At a time of an ongoing global pandemic, armed conflicts, climate change, chemical pollution, rising food practices, and the ever-growing loss of land for food production, the need to build sustainable and just agricultural and food systems in the U.S. has never been more urgent. Modern food production is responsible for one-quarter of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. The use of fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides can be hugely damaging to our environment and to human health. Yet, farmers, farmworkers, and rural communities are also disproportionally impacted by climate change and chemical pollution. In some ways, they are both the canaries and the prophets of how we change the current unsustainable agricultural paradigm.
Catholic Rural Life has focused on answering the critical questions: • Can our farming methods give back as well as take from creation? • Can we rediscover a more intimate, conscious, and respectful relationship to Earth, its biodiversity, and its creatures? • Can we organize economic enterprises in such a way to sustain us while also broadening our awareness of the ecological whole? Learn how Catholic Rural Life inspires and supports the good work that today’s agricultural leaders are doing for the glory of God and hear how one U.S. Catholic farmer is leading the change of how we grow our food.
Panelists: James F. Ennis, Executive Director, Catholic Rural Life Ron Rosmann, Founder of Rosmann Family Farms, runs a 600-acre certified organic grain and livestock farm in Harlan, Iowa