Panel 2
Climate Change and Food Production in the Midwest
This panel explores climate predictions for the Great Lakes states and the Midwest and the potential impacts on regional food production. Panelists discuss strategies for developing a more resilient and sustainable food system, exploring approaches such as climate-smart agriculture and regenerative land management
Panelists
Will Glazik
Organic Farmer and Crop Advisor
Will Glazik, from Paxton, Illinois, is a second-generation organic farmer and crop advisor. Glazik was raised on a mixed row crop and livestock-certified organic farm before he studied crop sciences at the University of Illinois. After graduation, Glazik worked in agriculture retail sales before sharing crop-farming 800 acres. Currently, he is utilizing some no-till organic practices on his farm and consulting for organic row crop transition farmers. Glazik co-founded the IDEA Farm Network, a learning community for organic and conservation-minded farmers in the Midwest. He raises corn, soybeans, oats, wheat, specialty grains like open-pollinated corn and grains for brewers and distillers. Glazik founded Silver Tree Beer & Spirits LLC along with his brothers Clayton and Dallas. Through Silver Tree Beer & Spirits, LLC, the family is able to market products like Down East Vodka and whiskeys directly to the consumer utilizing grain grown on the farm.
Fred Carter
Co-Founder and Executive Director, Black Oaks Center
Affectionately known as Baba Fred or the Ancient One, Fred Carter adds depth and brevity to the possibility of equity and justice. As a former Black Panther Party member, he brings over 60 years of strategy and process to the leadership circles he shares with those young enough to be children/grandchildren. This leadership includes his work with the National Black Food Justice Alliance and Black Land and Power. Carter is a retired transportation executive who left the corporate world to found Black Oaks Center with his wife, Dr. Jifunza Wright Carter, MD, MPH, and his son, Akin Carter, in 2006 when it was clear that the adverse consequences of climate instability, resource constraints, and a growing, global population would shape an arduous course of life on our planet for years to come. Carter is a permaculture teacher and regenerative farmer who has been critical in developing peri-urban local food systems in and around Chicago.
Nicole Tautges
Agroecologist, Michael Fields Agricultural Institute
Nicole Tautges, PhD, is an agroecologist at the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute (MFAI), a nonprofit organization addressing the challenges of soil fertility, water quality, climate resilience, racial equity, food security, and farm success through research, policy, and education. MFAI is based in East Troy, Wisconsin, and serves diverse farmers and communities in the Upper Midwest and beyond. Tautges completed her bachelor's degree in agronomy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and earned her PhD at Washington State University, completing a project on soil fertility, weed, and soil microbial management in semiarid organic wheat production systems. She went on to work on Kernza research at the University of Minnesota and then studied soil microbial ecology in processing tomato systems at the University of California-Davis. Her research at MFAI focuses on soil fertility in food-grade grain systems, working primarily with rye, wheat, Kernza, legume cover crops, and alfalfa.
Dennis Todey
Director, USDA Midwest Climate Hub
Dennis Todey, PhD, has been the director of the USDA Midwest Climate Hub in Ames, Iowa, since 2016. The hub delivers actionable climate information for agriculture across the Corn Belt. Todey has spent his career working on climate and agriculture issues throughout the Midwest and Northern Plains, including climate change issues and agriculture and tool and data development for agricultural use, working with numerous federal, regional, and state partners. He co-authored the last two National Climate Assessments and is developing state-level summaries in the Midwest states. He was previously the state climatologist for South Dakota at South Dakota State University from 2003 to 2016. He has a bachelor's degree in meteorology from Iowa State, a master's degree in meteorology from the South Dakota School of Mines, and a PhD in agricultural meteorology from Iowa State.
Climate Change and Food Production in the Midwest
This panel explores climate predictions for the Great Lakes states and the Midwest and the potential impacts on regional food production. Panelists discuss strategies for developing a more resilient and sustainable food system, exploring approaches such as climate-smart agriculture and regenerative land management
Panelists
Will Glazik
Organic Farmer and Crop Advisor
Will Glazik, from Paxton, Illinois, is a second-generation organic farmer and crop advisor. Glazik was raised on a mixed row crop and livestock-certified organic farm before he studied crop sciences at the University of Illinois. After graduation, Glazik worked in agriculture retail sales before sharing crop-farming 800 acres. Currently, he is utilizing some no-till organic practices on his farm and consulting for organic row crop transition farmers. Glazik co-founded the IDEA Farm Network, a learning community for organic and conservation-minded farmers in the Midwest. He raises corn, soybeans, oats, wheat, specialty grains like open-pollinated corn and grains for brewers and distillers. Glazik founded Silver Tree Beer & Spirits LLC along with his brothers Clayton and Dallas. Through Silver Tree Beer & Spirits, LLC, the family is able to market products like Down East Vodka and whiskeys directly to the consumer utilizing grain grown on the farm.
Fred Carter
Co-Founder and Executive Director, Black Oaks Center
Affectionately known as Baba Fred or the Ancient One, Fred Carter adds depth and brevity to the possibility of equity and justice. As a former Black Panther Party member, he brings over 60 years of strategy and process to the leadership circles he shares with those young enough to be children/grandchildren. This leadership includes his work with the National Black Food Justice Alliance and Black Land and Power. Carter is a retired transportation executive who left the corporate world to found Black Oaks Center with his wife, Dr. Jifunza Wright Carter, MD, MPH, and his son, Akin Carter, in 2006 when it was clear that the adverse consequences of climate instability, resource constraints, and a growing, global population would shape an arduous course of life on our planet for years to come. Carter is a permaculture teacher and regenerative farmer who has been critical in developing peri-urban local food systems in and around Chicago.
Nicole Tautges
Agroecologist, Michael Fields Agricultural Institute
Nicole Tautges, PhD, is an agroecologist at the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute (MFAI), a nonprofit organization addressing the challenges of soil fertility, water quality, climate resilience, racial equity, food security, and farm success through research, policy, and education. MFAI is based in East Troy, Wisconsin, and serves diverse farmers and communities in the Upper Midwest and beyond. Tautges completed her bachelor's degree in agronomy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and earned her PhD at Washington State University, completing a project on soil fertility, weed, and soil microbial management in semiarid organic wheat production systems. She went on to work on Kernza research at the University of Minnesota and then studied soil microbial ecology in processing tomato systems at the University of California-Davis. Her research at MFAI focuses on soil fertility in food-grade grain systems, working primarily with rye, wheat, Kernza, legume cover crops, and alfalfa.
Dennis Todey
Director, USDA Midwest Climate Hub
Dennis Todey, PhD, has been the director of the USDA Midwest Climate Hub in Ames, Iowa, since 2016. The hub delivers actionable climate information for agriculture across the Corn Belt. Todey has spent his career working on climate and agriculture issues throughout the Midwest and Northern Plains, including climate change issues and agriculture and tool and data development for agricultural use, working with numerous federal, regional, and state partners. He co-authored the last two National Climate Assessments and is developing state-level summaries in the Midwest states. He was previously the state climatologist for South Dakota at South Dakota State University from 2003 to 2016. He has a bachelor's degree in meteorology from Iowa State, a master's degree in meteorology from the South Dakota School of Mines, and a PhD in agricultural meteorology from Iowa State.