No Farms, No Food.

 

American agriculture is in crisis. Every day over 2,000 acres of farmland are lost. Every day dairies in Wisconsin and Vermont go bankrupt. And, according to the U.N., we have less than 50 harvests left before climate change consumes food production.  The only hope to reverse this is regenerative agriculture which builds healthy soil, uses a tenth as much water, produces healthier food, higher crop yields and employs more people, especially women.

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Its most important by-product is sequestering carbon. Healthy soil draws down the carbon in our atmosphere that causes climate change. Some experts have estimated that, if all industrial agriculture (which kills the soil and thus needs more chemicals to produce) were converted to regenerative, we could clean our atmosphere and stop climate change in 5 years. For over 40 years, American Farmland Trust has been the leader in farmland conservation and the strongest advocate for farmers in the U.S. They are a top lobbyist in Washington and an indefatigable resource for farmers trying to save their land.

 

AFT wanted to find a way to get their message to great communicators and a wider audience. Tarr was brought in to grow their networks and raise their visibility in new circles through events, partnerships and fundraising. Some of these top level connections included Rusty Areais, former CA State Assemblyman and lobbyist for California farmers, and Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, a leader in the U.S. Senate for 4 terms and now ambassador for the Wyss Campaign for Nature, a billion dollar fund for the environment.

 

Tarr engineered a partnership with The Carbon Underground, which brought AFT a great communications partner and global connector and launched a $100MM campaign to support their work together. After successful events, which she produced in Los Angeles/Hancock Park and at the Santa Anita racetrack, AFT had new affiliations with The Garden Club of America; donors; filmmakers, including the CAA and Endeavor Foundations and Robert Downey Jr.’s Footprint Coalition; and advertising agencies, including 72 and Sunny and enso.

 

The TCU partnership grew to include the Savory Institute and put a TV series, "Rebuilding Paradise", into development about how regenerative agriculture can revitalize a community. Through her relationship with Hiring America, the only TV series to help veterans find jobs, Tarr developed another co-production for AFT about the great opportunities for veterans in regenerative agriculture.

 

Consulting work with AFT led to Tarr’s position as Program Director for Adopt-A-Meter, a program of The Carbon Underground, where she continued to support the AFT – TCU partnership.