Boston Globe reports on Climate Adaptation Fellowship

The Boston Globe reported on the Climate Adaptation Fellowship, a peer-to-peer learning program that paired 37 fruit and vegetable farmers and agricultural advisers from eight states across the Northeast, developed by the University of Maine, the USDA Northeast Climate Hub and the Rutgers Climate Institute. Through the fellowship, farmers and their advisers follow a climate adaptation curriculum and take workshops on climate science, adaptation, mitigation and communication. Rachel Schattman, assistant professor of sustainable agriculture at the University of Maine and one of the program’s three co-leads, said that the community organizing element of the fellowship is particularly critical. “Climate change has often been a polarizing conversation in the United States, yet our group believes it’s an important topic to think about, talk about, and organize around. None of those things is fully possible without making the climate dialogue that we have with friends, family, and peers as inclusive as possible,” Schattman says. The fellowship provided participants with a team of specialists with climate science training to answer questions and connect fellows to outside sources, including Jason Lilley, sustainable agriculture and maple professional at the University of Maine Cooperative Extension whose expertise includes reduced tillage and cover cropping. The Atlanta Business Journal shared the Boston Globe report.