The National Farmers Union is hosting Kitchen Table Meetings on Climate Change.

With help from external funding, the NFU-O will be facilitating a series of Kitchen Table Meetings (KTMs) across Ontario to promote action on climate change. These small-group meetings will include a variety of stakeholders and engage NFU-O’s extensive connections with sustainable farmers and food system allies.

Farmers are disproportionately affected by changing climate but also have ample opportunities for action. Discussion, education, and engagement must include farmers and rural people to enable coordinated action on climate change.

Previous discussions on climate in Ontario and Canada have identified several key areas of engagement and action for agriculture, including:
- Carbon sequestration and long-term soil health
- Reduced GHG emissions from agriculture
- Green energy
- Organic diversion for waste reduction
- Farmland protection, including greenbelt and grasslands
- Tree planting, as well as hedgerow and shelterbelt protection
- Climate resilience

In February and March of this year, NFU-O staff and volunteers will convene and facilitate seven KTMs across Ontario, along with one online KTM, encouraging participants to engage and learn, becoming better educated and more able to take action.

We will invite stakeholders from diverse backgrounds to each meeting. Young farmers are our core demographic for this project, but we will also include academics and researchers, community members, NGO representatives, Indigenous leaders, and others.

One of the kitchen table meetings will be held in Grey County at the Grey Ag Services in Markdale, on Wednesday, Feb. 20 from 7-9 pm.

To register: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/kitchen-table-meetings-on-climate-change-tickets-56141558914

source: media release, NFU