Last week, Kiss the Ground was honored to take part in Farmers, Soil, and Climate – a presidential forum in Des Moines Iowa. KTG Co-Founder Finian Makepeace moderated and interviewed several Democratic campaign representatives and one Republican presidential candidate. Each laid out their policies on how they would stand up for America’s family farmers and help them transition to more regenerative agricultural practices.
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With the Iowa Caucuses beginning on Monday, February 3, 2020, we invite you to take the time to watch these interviews and learn what the proposals and priorities of these candidates are ―and when it’s time to vote, vote for healthy soil. Let’s continue to stand up for America’s family farmers and a regenerative future. Together, we can do this. #soil2020
https://youtu.be/MHbq_XaoEoEJohn Russell, Iowa Rural Political Coordinator for Senator Elizabeth Warren goes into detail about Senator Elizabeth Warren’s policies for family farm, healthy soils and putting farmers in the driver’s seat for a Green New Deal for rural America.
https://youtu.be/-p3g6MQcBIUChris Neubert, Iowa Rural Policy Coordinator for Senator Bernie Sanders discusses Sander’s platform on corporate ag monopolies, soil health, the Green New Deal and regenerative agriculture to help stop water pollution, rebuild rural America and solve the growing climate crisis.
https://youtu.be/zefVP95SGQwJohn Whitacker – Vice President Joe Biden campaign representative – Iowa family farmer, Former Iowa House of Representative shares Biden’s plan to increase public research and investments to help farmer’s improve farm conservation practices by rebuilding soil health through no-till, cover crops and increasing on-farm biodiversity.
https://youtu.be/Qr1XaQsPUfwWendy Millet – Businessman, Environmentalist Tom Steyer campaign –TomKat Ranch Director shares her experience working on the Steyer’s TomKat Ranch, where they use regenerative agricultural and soil building practices and how a Steyer administration’s Climate Justice Plan would help farmers transition to more environmentally beneficial practices to deal with floods, droughts and climate change.
https://youtu.be/zLJjT2ULjZ4Special message from Kat Taylor to Iowa farmers:
Kat Taylor, the wife of presidential candidate Tom Steyer, is the founder of TomKat Ranch an 1,800 acre grassfed cattle ranch in the San Francisco Bay Area and hopes to inspire the transition of 1 million acres of California rangeland to regenerative management in the next 5 years to help solve our climate crisis.
https://youtu.be/lAV-Wxw6ZnwSenator Amy Klobuchar campaign – Dave Frederickson, former Minnesota Agriculture Commissioner and past President National Farmers Union shares
https://youtu.be/57c1G0Xz–UCongresswoman Tulsi Gabbard thanks Iowa’s family farmers and shares a message of hope and positive change from the campaign trail in New Hampshire. Gabbard speaks to the problems facing Iowa’s farmers and talks about the direct connection between industrial agriculture and the need to rebuild soil health so farmers can help lead the charge in the fight against climate change.
https://youtu.be/cVe45zRT278Republican presidential candidate Joe Walsh, former Tea Party Republican congressman and conservative talk radio host discusses his past as a former Tea Party congressman elected in 2010 from Illinois and how he would create a separate Climate Department at the USDA to give rural America the tools and resources it needs to fight climate change.
This post was written in collaboration with Food Democracy Now and www.soilandclimate.org.
WHY SOIL?
From growing 95% of our food, to creating fresh water sources, to balancing our climate, to being the foundation of all life on land, soil is our optimism for what’s possible.
