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Helene Recovery

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Helene Recovery

Cherie Jzar

Farm Beginnings

Jun 27

Written By Organic Growers School WNC

Deep Roots CPS Farm

Organic Growers School WNC

Tom Elmore

Tina Angott

What is Climate Resiliency Training?

Geared toward farms with three or more years of production experience, the series helps farmers assess climate risks, identify opportunities for resilience, and develop strategies to mitigate or recover from extreme weather. This training incorporates models for risk assessment currently being used in other regions (Upper Midwest & New England). It adapts them for use based on expected climatic trends in the Southern Appalachia region.

Background

In 2025, OGS began developing Climate Smart Trainings for farmers to complement our existing farmer programs. The bedrock of farmer programs has been designed to foster sustainable growth and innovative, holistically oriented practices, so that farmers can successfully navigate an unstable economy, natural disasters, personal or community distress, and increasing weather instability. Our goal is to create well-connected farmers who are supported and have achievable, well-informed goals so that the agricultural community and local food system can thrive and adapt to whatever comes its way.

Following the devastation due to Hurricane Helene in Western NC (WNC), much of OGS programming has shifted its focus to help farm businesses recover from loss, gain access to needed information, resources, and funds, review business strategies, and adapt to the current changing economy, climate, market, and ecosystem landscape. We aim to help farmers build resilience into their farm businesses by addressing diverse needs and challenges across production, distribution, marketing, enterprise, and financial systems. Our goal is to support farmers as they understand, prioritize, and integrate climate-smart agriculture practices to increase their likelihood of long-term risk mitigation and resilience when the next disaster inevitably strikes.

This six-part online pilot training series, Climate Resilience Training, is being developed in collaboration with partners at NOFA-VT, Working Landscapes (NC), and the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association (NC/SC). Starting in the Fall of 2025, this series will focus on adapting the Climate Adaptation Mitigation Fellowship (CAMF) Planning Tool to the needs of farmers in Southern Appalachia. The CAMF Planning tool was developed and has been successfully implemented in the Northeast and Midwest. OGS will supplement this tool with additional planning tools from Holistic Farm Management and learnings from other Climate Resilience Trainings, such as the “Risk to Resilience Training” designed by the Land Stewardship Project (MN) and Laura Lengnick's work in Resilient Agriculture: Cultivating Food Systems for Changing Climates.

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