Jacobs Farm / Del Cabo Our Story Jacobs Farm del Cabo Products Stories ClimateLab™ Contact Us Helping Farmers Adapt to Climate Change STORIES HELPING FARMERS ADAPT TO CLIMATE CHANGE Putting Farmers First Jacobs Farm del Cabo is addressing climate change with a new program that identifies climate-related challenges for vulnerable smallholder farms and develops solutions to mitigate these risks—ensuring their farms can thrive far into the future. The del Cabo collective was founded on a simple mission: to share knowledge of environmentally sustainable farming practices with Baja farmers to support their families’ and communities’ economic empowerment. For more than 35 years, this collaboration between JFDC and Baja growers has provided over 1,200 farming families with a much-improved quality of life and a sustainable economic engine for their communities. But farming in Baja was different 35 years ago. As recent extreme weather events have increased in frequency and magnitude, so have the impacts of these events on organic production and farming communities. The goal of this new program is to help del Cabo farmers adapt to these changes and proactively build a more sustainable and resilient food system. To assemble the team for this program, JFDC recruited three young, local student trainees — each actively attending university to study agriculture or coming from second-generation farming families. The selected students will gain valuable hands-on experience centered around climate change and how it impacts our food and growing systems. The program is spearheaded by Jose DiBella, Ph.D., from the University of Waterloo Department of Geography and Environmental Management, and supported by a select team of JFDC employees. This year, the first cohort of ClimateLab trainees have been enrolled—spearheaded by program lead Jose DiBella, Ph.D. (right). The student trainees and work alongside participating del Cabo farmers to map their farming operations and collect data on where climate change has made an existing impact on their farms, as well as identify areas that have the potential for future impact. One key area of focus is soil health which, when cultivated properly, has the potential to provide crops with increased resilience to external changes. Trainees document soil type and quality to identify areas for improvement. The geographic data collected is recorded in a mobile-based app, which will generate fully -informed maps of the collective’s many growing zones. This mapping system will allow the company to visibly track the impact of the team’s efforts, understand recurring trends across farming regions, and proactively develop solutions for farms facing common climate-related risks across Baja and mainland Mexico. JFDC trainees hard at work in San Jose del Cabo mapping soil types. Healthy Soils, Healthy Plants, Healthy People Our Story Jacobs Farm del Cabo Products Stories Contact Us Careers 303 Potrero Street, Suite 3 Santa Cruz, CA 95060 (831) 460.3500