Common Ground:
The Movie
With the CSS-led panel discussion
Soil Carbon Capture Sequestration:
Regenerative Agriculture for Our Common Ground
March 19, 2024, 7:00 pm
The Byrd Theatre in Richmond, VA
A great audience and panel joined CSS for the screening of Common Ground, the second film on soil health and regenerative agriculture produced by Kiss the Ground. The screening will be followed by a CSS panel discussion focused on the successful uses of soil health and the Ag industry leaders—led by farmers—who are bringing these practices to fruition and into market.
Big Picture Ranch and Area 23a present Common Ground - a hopeful and uplifting story of the pioneers of the “Regenerative Movement” who produce tremendous quantities of nutritionally dense food and are working to balance the climate –all while bringing our entire ecosystem back to life. The film explores how Americans from different walks of life, different political backgrounds, and different parts of the country share one thing in common: the very soil beneath their feet. The film investigates the power of “regenerative” farming systems –from large to small-scale farmers who are the champions of soil health as the key to unlocking more (and healthier) food to feed America and the world.
The Panel
Thank you to our sponsors!
March 19th is National Ag Day! Join us in Richmond on the 19th to honor the day!
Peggy Singlemann, Moderator
Peggy Singlemann, a well-known horticulture expert and speaker, is familiar to many in the gardening/landscape field as the host and co-producer of Virginia Home Grown on VPM/ PBS, Virginia’s only local gardening show. Over the years, the program has won several Telly awards, which honor excellence in video and television across all screens. Those who treasure the gardens at Maymont, Richmond's 100-acre historic estate and park, have Peggy to thank, as she painstakingly headed up the restoration and preservation of the gardens, grounds, and arboretum over 38 years. The Virginia General Assembly awarded Peggy with a commendation for her outstanding accomplishments at Maymont. Through her business, RVA Gardener, Peggy coaches and speaks on a wide variety of topics, always rooted in ecologically responsible gardening and landscaping. A member of several organizations such as the International Society of Arboriculture, she also regularly publishes in local and national periodicals. Peggy's love of nature and gardening is matched only by her passion for helping and inspiring others to garden well and honor the landscape.
Michael Carter, Jr., Executive Director at Carter Farms & Africulture
Michael Carter is the Executive Director Carter Farms, a vocational education organization highlighting the principles, practices, plants and people of African descent that have and continue to contribute to agriculture. Carter Farms is a century farm in the Piedmont region of Virginia that specializes in growing ethnic, African tropical vegetables organically. Michael Carter Jr.’s operation is an ethnic vegetable afrotourism teaching farm that shares its Africulture interdisciplinary platform of principles, practices, plants and people of African descent that have contributed to agriculture from antiquity to the present day. It contains several specialized foundational components that strengthens awareness about numerous aspects of the African and African American experience in agriculture. Africulture also serves as the organizing and administrative organization for our sister relationship between Fredericksburg, Virginia and Princes Town, Ghana, West Africa.
Kara Brewer Boyd, Co-Founder and President, Association of American Indian Farmers (AAIF)
Kara Brewer Boyd is an experienced co-founder of the AAIF with a demonstrated history of working in the food production industry. She is skilled in Community Organizing, Community Engagement, Nonprofit Management, Organizational Development, and Social Media. Kara is a strong business development professional with a BRE (Christian Counseling, Pastoral Ministry & Leadership focused in Counseling, Education & Leadership) from Heritage Bible College. Kara and her husband, John Boyd, founder of the National Black Farmers Association, have testified before Congressional Committees on farming policy. Kara has served as a board member of Kiss the Ground, working on farming and regenerative policy.
Michael Collins, Executive Director, American Climate Partners
Michael Collins is the Executive Director of American Climate Partners (ACP), which works to restore the health of people, communities, and ecosystems in rural America using natural solutions to restore biodiversity and the climate. ACP is leading one of four partnerships across the country funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service to expand the measurement and monitoring of carbon in the soil on working agricultural lands and assess how climate-smart practices are affecting carbon sequestration. ACP’s SoilKeepers program works with farmers, estate and residential landowners, homeowners associations, and solar energy companies in Central Virginia on regenerative management of their grassland landscapes – lawns, meadows, pastures and hayfields – to restore and maintain soil microbes and vegetative biodiversity. ACP’s StreamSweepers is an award-winning river clean-up and job-training program, currently working to remove as estimated 10,000 tires and tons of other toxic trash from the Clinch River in Southwest Virginia. Michael previously worked in planning and sustainability in both the public and private sector and, early in his career, was a tenured public school science teacher.
Joel Stone, President and Executive Director, Climate Systems Solutions
Joel Stone, co-founder of Climate Systems Solutions, is an experienced executive who has served in leadership positions at many successful startup companies in food ingredients and industrial biotechnology with a focus on low carbon solutions. His leadership in strategic planning, operations management, and team building have been highlights in his career. He is presently President of ConVergInce Advisers, a consulting company focused on industrial biotechnology and food ingredients. Joel’s engagement with Climate Systems Solutions (CSS) is driven by his long-term commitment to environmental stewardship and sustainability, and the importance of human health and nutrition.
Opportunity to Sponsor the Richmond Event
CSS’ first in-person event will be held at the Byrd Theatre in Richmond, Virginia. The theatre first opened in 1928 as one of the nation’s Grand Movie Palaces and today is both a State and National Historic landmark.
The Audience Reach
Agriculture is Virginia’s largest private industry by far and places the state within the top 10 for production nationally with an economic impact of $82.3 billion annually, also providing more than 381,800 jobs in the commonwealth alone. Led by nearly 54,000 farmers, the state’s 41,500 farms are spread across 7.7 million acres with an average farm size of 184 acres. Virginia farms grow and raise commodities including apples, turkeys, marine products, tobacco, peanuts and broilers (the Virginia Farm Bureau, Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services). Just two hours from DC, Virginia is a key regional center for companies working at every point in the industry’s supply chain and is home to many of the nation’s premiere Ag-science education programs. Richmond offers a special opportunity to welcome Ag leaders, learners and regenerative investors in addition to CSS’ 7500+ member audience to this event. Since its debut at the 2023 Tribeca film festival, the award-winning Common Ground has been screened to sold-out audiences nationwide.
Contact admin@climatesystemsolutions.org for more information.