"A number of small Black-owned farms in the Gulf South are growing crops with the climate in mind. Hilery Gobert is among them. He owns a 65-acre farm in Iowa, La., that he started farming in 2020. He has been trying to improve the soil since then. To do that, he rotates crops and uses cover crops to keep nutrients in the ground. The land now supports a variety of crops, including okra, figs, Asian eggplants and watermelons.
Gobert also grows rice at Driftwood Farm. Rice is usually grown by flooding the fields with water, producing methane, a potent planet-warming gas. So Gobert grows his rice using drip irrigation to get water directly to the roots.
"In our attempt to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, we're looking at ways of growing rice as an alternative to the continuous flooding of the fields, as we've done for hundreds of years here in Louisiana," Gobert says.
Using less water to grow rice is an example of what the U.S. Department of Agriculture calls climate-smart agriculture. Cover crops (like red clover and cereal rye), no-till farming and crop rotation are all considered good practices for the climate and for farming. The idea is that farmers can reduce pollution that contributes to human-caused climate change while producing enough food to make a living."
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