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Flooding near the Platte River, NE. Image: DroneBase/AP
by Zoey Shipley and Miro Korenha
In Spring 2019, much of the Midwest was hit with devastating floods. Nebraska alone was faced with over $1 billion in damages to roads, local businesses, crops, and levees. Natural disasters like this have contributed to the crumbling of the rural economy and lack of investment in these regions have made them vulnerable to a multitude of shocks (from flooding to the coronavirus).
But the reality is that this historic flooding is no longer a once-in-a-lifetime event. This is the new reality that rural communities may come to face every year with our warming climate–and it’s an urgent threat for their already fragile economies.
Why This Matters: The overlapping economic and environmental disasters are quickly becoming the new reality for all of rural America–regions where the environment and economy are intrinsically connected. Supporting rural farmers and helping them transition to regenerative farming practices that help sequester carbon has to be a part of our national climate agenda–much as Mayor Pete Buttigieg proposed in his rural plan.
Coronavirus And Our Food: If last year’s floods weren’t enough of a strain on crop prices for smaller-scale farmers, the outbreak of COVID-19 could prove to be disastrous. So far, prices for crops and livestock have fallen between 2% (for wheat) and 13% (for cattle) and dairy farms have experienced a 25% loss due to school lunch programs being suspended in many states. As Midwestern rural communities are struggling to recover from natural disasters, they’re now far more exposed to the economic and health consequences of a global pandemic.
What Comes Next: Local agricultural leaders are the stewards of their land. With extreme natural disasters, collapsing farm economies, and the growing threat of health pandemics all colliding together, food producers are struggling to stay afloat. In the next federal stimulus package, Congress needs to focus on farmers and local food production.
The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition has laid out ways for leaders to do this, with a focus on issues like aid to local farmers and financial support to food system workers.
Without this financial support for ALL areas of local food production to stay in business, resources to help local producers move to more sustainable practices, and more attention to the rural health crisis then all the world will feel the ripple effect from these disasters on rural areas.
As California’s wildfire season approaches, Governor Gavin Newsom is proposing $536 million in emergency and other fundingto combat and prevent fires this year. The plan invests in additional firefighters, fuel breaks around vulnerable communities, and wildfire response capacity.
Why This Matters: California’s 2020 fire season burned a record-breaking 4.2 million acres and experts say that severe drought may make this season even more destructive.
Days after announcing a $1.6 billion investment into national parks, reserves, and Indigenous schools, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland visited Bears Ears National Monument to speak to Utah state and Tribal leaders about the future of the monument.
by Amy Lupica, ODP Staff Writer The Department of the Interior announced Friday that it will use funds allocated by a conservation bill passed last year to fund 165 national park improvement projects that will create nearly 19,000 jobs. The Biden administration has pledged to protect 30% of public lands and waters by 2030, but accomplishing that means completing deferred maintenance […]
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