In November 2022, the Government of the Arab Republic of Egypt will host the 27th Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC (COP 27), with a view to building on previous successes and paving the way for future ambition to effectively tackle the global challenge of climate change.

SfL Objective: To build support among policymakers and other stakeholders for the farmer-led NGO Solutions from the Land’s Guiding Principles to Enable Food Systems to Support Sustainable Development Goal Attainment by 2030.

Farmer-led Solutions from the Land Delegates

Attending Week 1, approx. Nov. 6-12:

• Ernie Shea, SfL president, facilitates the 25x’25 and North American Climate Smart Agriculture alliances. He also coordinates SfL’s global, national and state-level work programs.
• 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, 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. He and his wife, Debbie, with his two children, grow corn, soybeans and wheat.

Attending Week 2, approx. Nov. 13-18:

• Jocelyn Anderson, SfL farmer envoy, is a fourth-generation farmer from Northern California. Her family grows almonds and walnuts and operates a walnut huller.
• Brad Doyle, SfL farmer envoy and current president of the American Soybean Association, 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, SfL board member, grows corn and soybeans in Iowa. He serves as a member of SfL’s North America Climate Smart Agriculture Alliance (NACSA) and co-chair for the Iowa Smart Agriculture Work Group. He’s also a former president of the American Soybean Association.
• AG Kawamura, SfL co-chair, is a third-generation fruit and vegetable grower and shipper from Orange County, California.

Click here for full bios of SfL Delegate

Engagement Plan

SfL will co-host the following five events:

Agriculture’s Role in Decarbonizing the Economy and Reducing GHG Emissions

Nov. 10 | 7 p.m. | Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture Pavilion | Collaborators: American Biogas Council, POET, UNICA

While electrification of the transport and power sectors will provide significant reductions in carbon and other greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, climate-smart agricultural production systems and practices—enabled by innovation and technology along with emerging carbon markets—can deliver supplemental solutions in the form of soil carbon sequestration and replace carbon intensive fuels with renewable liquid fuels and renewable natural gas.

This session will outline producer and value chain partner perspectives on what is needed to scale bioenergy and nature-based solutions in support of the successful attainment of ambitious national and global GHG reduction goals.  

A Sustainable and Inclusive Agriculture Transformation, Engaging the Private Sector

Nov. 11 | 1:00 p.m. | FAO Food & Ag Pavilion | Collaborators: CFS/PSM, CropLife, IFA, Syngenta Foundation

At this event, we will unpack and outline innovative components for a sustainable transformation agenda in developing countries’ agriculture that can build climate resilient, adaptive and sustainable food systems.

Private sector players are needed to enable smallholder farmers to participate effectively in climate programs to address their challenges and seize opportunities. Given smallholders’ existing risks are expected to worsen under climate change, most private sector players are reluctant to undertake such actions without complementary support and incentives. Smallholder outcomes include productivity improvements, diversified farms, improved incomes and livelihoods, greater resilience against future shocks and challenges, and an ability to tap into climate finance and local incentive systems to encourage transitional behavior change and defray transition costs. 

Through an interactive panel discussion, the event will explore innovative aspects for inclusive transition in agriculture in developing countries and how this transition could be achieved; what technologies and policies are required; and what commitments and actions are needed from different actors, including the public, private and social sectors.

In particular, the discussion will focus on:

1. Innovations needed for stronger circular economy models, including inputs, crop-livestock systems, practices and policies.
2. Effective, impactful and scalable last-mile models to enable delivery and adoption by smallholders.
3. Low cost, reliable, accessible and affordable MRV and MEL approaches and tools. 

Farmers at the Center of Climate Action

Nov. 12 | 8:30 a.m. | FAO Food & Ag Pavilion | Collaborators: WFO, IFOAM

At this kickoff event for COP 27 Agriculture Day, a diverse panel of global north and global south farmers and ranchers will spotlight agroecology and other innovative approaches, systems and practices they are using to improve food and nutrition security while simultaneously enhancing health and livelihoods, improving the environment, enhancing biodiversity, and delivering high value terrestrial solutions to climate change.

Focusing on outcomes, participating farmers/rancherswill showcase how they are harnessing innovation and technology, collecting and analyzing data, and using more circular, resource-efficient practices to contribute to meeting the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Water Is the Face of Climate Change

Nov. 14 | 12:30 p.m. | Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture Pavilion | Collaborators: USSEC, Netafim

Agriculture and food production require abundant clean water. Water management has always been critical to rain-fed and irrigated agriculture production systems. Yet, the increasing uncertainties associated with the unpredictability in timing and rates of rain and snowfall have accelerated the challenges in managing the extremes—drought and flooding—that shifting weather patterns and changing climates have brought. 

This session will showcase how farmers across the Americas are leading the way in water management innovation and some of the plant breeding research underway to increase crop resilience under water stress.

Circular System Pathways for Scaling Climate Smart Agriculture

Nov. 16 | 12:30 p.m. | Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture Pavilion | Collaborators: Canadian Cattle Association, Canadian Federation of Agriculture, Global Farmers Network

Food-systems stakeholders are calling for bigger thinking and the transformation of current linear systems of agriculture and food into circular systems that better reflect the complex interactions among human and natural systems and their behaviors under stress conditions such as a changing climate and volatile, uncertain markets. Diversified livestock-cropping systems innovate system approaches and offer a variety of circular models within the farm and across agricultural and food systems sectors that: a) utilize forages, crop residues, and byproduct wastes and convert them into high quality commodities; b) provide food and nutritional security due to their high-quality protein, essential fatty acids and bioavailable micronutrients; c) retain and sequester carbon and enhance other ecosystem services, and d) provide and improve livelihoods for millions of farmers worldwide. This session will showcase climate-smart agriculture systems farmers across the Americas are deploying to address climate change challenges while concurrently delivering ecosystem services and food and nutrition security.

Other Events for SfL Delegates:

• Verity Ulibarri, SfL farmer envoy, will participate as a panelist in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s discussion on “Partnerships for Climate-Smart Agriculture,” to be moderated by Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack at 3-4 p.m. Nov. 12 in the U.S. Pavilion. Ulibarri will share how her crop and livestock farm has reduced greenhouse gas emissions and built resilience during the event at the U.S. Center on Nov. 12, which is themed Adaptation and Agriculture.

• Bryan Sievers, co-chair of Iowa Smart Agriculture Work Group and Verity Ulibarri, SfL farmer envoy, will 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, at 11 a.m. Nov. 12 in the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation in the Agriculture Pavilion.

SfL delegates will be active in the Blue Zone exhibition area.

• The Blue Zone is where special interest groups advocate for policy, finance and partnership mechanisms to support climate action. This is an important forum for engagement, as groups use this high-profile platform to drive their own agenda, many of which have anti-agriculture biases.

SfL delegates, as members of the UNFCCC Farmers’ Constituency, will participate in the Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture sessions, the Egyptian government-sponsored FAST, the Global Stocktake Technical Dialogue and other UNFCCC sessions.

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For additional information, contact Ernie Shea at 410-952-0123 (WhatsApp+14109520123), or by email at Eshea@SolutionsfromtheLand.org.

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