FoA 341: California Cotton and Climate Coalition with Cannon Michael and Rebecca Burgess

Sound Agriculture: https://www.sound.ag/

California Cotton & Climate Coalition: https://californiacottonandclimatecoalition.com/

Bowles Farming Company: https://bfarm.com/

FiberShed: https://fibershed.org/

Today’s episode is about the work being done by the California Cotton and Climate Coalition or C4. This is an example of a group of people that aren’t interested in the hype and greenwashing that goes on in so many “sustainability” circles. They are doing the hard work of bringing the right people together, collaborating, and collecting the data to find ways to evolve the cotton industry in California. I think this is a model many other ag industries can learn from. 

Today you’ll hear from Cannon Michael, President and CEO of Bowles Farming Company in Los Banos, California. He is the 6th generation of his family to work in the family farming business, which has farmed in California for over 160 years. After working in commercial real estate, Cannon joined the family farm in 1998, and they have since diversified from three crops to over twenty. Cannon is an advocate for California agriculture, intelligent water policy and environmental stewardship. 

Joining Cannon and I is Rebecca Burgess. Executive Director of Fibershed, a 501(c)3 focused on regionalizing the textile system and supporting growers to be more economically viable while rebuilding carbon stocks in the soil and providing transparency into the supply chains of textile brands. Rebecca has two decades of experience working at the intersection of ecology, fiber systems, and regional economic development. Her work as a vocationally trained weaver and self-trained natural dyer initially led her into wondering how the industrially made clothes reflected her values of transparency, connection, land stewardship, etc. Started working in wool with using sheep for regenerative grazing then was encouraged to expand into cotton as well.