Shelves in March in the first weeks of the pandemic
Landmark new reporting shows that we won't able to count on food from the South and West coast for much longer. Enter the Ag Reserve.
A new exhaustive study from Pro Publica has yielded the next in a series of alarming maps about climate change. This time, interactive maps and charts show where the threats of climate change will be felt most acutely in the near term - as soon as 2040.
Of note - the map that shows the shift in table crop production. Away from the South and California, areas we have relied on for out of season produce and vegetables, and toward our own backyard in the mid-Atlantic. (Purple means decline in yields, green means increase - darker= higher decline or gain).
If the flavor, transportation costs, carbon savings and economic benefits of local food were not enough, climate change is making food trucked in from elsewhere simply unavailable - and we need to be ready.
Montgomery County had the foresight to protect 1/3 of it's land mass for agriculture 40 years ago and the fortitude to maintain the primacy of farming in the zone since then. MCA has matched new and expanding farmers with over 500 acres of land in Montgomery County to grow the next generation of farmers through our Land Link program. We need each and every new table crop operation we can get growing to add to the generations of expertise and production our legacy farmers offer if the Ag Reserve is going to fulfill its promise of bountiful local food production.
Yet, at this time where the food growing potential (and water quality protection, more dire projections here) of the Reserve is more important than ever, the singular purpose of the Agriculture Reserve is being questioned. ZTA 20-01 would allow 3 square miles of commercial solar arrays with no real protections for forests, productive soils or water quality. What's more - the economic impact won't even be studied as part of this proposal - even though landowners report offers for their land 10-20 times what farmers are paying and some farmers are reporting the loss of lease contracts as the result of this ZTA even being proposed. (60% of Reserve farming is done on leased land).
The Reserve has a role to play in meeting carbon mitigation goals, including reforestation efforts and scaling up regenerative agriculture practices. But as the threats of warming become more and more concrete, this area set aside for Agriculture is a strategic investment in just that - growing our food in a rapidly warming world.
Yet, at this time where the food growing potential (and water quality protection, more dire projections here) of the Reserve is more important than ever, the singular purpose of the Agriculture Reserve is being questioned. ZTA 20-01 would allow 3 square miles of commercial solar arrays with no real protections for forests, productive soils or water quality. What's more - the economic impact won't even be studied as part of this proposal - even though landowners report offers for their land 10-20 times what farmers are paying and some farmers are reporting the loss of lease contracts as the result of this ZTA even being proposed. (60% of Reserve farming is done on leased land).
The Reserve has a role to play in meeting carbon mitigation goals, including reforestation efforts and scaling up regenerative agriculture practices. But as the threats of warming become more and more concrete, this area set aside for Agriculture is a strategic investment in just that - growing our food in a rapidly warming world.
Protecting farmland and water quality in an uncertain future are imperatives. Since 2001, Montgomery Countryside Alliance has been the boots on the ground with a hyper-local focus on Montgomery County's farmland, open space and water quality. We have once again been named "One of the Best" small nonprofits in the DC Region by the Catalogue for Philanthropy and would be honored by your tax-deductible support.
