Farmer delegates representing Solutions from the Land are preparing to take part once again in the largest annual gathering on climate change—the 27th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27).

The COP27 Conference will be held Nov. 8-16, 2022, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. It represents the latest in the series of international conferences that established the Paris Agreement in 2015 and builds solidarity among nations on how to address climate change and meet the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.

This year’s conference will be set against the backdrop of the three C’s facing the world: Conflict, COVID and Climate Change, all of which create major challenges to meeting food and nutrition security goals. Discussions this year will include topics like greenhouse gas emissions, building resilience, renewable energy, green economics, food and biodiversity.

Historically, conversations on climate change have not always included the voices and perspectives of farmers and ranchers. That’s why Solutions from the Land has made it a priority to get farmers and ranchers to these international meetings that set the stage for initiatives and goals on climate change action.

Solutions from the Land is officially considered an observer nongovernmental organization, admitted to the conference with approval by the Conference of the Parties.

The Mission

This year’s Solution from the Land group of nine delegates will speak at five events co-hosted by Solutions from the Land. They will also participate in other activities that allow them to promote how agriculture provides valuable ecosystem services (like clean air and water, healthy soil, and biodiversity) while producing needed food, fiber and fuel.

They will focus on building support among policymakers and other stakeholders for Solutions from the Land’s guiding principles for enabling food systems to support and attain the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. These principles emphasize the need to keep farmers at the center of all discussions and decision-making as well as to value science, technology, systems-based approaches, collaboration and innovation.

The five events SfL farmers will speak at include:

• Agriculture’s Role in Decarbonizing the Economy and Reducing GHG Emissions; Collaborators: Solutions from the Land, American Biogas Council, POET
• A Sustainable and Inclusive Agriculture Transformation, Engaging the Private Sector; Collaborators: United Nations Committee on World Food Security/Private Sector Mechanism, CropLife, International Fertilizer Association, Solutions from the Land, Syngenta Foundation
• Water Is the Face of Climate Change; Collaborators: Solutions from the Land, U.S. Soybean Export Council, Netafim
• Circular System Pathways for Scaling Climate-Smart Agriculture; Collaborators: Solutions from the Land, Canadian Cattle Association, Canadian Federation of Agriculture, Global Farmers Network
• Farmers at the Center of Climate Action; Collaborators: Solutions from the Land, World Farmers’ Organisation, IFOAM

The Delegation

The following Solutions from the Land delegates will participate in COP27:

• Jocelyn Anderson, a SfL farmer envoy, is a fourth-generation farmer from Northern California. Her family grows almonds and walnuts and operates a walnut huller.
• Brad Doyle, a SfL farmer envoy, grows soybeans, rice, wheat and grass hay and manages Eagle Seed, LLC, a family-owned seed business in Northeast Arkansas.
• John Farner serves as chief sustainability officer for Netafim. He brings more than 20 years of experience as a leader in irrigation.
• Ray Gaesser, a SfL board member and co-chair of SfL’s Iowa Smart Agriculture Work Group grows corn and soybeans in Iowa.
• AG Kawamura, SfL co-chair, is a third-generation fruit and vegetable grower and shipper from Orange County, California.
• Ernie Shea, SfL president, facilitates the 25x’25 and North American Climate Smart Agriculture alliances and coordinates SfL’s global, national and state level work
• Bryan Sievers, co-chair of SfL’s Iowa Smart Agriculture Work Group, operates a grain and livestock farm, which includes 2,300 acres of tillable land and a 2,400-head beef cattle feedlot.
• Verity Ulibarri, a SfL farmer envoy, owns and operates a crop and livestock farm with her husband, Anthony Ulibarri, in Curry County, New Mexico. They primarily produce grain sorghum, winter wheat, forages and cattle.
• Fred Yoder, SfL co-chair, is a fourth-generation farmer who has lived and farmed near Plain City, Ohio, more than 40 years. With his wife, Debbie, and two children, he grows corn, soybeans and wheat.

Other Events

The Solutions from the Land delegates will be busy with various other engagements with national and international leaders.

Verity Ulibarri will participate on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s panel “Partnerships for Climate-Smart Agriculture,” to be moderated by Secretary Tom Vilsack on Nov. 12. She will share how her farm has reduced greenhouse gas emissions and built resilience.

Ulibarri and Bryan Sievers will also speak on the “Waste Not, Want Not: Sustainability Impacts of Co-Products, By-Products and Other Ways Animal Agriculture Reduces Waste,” panel, hosted by the North American Meat Institute on Nov. 12.

As members of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Farmers’ Constituency, the delegates will also participate in the Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture sessions, the Egyptian-government-sponsored FAST, the Global Stocktake Technical Dialogue and other UNFCCC sessions.

For more details and full event and delegate biographical information, see Solutions from the Land’s COP27 engagement plan.

You can also follow Solutions from the Land on Facebook and Twitter for updates from COP27.