The Snoqualmie Valley Preservation Alliance (SVPA) is hosting its first Tenacious Farmers’ Exchange, a two-day workshop to help local farmers take on climate change.

“The Tenacious Farmers’ Exchange: Farming for a Climate Resilient Future,” Feb. 20-21 at the Carnation Farms Hippodrome, is a place for those passionate about agriculture to learn about and discuss farming in the face of climate change challenges. The workshop will feature informational sessions by farming professionals from Understanding Ag LLC, an organization out of Alabama that teaches regenerative agriculture.

Sessions will cover an array of topics, including soil health, flood and drought resistance, agroforestry, government support and more.

“There’s a lot of people interested in cover cropping and implementing various things like rotational grazing and adaptive stewardship practices to help them, especially, become more and more resilient,” said Lauren Silver-Turner, SVPA’s executive director.

From flooding drainage issues outside of the typical flood season, to drought in the summer, the Valley’s farmers are facing significant impact due to climate change, Silver-Turner said.

“Trying to ensure that agriculture and farming and food systems remain viable into the future is pretty important, and this is just one piece of the puzzle,” she said.

Silver-Turner said the event is the product of conversations with local stakeholders about how to better support the Snoqualmie Valley’s farmers. Most of the speakers are farmers themselves, which Silver-Turner hopes will help encourage all the participants to exchange ideas and information from their own farming experiences.

“We’re hoping that this kind of builds that community up, connects farmers with each other, so they can learn what successes they’ve had, what challenges they face,” she said.

At the same time, Silver-Turner is hoping the farmers can connect with the partner organizations in attendance to discuss resources and solutions. This includes King Conservation District, SnoValley Tilth, the King County Agriculture Program, Sustainable Communities Funders, WA Meat Up and the Agriculture, Forestry and Incentives Unit at King County’s Department of Natural Resources and Parks.

“There’s not a whole lot of funding available just directly for farm projects, but there’s a lot of funding and resources often available for things that are more of these multi-benefit approaches,” she said. “I can’t see a better fit together than the fact that farms provide so many incredible ecosystem services that I think oftentimes go unnoticed or unrecognized, just generally.”

Despite all of the challenges they face, the Valley’s farmers truly are tenacious, Silver-Turner said — hence the event name.

“We really envision this to be empowering for the farmers that are in this space, that are pushing the dial forward and trying their darndest to produce high quality and contribute to a robust and thriving local food system,” she said. “And praising them for being the heroes that they are in the story of climate change.”

• Learn more: Tickets are $115 for farmers, $150 for non-farmers, and can be purchased at svpa.us/tfe/. Financial assistance, language interpreters and other accommodations are available. Email Lauren Silver-Turner at lauren@svpa.us for more information.