Etta May Richardson (Farm)

Colleagues, as the farm senator rooted in the daily labor of our regenerative agriculture and mindful of the direct impacts our practices have on both our land and neighbors, I propose a crucial amendment to explicitly enshrine Full-cycle Waste and Nutrient Management as a core pillar alongside our existing foundational priorities: Resilience, Redundancy, Regeneration, Community, Education, Accessibility, and Long-term Ecological Stewardship.

This amendment addresses a persistent and significant oversight in our Time Priorities Charter. Full-cycle waste and nutrient management is not ancillary; it is fundamental to maintaining soil health, preventing ecological degradation, supporting the well-being of farmworkers and neighbors, and sustaining the closed-loop systems that make AGATA’s farm viable for generations.

In practice, this means binding our time legislation to holistic waste processing, nutrient recycling, composting, and careful management of farm residues, manure, and related biological cycles. It is an ecological imperative and a labor equity issue. Without this, our commitments to resilience and regeneration risk being undercut by unintended harm and neglect.

The farm’s daily rhythms and the lived experiences of those who tend this land make clear that this pillar is non-negotiable. Amending the Charter to include Full-cycle Waste and Nutrient Management will align our temporal policies with the embodied work and complex ecosystem cycles that sustain AGATA.

I urge the Senate to adopt this amendment to make our legislative foundation truly whole and responsive.

Colleagues, as the farm senator intimately engaged with the daily realities of tending soil and preparing food that reflects the deep needs and tastes of our neighbors here in Coward, I rise to propose an urgent amendment to the AGATA Time Priorities Charter. While our charter commendably enshrines pillars of resilience, redundancy, regeneration, community, education, accessibility, and long-term ecological stewardship, it sorely lacks explicit recognition of Full-cycle Waste and Nutrient Management as a foundational priority. This omission risks undermining the very regenerative hopes we hold dear.

As many senators have observed, the health of AGATA’s soils and waters depends not only on what we grow but on how we manage the cycles of waste and nutrient flows—an ecological labor that is integral to regenerative farming and community well-being. Without explicitly anchoring this in our Time Priorities Charter, we expose ourselves to future oversights that could degrade our land, disrupt our cooperative farming rhythms, and harm our neighbors through unmanaged waste and soil nutrient depletion.

This amendment corrects that gap by adding Full-cycle Waste and Nutrient Management as a core, standalone pillar paralleling Education and Accessibility, insisting that all micro-blocks and strategic decisions incorporate this ecological labor and closed-loop systems stewardship as non-negotiable constraints. This is not an add-on but a fundamental necessity for resilience and regeneration at AGATA.

I urge the Senate to adopt this amendment today, firmly rooting our time legislation in the full complexity of agricultural and communal stewardship that sustains not only our crops and soils but also the health and vitality of the community we serve. Thank you.

Colleagues, as the farm senator deeply rooted in daily stewardship of AGATA's soil and the hands that nurture it, I rise to propose a vital amendment. While Amendment 6 rightly enshrines Long-term Ecological Stewardship, it still omits explicit recognition of Full-cycle Waste and Nutrient Management as a foundational pillar—a gap others and I have highlighted throughout debate. Our farm's resilience hinges not just on stewarding the land and controlling invasives, but on the thorough, equitable handling of waste and nutrient flows that reorder soil biology, protect water quality, and sustain community health. Without codifying this pillar, we risk undermining the long-term regeneration and accessibility we treasure. I hereby propose that the AGATA Time Priorities Charter explicitly and equally enshrine Full-cycle Waste and Nutrient Management alongside the existing pillars, ensuring our time legislation anchors all necessary ecological labor and honors the embodied care that sustains our 70-acre farm and cultural lab. This amendment reflects decades of embodied agricultural knowledge, addresses neighbor concerns, and aligns with our cooperative commitments. It is essential for the real, daily work that feeds families and restores the land.

Colleagues, as your farm senator who has long championed the intertwined labors of soil, crop, and waste stewardship at AGATA, I rise now to propose a vital amendment that explicitly adds Full-cycle Waste and Nutrient Management as a core pillar alongside the existing ones in our Time Priorities Charter. We've heard repeated, poignant calls from farm, ecology, and community senators emphasizing that without this foundational ecological labor, our resilience and regeneration are incomplete. It is the daily, embodied work of closing loops—managing compost, animal waste, crop residues, and nutrient cycling—that sustains our soils and protects our neighbors from undue harm. Neglecting this vital pillar risks undermining the very soil health and community wellness we strive to cultivate. This amendment aligns with our mission of local food sovereignty, community health, and ecological sustainability, ensuring our time legislation mandates practical, inclusive stewardship that honors the decades of farming knowledge and lived experience underpinning AGATA's success. I urge the Senate to adopt this amendment, which deepens our time legislation’s integrity and future-readiness.

Colleagues, as a farm senator grounded in the tangible realities of growing food, tending soil, and feeding our neighbors, I rise to propose an explicit amendment to enshrine Full-cycle Waste and Nutrient Management as a foundational pillar alongside Resilience, Redundancy, Regeneration, Community, Education, and Accessibility. Our regenerative work is incomplete without clear recognition that managing waste flows and nutrient cycling is at the heart of sustaining the fertility of our 70 acres and the health of our neighbors.

This pillar will ensure AGATA time legislation mandates closed-loop practices for agricultural and cultural waste, wastewater, organic residues, and materials cycling. Such stewardship is vital to the farm’s productivity, the ecological health of our land, and the comfort and safety of those living near our boundaries.

Rejecting this would mean ignoring decades of farming wisdom that teaches us no productive system can thrive while externalizing waste or neglecting nutrient return. This omission undermines both our regenerative mission and the very resilience and redundancy we all champion.

I therefore submit the following amendment that explicitly adds Full-cycle Waste and Nutrient Management as a core priority, fully integrated with our existing pillars, and holding us accountable to the practical, embodied labor that makes AGATA’s farm and community viable through years and decades:

[Amendment summary follows.]