Schattman participates on $1.5M grant to assist farmers with climate adaptation and migration
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has granted $1.5 million to the University of Maine and collaborators to carry out a series of programs that will educate and aid farmers in climate adaptation and mitigation.
Agricultural producers anticipate an onslaught of challenges due to climate change, such as increases in flooding, drought, pest and disease pressures and weather variability. This project has been developed in close partnership with the USDA Northeast and Midwest climate hubs, the USDA National Agroforestry Center, Rutgers University, the University of Vermont, American Farmland Trust, the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, and Michigan State University.
Rachel Schattman, assistant professor of sustainable agriculture at the School of Food and Agriculture and Mitchell Center Faculty Fellow, is one of the designers of the Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Fellowship (CAMF) program. The project will focus on educating farmers and their communities about climate science and management strategies by running three 24-month-long peer-to-peer learning programs on a variety of farms in the Midwest and Northeast.
“We’re very excited to expand our curriculum to be useful to several different types of land managers and the agricultural advisers who support them,” says Schattman. “The unique aspect of the CAMF program is that farmers and advisers work closely in pairs over two years to develop risk assessments, climate adaptation and mitigation plans, and more. We find that this creates a community in which farmers and advisers can learn from each other and support one another.”
Excerpted from a UMaine News article