On July 19 at 2 p.m. ET, Kara Brewer Boyd (Lumbee tribe), president of the Association of American Indian Farmers (AAIF), will testify at the House Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on the Environment's hearing “Regenerative Agriculture: How Farmers and Ranchers are Essential to Solving Climate Change and Increasing Food Production.” Kara and her husband, civil rights activist John W. Boyd, Jr, founder and president of the National Black Farmers Association (NBFA), are regenerative farmers in Virginia.

Witnesses will share how regenerative agriculture practices are addressing the climate crisis while protecting our country's food supply to avoid a food crisis.

Indigenous people have utilized regenerative farming practices, from no-till and companion planting to crop rotations and pollinating buffer strips, long before industrial agriculture became the dominant system in the U.S. Rooted in good land stewardship, these practices were born out of the simple intention of caring for the next seven generations—remember to take some, leave some, and there will always be some for future generations.

Congress must reform and amend federal policies to ensure America’s family farmers and ranchers have “climate” stewardship programs that don’t overwhelmingly favor corporate agribusiness. We can make farming and ranching profitable again, and for future generations, but supporting regenerative agriculture through federal policy action.

Ms. Boyd will be accompanied by Ms. Abigail Flores, public policy coordinator (NBFA/AAAIF); Shereen Waterlily (Mattaponi), community activist and indigenous farmer; and Dr. Leslie Rodriguez-McClellon, senior VP of student experience and operation at St. Augustine's University. The Boyds recently entered a Memorandum of Understanding (M.O.U.) with St. Augustine's University to advance equity and civil rights in agriculture.