This week, another nascent movement appeared to be coalescing at Freedom Plaza, just steps from the White House. There, farmers and their advocates gathered to bring attention to the urgency of the climate crisis at what they called the Rally for Resilience.
It was one part of a larger effort to meet an important moment. With the country’s biggest piece of farm legislation set to be reauthorized this year, 24 organizations—including the HEAL Food Alliance, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC), and Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI-USA)—joined together to organize three days of action in the nation’s capital.
A few hundred farmers and allies attended, and the crowd was diverse in every way: Indigenous and Black, urban and rural, organic and regenerative, farmers and farmworkers. At a time when many farmers are aging out of the occupation, the bulk of U.S. farmland is owned by a shrinking number of people, and the question of who will grow food here in the coming years looms large, many were also notably young.
“Some of us wondered, ‘Who’s gonna continue the fight?’” said David Senter, who in 1979 spent 15 days driving his tractor to D.C. from Texas to demand parity for farmers. Senter was back this week to represent the Farm Aid generation. From the stage, he said he was thrilled by the faces in the crowd and their commitment to farming and environmental stewardship. “I pledge my support to all of you young people,” he said. (Stalwart farmer advocates John Mellencamp and Willie Nelson also showed up to offer support—Mellencamp on stage and Nelson via video.)
The rally was officially focused on climate action, but a mark of this particular movement is a broader recognition of the unequal impacts of the climate crisis and the fact that the policy solutions on the table could easily bypass groups without mainstream agricultural power. Farmers held signs that said “Less oil, more soil,” as well as “Black food sovereignty now” and “Communities over corporations.”
“For generations, corporations and Big Ag have seen us a source of labor and not as the farmers,” said Julieta Saucedo, a small-scale farmer from El Paso, Texas, as she talked about the agroecological farm and land stewardship practices passed down in her family. “The relationship we build with soil dictates the future of our food systems for generations.”
As the farmers prepared to march to the Capitol building and then to meet with legislators to talk about the farm bill the following day, it was clear that although they will face significant challenges in moving their agenda forward, they are beginning to build strength in numbers—just as their ancestors did. As Navajo Nation farmer Chili Yazzie said, “Farmers are tough, but Mother Nature’s tougher.”
Below, we present scenes from the Farmers for Climate Action: Rally for Resilience.