As stewards of the land, we can be a part of the solution to climate change, or we can contribute to the problem. As we increasingly feel the impacts of climate change through the increasing temperature and frequency of extreme weather events, I can’t help but be grateful that we are actively managing our farm to build climate resilience.

What does it mean to build climate resilience?
Climate resilience is about successfully coping with and managing the impacts of climate change while preventing those impacts from worsening. One of the most significant impacts of climate change in the Northeast is the frequency of extreme rainfall events. These extreme rainfall events can dump multiple inches of rain in a very short period of time, and this excessive precipitation can be difficult for our soils to absorb. However, we have focused on building our soil’s water-holding capacity, employing strip and cover cropping to minimize erosion risk. We have become carbon-negative through our focus on building a climate-resilient farm!
What does it mean to be carbon-negative?
It means that our farm and the farms we work with sequester more carbon than we produce. From cow burps to tractor exhaust, we still emit plenty of greenhouse gasses, but when our emissions are more than canceled out by the carbon we sequester.
How do we know this?
We use COMET Farm, a calculator designed by USDA, to calculate our carbon footprint. The toolkit looks at all of our inputs — building materials & age, diesel usage, feed storage, etc. — and all of our practices — manure storage, crop rotations, animal management, etc. — and creates a carbon budget. While our farm emits carbon, our focus on building soil health, caring for our animals, and fostering young forests allows us to sequester significantly more carbon than we produce.
Why does this matter?
Climate change continues to pose a significant threat to the long-term stability of our planet. Carefully choosing the food we eat and supporting local farms is a super actionable and essential way to minimize our personal carbon footprints.
While building a carbon budget for our farm took months of work, taking an intimate accounting of our practices left me with one major takeaway: When we only take what we need and strive to make at least one positive difference every day, we can truly make the world a healthier and better place.
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