but most of these programs have had mixed success and are often underfunded.

Pastures are able to replenish when livestock can move around. By permitting cattle to travel between pastures for feeding, Will Harris’ ranching technique allows the soil to retain more carbon. The carbon captured by the healthier soil also helps to offset the emissions caused by livestock production.

California’s climate-smart agriculture programs—funded via the state's Cap-and-Trade revenues—provide grants enabling farmers to adopt sustainable practices like drip irrigation, soil regeneration, and manure management, significantly reducing water use, greenhouse gases, and economic vulnerability to climate change while boosting long-term farm resilience.

In Michigan, farmers are using a silvopasture as a way to fight climate change in the area. Silvopasture is a technique where farmers grow crops, trees, and livestock on the same land. This technique helps creates a sink to collect carbon responsible for global warming. It also battles erosion and improves soil.

In Canada, farmers are rewilding their farmlands, a process where a farmer restores their habitat to a more natural state. It includes things like planting trees, building hedgerows, and creating ponds. Rewilding can prevent soil erosion, carbon sequestering, and filtering water, among many other things, reversing some of the adverse effects caused by farming. One non-profit, the Alternative Land Use Services is funding these rewilding projects by paying farmers. ALUS projects span 31,000 across Canada.

From collecting plastic to transforming it into infrastructure, communities all over the world are implementing solutions to tackle the growing amount of plastic waste. In Malawi, women are separating garbage from plastic and creating new products like fire briquettes, doormats, and organic compost that they can sell to others. A town in Tasmania turned their plastic waste into a road made of recycled asphalt that is expected to last 15 percent longer than regular asphalt. And Zimbabwe is employing youth to recycle plastic into eco-friendly construction materials.

A Dutch group of engineers known as the Weather Makers has an ambitious plan to regreen the Sinai Peninsula — the stretch of desert connecting Egypt to the rest of Asia. Their efforts would restore forests, wetlands, and even adjust the weather for the region. This form of ecosystems regeneration could help with food security and mitigate the effects of climate change. Their process of changing an entire ecosystem can be controversial, but initial tests have shown how this could work on a large scale.