Always a highlight of the Sustainable Agriculture Summit, producers across ag sectors shared how they approach sustainability on their farms. Growers voiced their successes and challenges in making sustainability gains and the need to safeguard producer livelihood in the context of environmental stewardship.
Dairy farmers Andy Rodgers (Georgia), Brian Larson (Wisconsin), Greg Bethard (Kansas) and Steve Harnish (Pennsylvania) contributed perspectives on integrating sustainable practices and technologies through panel participation and breakout sessions.
More than 900 farmer and industry leaders came together for the Summit on Dec. 6-7 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The Summit, in its ninth year, is co-hosted by the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, Field to Market: The
Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture and six other national ag organizations to convene the collective food and agriculture value chain to learn, develop and advance a shared vision for a sustainable and resilient U.S. food system.
This year’s theme was “Scaling Collective Impact: Collaborating to Accelerate Agricultural Sustainability.”
Featured sessions and discussions included:
- the momentum that collaboration across ag sectors and their value chains can drive in order to mitigate environmental impacts;
- exploration of partnerships and opportunities to scale solutions;
- examination of the role of research and emerging technologies as a guiding force for agriculture’s sustainable future;
- the need for reporting and sourcing protocols to recognize sector/regional programs already in place;
- the importance of advancing nutrient management practices; and
- access to funding sources to implement solutions that further accelerate sustainable progress.