Event Date
About the Symposium
Climate change and associated extreme disaster events threaten agricultural productivity, food stability, and rural community resilience around the world. This event builds upon the 2020 Fall Webinar Series and brings together diverse perspectives -- from climate scientists and social scientists to crop biologists and ecologists -- to address the multi-dimensional challenges and opportunities associated with developing climate adaptive and resilient food systems in California, the US, and beyond.
The Symposium will take place virtually on Wednesday, April 6, 2022, with coordinated sessions on managing climate extremes, nature-based solutions, operational responses to climate change, and strategies to enable health, human wellbeing, and justice in agricultural and food systems. Each session will engage science and policy experts from the field and will include interactive online participation from local and state government, agricultural firms and commodity boards, nonprofits, communities, and researchers. The goal of the event is to generate productive discussions, collaborative solutions, and build working groups that highlight emerging science on climate change impacts experienced by various food systems, agricultural sectors, and communities. We expect that the event will lead to opportunities for funding proposals, collaboration and different kinds of written outputs. Registration is now open! Register online here. There is no cost to attend.
Dates: April 6, 2022
Format: Online and Open to the Public
Watch the full recording here!
This event was hosted with support from the UC Davis World Food Center and the UC Davis Air Quality Research Center.
Please subscribe to CARC email updates to remain up-to-date on all program developments and announcements as they arise!
Symposium Agenda
After each panel, there will be a Group Q&A Discussion with each of the panelists. Please note the times are listed in PT.
8:00 - 8:30 AM Event Welcome / Introductory Remarks
8:30 AM - 9:30 AM Panel 1: Labor
9:30 AM - 9:45 AM Short Break
9:45 AM - 10:45 AM Panel 2: Climate Stressors to Agricultural Systems
10:45 AM - 11:00 AM Short Break
11:00 AM - 11:45 AM Panel 3: Mitigation co-Benefits & Nature-Based Solutions
11:45 AM - 1:00 PM Lunch Break
1:00 PM - 1:45 PM Panel 4: Health & Local Communities
1:45 PM - 2:00 PM Closing Remarks
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM Happy Hour Networking Opportunity
Panel Topics List
View the list of program topics below!
Panel 1: Labor
This session will consider how industries, firms, and labor organizations are addressing projected climate impacts and risks, and what key business and labor innovations are furthering resilience.
Panel 2: Climate Stressors to Agricultural Systems
Extreme weather events are increasing in frequency and magnitude due to climate change, exacerbating temperature extremes, impacting soil and growth conditions of crops. Plant scientists and agronomists are taking steps to ensure a resilient agriculture under these stressors.
Panel 3: Mitigation co-Benefits & Nature-Based Solutions
This session will explore ways in which climate mitigation and GHG reduction efforts in agriculture and food systems actively benefit other sectors and what are their co-benefits with adaptation and resilience building efforts.
Panel 4: Health & Local Communities
This session will focus on the ways in which climate change will affect the health of communities employed or adjacent to agricultural industries, strategies to increase health resilience in communities dependent on the agricultural and food sectors and the ways that local communities can be activated and mobilized towards more resilient food systems?
Symposium Speaker List
Our Program Planning Committee has been hard at work over the past few months to develop an educational program; bringing together diverse perspectives- from climate scientists and social scientists to crop biologists and ecologists - to address the multi-dimensional challenges and opportunities associated with developing climate adaptive and resilient food systems in California, the US, and beyond. Review the speaker list below! Note speakers are listed in alphabetical order.
Catherine Brinkley
Associate Professor, UC Davis
Dr. Catherine Brinkley is an Associate Professor in Human Ecology and Faculty Director for the Center for Regional Change, a university research center that partners with local governments and non-profits for engaged scholarship that centers social equity. With a PhD in city and regional planning, a veterinary medical degree, and a masters in virology, her research focuses on health and design. Her work is used internationally by the United National Food Agriculture Organization as well as local communities to guide plans and policies.
Speaking as part of Panel 4: Health & Local Communities
Adam Calo
Assistant Professor of Environmental Governance and Politics, Radboud University
Adam is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Governance and Politics at Radboud University in the Netherlands. He received a PhD from the department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management at UC Berkeley, where he studied how problems of land access in California frustrated beginning farmer aspirations. He was recently a researcher at the James Hutton Institute in Scotland, examining the role of land reform policies on the potential for agricultural change.
Speaking as part of Panel 1: Labor
Clare Cannon
Assistant Professor, UC Davis
Clare E. B. Cannon is Assistant Professor in the Department of Human Ecology at the University of California, Davis and a Research Fellow in the Department of Social Work at the University of the Free State, South Africa. She is an Arab diaspora settler of North America, who researches intersections of social inequality, health disparities, climate risks, and environmental injustices in urban, rural, and disaster contexts. Email: cebcannon@ucdavis.edu; website: https://clarecannon.ucdavis.edu.
Speaking as part of Panel 1: Labor
Sydney Chamberlin
Project Manager, The Nature Conservancy
Sydney Chamberlin is a Project Manager for Climate and Nature-based Solutions with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in California. Her work focuses on developing and advancing strategies that will accelerate the use of nature-based climate solutions in California. Prior to her work with TNC, Sydney worked in the California Legislature as a California Council on Science & Technology (CCST) Science Fellow, where she analyzed bills relating to natural resource management and climate change for the Senate Committee on Natural Resources & Water. Sydney holds BS degrees in physics and mathematics from Utah State University, a doctorate in physics from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and a project management certificate from Cornell University.
Speaking as part of Panel 3: Mitigation co-Benefits & Nature-Based Solutions
Christine Helen Diepenbrock
Assistant Professor, UC Davis
My work, as part of multi-disciplinary and collaborative teams, aims to help integrate biochemistry and physiology into genomics-assisted crop breeding strategies. To do this, team members and I leverage quantitative genetic approaches to help improve our understanding of plant biology and physiology, and vice versa. Traits that I've studied have been in the categories of nutritional content & composition, responses to abiotic stress (e.g. drought and high temperatures), and other aspects of crop productivity & quality.
In my graduate work I dissected the genetics of provitamin A and vitamin E levels in maize grain. I've also evaluated metabolic profiles and amino acid turnover in small oilseed crops. Taking part in international agricultural research has been a key component of my work, from evaluating nutritionally dense maize hybrids under managed stress conditions in Zimbabwe to interviewing cotton and rice farmers in India.
Speaking as part of Panel 2: Climate Stressors to Agricultural Systems
Elisabeth Forrestel
Assistant Professor, UC Davis
Elisabeth Forrestel is an Assistant Professor in Viticulture and Enology at UC Davis. Dr. Forrestel studies the phylogenetic and functional basis of drought and heat responses in grapes, and ways to mitigate climate change impacts in viticulture. Her work includes incorporating monitoring technology in vineyards and using remote sensing data to help paint a fuller picture of the environmental factors that most significantly affect plant growth, berry chemistry and ultimately, wine quality.
Speaking as part of Panel 2: Climate Stressors to Agricultural Systems
Michael Huff
Huff Innovative Technologies Company (HITC)
Dr. Michael Huff is the Founder & Principal Officer at Huff Innovative Technologies Company (HITC) and has devoted his knowledge, skills, and abilities to building climate resilience in communities worldwide. He has collected breakthroughs from across the globe while building NGO capacity with the U.S. Peace Corps in the Republic of Georgia (near Russia & Turkey), as a relationship manager in the People's Republic of China and as a sustainability advisor in Australia. Dr. Huff strives to identify and showcase cost-effective, replicable, nature-based climate change innovations that help farmers implement financially viable processes to ensure effective water stewardship, soil health, and sustainable agricultural practices.
Speaking as part of Panel 2: Climate Stressors to Agricultural Systems
Virginia Jameson
Deputy Secretary for Climate and Working Lands, California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA)
Virginia Jameson is Deputy Secretary for Climate and Working Lands at the California Department of Food and Agriculture. She previously served as Climate and Conservation Program Manager at the California Department of Conservation since 2018. Prior to that, she was Deputy State Director for the American Farmland Trust, Management Specialist for the Monterey County Agricultural Commissioner’s Office, a Board Aide for Monterey County Office of District 4 Supervisor Jane Parker, and Associate Director of the Ag Land Trust. Jameson holds dual Master of Arts degrees in International Affairs and Natural Resources and Sustainable Development from American University and a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Speaking as part of Panel 3: Mitigation co-Benefits & Nature-Based Solutions
Christine Tran
Executive Director, Los Angeles Food Policy Council
Christine Tran is the Executive Director of the Los Angeles Food Policy Council. She is a first generation high school graduate. An Angelena from South El Monte, she is the daughter of refugees. Her mother worked in sweatshops, her father as a day laborer. Through her lived experiences, she is committed to increasing healthy food access, expanding local opportunities and building healthy communities through inclusive policies and programs.
Speaking as part of Panel 4: Health & Local Communities
Lucas Zucker
Policy and Communications Director, CAUSE
Lucas Zucker is Policy and Communications Director at CAUSE. He graduated from UC Berkeley with a bachelor’s degree in Political Economy. Lucas joined the CAUSE staff in 2012 as a youth organizer and researcher. At CAUSE he has worked on community organizing campaigns and policy advocacy around voting rights, healthy food access, public transit, environmental justice, education, immigrants’ rights, affordable housing, and workers' rights. Lucas serves on the board of the national Partnership for Working Families, the Planning Commission of the City of Ventura, and the Community Advisory Committee for Clean Power Alliance.
Speaking as part of Panel 1: Labor
Please subscribe to CARC email updates to remain up-to-date on all program developments and announcements as they arise!