Food / Now: On Climate Mitigation, Sustainable Farming and Food Security in Massachusetts

The global scientific community sees climate change as an existential threat and the greatest challenge of the 21st century. There is a distinct correlation between climate change, agricultural practices, an food insecurity. All of this speaks to the urgent need to address hunger in American in this larger context. Even more so, given how the US is a primary contributor to the climate crisis---due in no small part to the monocrop paradigm of big agribusiness. The USDA\u27s Economic Research Service attributes 9.6% of the country\u27s total greenhouse gas emissions to agriculture, but that figure does not take into account the relationship between agribusiness and transportation---a significant greenhouse-gas contributor, at 29%---and the vast network of transportation and storage (refrigeration) systems and practices required to support agribusiness. Massachusetts is a leader in creating and supporting initiatives that promote sustainable farming and food security, but there is much to be done. To effectively alleviate food insecurity, it must be addressed under the umbrella of climate change