Conference Schedule

Building Climate Resilience Together: An Inclusive Blueprint for Washington’s Farming Future

How can Washington agriculture become more resilient, productive, and profitable in the face of climate change? From drought and heatwaves to floods, wildfires, and shifting growing conditions, growers and farmworkers are already feeling the impacts of a changing climate. To transcend these challenges, new collaborations and ways of learning are critical. WSDA’s Climate Resilience Plan for Washington Agriculture charts a path to protect the viability of farms, food systems, and rural communities, while including the voices of farmworkers, who often face the greatest risks.

By partnering with the non-profit Semillero de Ideas, the Resilience Plan includes data and stories from interviews with over 200 farmworkers from across the Yakima Valley and Columbia Basin. This landmark report is a first in its comprehensive engagement of such a broad group of essential stakeholders.

In this interactive session Dani Gelardi (WSDA) and Erik Nicholson (Semillero de Ideas) will present a dual-voice narrative. Dani will present a high-level overview of the Climate Resilience Plan, outlining anticipated changes, on-the-ground impacts, future opportunities, and strategies for building resilience. Erik will shine a spotlight on the particular impacts to farmworkers and their families, sharing best practices for more equitable engagement, and recommendations to better support workers through climate change. Participants will be invited into small group discussions to share their knowledge, perspectives, and experiences with climate change adaptation and inclusive stakeholder engagement. Together, we’ll consider how to collectively build a more resilient agricultural future.