Why I report on sustainability, food and agriculture

Photo taken at Indian Creek Farm in Ithaca, NY in fall 2022 / Clare Shanahan

During this semester for Ithaca Week, I will be covering food and agriculture in Central New York, with a particular focus on sustainability.

I have always been vocal about my passion for the environment and all of the ways it is intertwined with society. As climate change continues to worsen, global food systems will suffer as well. According to Relief Web, climate change has already started to disrupt global food systems and lead to increased food insecurity, especially in the developing world. On the opposite side of the issue, global food systems also contribute considerably to climate change. This is an interesting puzzle, as there is a big question to me of how we can make farming more sustainable while also creating an agriculture and food distribution system that will stand up to climate change. In 2020, according to the USDA, agriculture was the economic sector responsible for 11.2% of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S..

Also according to the USDA, “Climate change has the potential to adversely impact agricultural productivity at local and regional scales through alterations in rainfall patterns, more frequent occurrences of climate extremes (including high temperatures or drought), altered patterns of pest pressure, and changes in seasonal and diurnal temperature patterns.” In other words, the many impacts of climate change which are only going to occur more often with time are also going to negatively affect agricultural production in the United States and likely in the world. At the same time, agriculture as it currently stands in the United States is contributing to the climate crisis in no small amount. How can we create sustainable, environmentally friendly agriculture systems that will also stand up to unpredictable and ever-changing patterns of weather?

In Tompkins County, I feel uniquely situated to report on food and the environment because the county is a hub of agriculture and agricultural science. At the same time, Tompkins County is also a region where, according to Feeding America, in 2021 9,680 people were food insecure. Through my reporting, I hope in some small way to learn more about these seemingly contradictory facts. Although I cannot hope to fix them I do believe that identifying these problems is part of the larger goal of fixing the local and global food systems.