Climate Action Group Hosts Talk on Sustainable Farming

WSU Director of the Center for Sustaining Agriculture & Nature Resources to Discuss Climate Change Impacts on Food:

Thursday, July 10 at 7 p.m. at  Friday Harbor Brickworks

(Note: a 10 p.m. ferry scheduled to leave Friday Harbor will sail to all ferry-served islands and Anacortes.)

Chad Kruger to speak on climate change and agriculture

Learn how climate change is already having an impact on the world’s food supply, and what the future may have in store for crop production during an illustrated talk by Washington State University researcher, Chad Kruger, scheduled at 7 p.m. Thursday, July 10 at the Friday Harbor Brickworks.

Topics will cover sustainable agriculture production practices as well as cutting edge research and education on the critical issues facing agriculture, which include climate change.

Kruger’s presentation is the third free program in The Climate Action Imperative: Understanding Impacts & Making Choices, a summer/fall speakers’ series featuring eight experts on Climate Change—from oceanographers to botanists, biologists to meteorologists. The series provides a current look at climate change and what actions are warranted by individuals as well as by our state and nation. For information about Newton’s program and the series call 360-378-2240, ext. 2227 or 360-378-6690 or visit our web sites at www.nps.gov/sajh or www.madrona.org
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Chad Kruger is the Director of the Washington State University Center for Sustaining Agriculture & Natural Resources (CSANR), which has been working for two decades to bring sustainable solutions to the citizens and agricultural industry of Washington State. According to Kruger, the demand for innovation and problem-solving has never been greater as our society faces unparalleled economic and environmental challenges.

He will also address the Pacific Northwest specifically. In a recent post on the CSNAR blog (go to csanr.wsu.edu and click on “blog”), he says: When you compare PNW agriculture projections to national projections (or global) it becomes very clear that we are in much better shape here than most of the rest of the country. In fact, it’s plausible that changes in domestic and global agricultural markets due to climate impacts elsewhere may have more meaningful impacts on PNW agricultural systems than the direct impact of climate itself – at least in the near future.

Since 2004 Kruger has led CSANR’s award winning Climate Friendly Farming™ Project, which focuses on evaluating the carbon footprint of agriculture, developing greenhouse gas mitigation technology, climate change impact assessment, and developing renewable fuels and products from biomass.

Current CSANR projects include energy and nutrient recovery from organic wastes, improving the management of alternative marketing systems, use of biologically-based management practices and technologies to reduce pesticide use, “space-aged” technology for managing agricultural inputs, and the development of new, sustainable farming systems.

Kruger was a member of the 2007/2008 Washington State Climate Action Team, co-chairing the Agriculture Sector Carbon Market Workgroup. He was a member of the 2010 Washington State Climate Change Working Lands Technical Advisory Group and a member of the Washington State Energy Strategy Technical Experts Panel. He is currently a technical advisor to the Northwest Regional Biocarbon Initiative and a WSU Earth, Ecosystem and Society Fellow.

As with all talks in the series, Kruger’s presentation will be followed by a discussion.

Series co-sponsors are: San Juan Island National Historical Park, Madrona Institute, San Juan Islands Conservation District, The League of Women Voters of the San Juans, San Juan Island Library, San Juan Nature Institute, San Juan County Marine Resources Committee, Northwest Straits Foundation, Stewardship Network of the San Juan Islands, Washington State University Extension Service, San Juan Island Grange #966 and the Agricultural Resources Committee of the San Juan Islands.

The next scheduled speaker is Lara Whitely Binder, Outreach Specialist for Climate Impacts Group and Center for Science in the Earth System at the University of Washington. The program is scheduled at 7 p.m., July 24 at the San Juan Island Grange.