The
Million Acre
Challenge
BY AMANDA CATHER
This is a fertile time to refine our vision and choose the ways
in which we wish to continue walking our paths. Today, we
can choose where to direct our attention, and reformulate the
principles that will oversee the rest of our precious time here on
Earth. Today, we can choose to go beyond the individualism and
competition of business as usual to recognize the interdependence
that weaves all life, that right now knocks so clearly at
the door. Today, it is possible to counteract apathy and indifference
by forging an attitude of respect and reverence for other
beings and for ourselves, however small our steps may be.
Today, we are able to choose the path of vulnerability and courage
to express what is really important to our hearts. It’s time.
- adrián villasenor-galarza
The moment that confronts
us now, as we struggle
with the COVID 19 pandemic,
is remarkable. We
are trying to find the new way
forward. Business as usual is not
an option. And our so-called
“new normal” makes new things
possible.
Our agricultural system was
already under pressure—and now,
even more so. Falling prices for
farmers, rising prices for consumers,
extreme weather conditions,
and concerns about safety and
consistency in our supply chains
have resonated across farms of
all sizes and production methods.
Severe shocks to the system,
whether in the form of a sudden
pandemic or the slow-moving
catastrophe of climate change,
show us the urgent need to build
resiliency within our agricultural
economy. Over the next few years,
partners in a new project called
the Million Acre Challenge will
work together to try to connect
the already existing dots and build
the missing links in a regional food
system that can better support our
farmers and our communities. Today,
we can begin that work with
the most fundamental component
of any farm: the soil.
The health of the soil on a
farm is foundational to the vigor
of the crops it grows, the robustness
of its ecosystem, and the
financial well-being of its farmer.
Agricultural soil health is a critical
component of global and local
efforts towards sustainability
PHOTOS COURTESY OF Dr. Ray Weil
From mountain pastures to sandy
Eastern Shore fields, the health of
Maryland’s agricultural soils is critical.
36 plenty I Summer growing 2020