RSVP below to join us for the second webinar in our series, Dry Farming and Other Strategies for Climate Resilience, 2023. This time we will be joined by Joel Johnson and DeAnndra Porter from Native Seeds/SEARCH and Lucas Nebert from the Oregon State University Dry Farming Project. The presenters will discuss how extreme heat and drought are becoming problems for more producers across the West of the United States and beyond, and answer some questions about how variety selection and agronomic practices can help us to address these climate challenges. Read more about the presenters and their work below.
If this is a topic of your interest, please join us.
Dry Farming and Other Strategies for Climate Resilience: Drought and Heat in the West
🌾 DATE | Tuesday, December 5, 2023
🌾 TIME | 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Pacific Time
🌾 LOCATION | Zoom
About the Presenters
Joel Johnson serves as the Conservation Garden Farmer at Native Seeds/SEARCH—a nonprofit seedbank based in Tucson, AZ that preserves and distributes 1,800+ varieties of arid-adapted crop seeds and wild crop relatives. Joel was born and raised in Tucson and studied Sustainable Agriculture at Messiah College with a focus on human-scale agroecosystems. He has led Native Seeds/SEARCH’s internal seed production and farm expansion since 2020. He also provides writing and editing support for human-scale farms and farmers around the country.
DeAnndra Porter is a member of the Tohono O’odham Nation located west of Tucson, AZ. She graduated from the University of Arizona with a Bachelors of Science in Nutrition and Food Systems and has been involved in planting desert-adapted crops for several years—specifically Tohono O’odham traditional crops like tepary beans. DeAnndra is a Farming and Seed Saving apprentice with Native Seeds/SEARCH and has been involved in numerous organizations that are working towards sustainable agriculture practices and focused on arid-adapted seeds and crops. Her goal is to help communities learn sustainable practices in gardening, ag, and utilizing local natural resources and local programs aiming for the same vision.
Lucas Nebert is a researcher who specializes in soil health and plant and soil microbial ecology applied to agroecosystems, and currently leads the Oregon State University Dry Farming Project, based in Corvallis, OR. He works closely with small, organic farmers in the Pacific Northwest to conduct participatory dry farming research, including variety trials, plant breeding, soil management, and site suitability. His main research focus is on breeding and management strategies for sustainable dry farming of staple crops, including culinary corn and dry beans. His current educational projects include the Dry Farming Accelerator Program, which facilitates farmers’ adoption of dry farming, and the Dry Farm Mapping Project, which uses maps to identify suitable dry farming sites, and inform state-level water policy decisions. He also volunteers as the board president for the Dry Farming Institute nonprofit, also based in Corvallis, OR.
