Webinar | Regenerative Response: A Conversation with Grow Ahead and The Million Hazelnut Campaign.
WHEN: 11AM PDT, July 24, 2019
OVERVIEW:With conversations around climate degradation increasing, there is a need to shift our focus to real and actionable solutions. Agroforestry and regenerative organic agriculture are surprisingly simple solutions that have the potential not just to sustain the current carbon levels but to sequester enough carbon to reverse the effects of climate change, while supporting rural communities.
This webinar will bring together leaders from two regenerative projects, The Million Hazelnut Campaign and Grow Ahead’s Agroforestry Program to discuss responding to climate change, connecting concerned citizens to climate resilient farmers, supporting rural livelihoods and investing in regenerative organic solutions. Join us in this timely conversation and learn how to get involved in creating a regenerative organic future.
SPEAKERS:
Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin began working on economic development projects with indigenous Guatemalan communities in 1988. Before coming to the U.S. in 1992, Regi worked with artisan communities across the highlands of Guatemala, connecting their small enterprises with fair trade networks. Since then he has served as a consultant for the United Nations Development Program’s Bureau for Latin America and as an advisor to the World Council of Indigenous Peoples. Regi has served as Director of the Fair-Trade Program for the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, was a founding member of the Fair-Trade Federation and led the creation of Peace Coffee, a Minnesota-based fair-trade coffee company. Regi’s work in food and agriculture has gained national and international attention. He is the principal architect and has pioneered an innovative Poultry-Centered Regenerative Agroforestry system that is at the center of a multitude of national and international initiatives. He now resides in Minnesota with his family and leads the Regenerative Agriculture Alliance which along with the Million Hazelnut Campaign brings together a family of regenerative agriculture and fair trade initiatives aimed at aggregating and scaling-up the regenerative agriculture supply-chain.
Chris Gamer is a father of 4, three girls and one boy and the grandfather of one. His career choices have focused on addressing the issues of global climate change to protect their future. Chris studied organic practices and seed saving under the tutelage of Tom Jurdy in the 1980’s at the non profit Save Our Seeds (S.O.S). In the early 2000’s he joined the team at Innovative Power Systems and became a solar design sales and installation expert. Chris first met Reginaldo Hasslet-Marroquine at Transition Northfield in the early 2000 and has been an avid supporter of his work in the Poultry-Centered Regenerative Agroforestry movement ever since. Chris has abandoned his career in solar to promote Regenerative Agricultural Solutions, the only real hope we have for successfully navigating these tumultuous times.
Ryan Zinn is the Director for Grow Ahead. Ryan is the Organic & Fair Trade Coordinator for Dr. Bronner’s, focusing on Dr. Bronner’s international supply chains and farmer training. Ryan also shares his time with Fair World Project and Grow Ahead. Ryan has worked in the food and farm justice movement at home and abroad for 20 years, including with such organizations as the Center for International Law, Friends of the Earth-Paraguay, Global Exchange and the Organic Consumers Association.
PARTNERS:
Grow Ahead is a crowdfunding platform that connects people directly to small-farmer organizations. Grow Ahead develops local partnerships with small-scale farmer organizations to plant trees in agroforestry systems to support community food security and carbon sequestration. Our agroforestry programs boost the economic resilience of farmers by diversifying their sources of income. Through crowdfunding campaigns, farmers get the support and investment they need to transition to a resilient, regenerative future.
The Million Hazelnut Campaign’s (MHC) goal is to replace soybeans on the landscape with the midwestern hazelnut, converting ~81,000,000 acres of farmland from an annual cropping system heavily dependent on inputs, to broad-acre perennial system less reliant on fossil fuel. Investing in hazelnuts promotes alternative systems that are more resilient and adaptable to the changing climate, which reduces the risks for farmers, for society and effectively support the return of carbon to the soil where it belongs. Like any good permaculture design there are many functions stacked into this one simple campaign. The MHC will work as an outreach tool to inform the broader public about the benefits of Regenerative Agriculture, as it raises funds to help farmers transition their land to perennial systems. Hazelnuts are the “pioneer plant” for Tree-Range™ Chicken and as our broad-acre plantings move forward so will the Poultry-Centered Regenerative Agroforestry revolution the world needs to enhance our food security, ensure our food quality, clean our water, build our soils through carbon sequestration while strengthening local economies with strong interdependent agricultural communities.