Sen. Tina Smith’s outreach director of energy, environment, and agriculture, Julia Wickham, gave a roundtable talk to students of the Justice and Peace Movement on Thursday.

The St. Thomas alumna spoke to students about her work for sustainability in Minnesota by advocating for a Farm Bill, which allocates a certain amount of money every five years towards federal agriculture practices.

“The largest amount of (Farm Bill) money goes to nutrition programs. … Like food stamps and supplemental nutrition assistance,” Wickham said.

Students learned that most of Wickham’s job involves talking to different perspectives about the bill, which will most likely pass in September.

“Whether you’re in rural communities or in big cities, you want those (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs.) … Democrat or Republican; people who are really interested in agriculture for their state,” Wickham said.

The event was hosted by the Global Justice Movement, an organization run through St. Thomas’ changemaking program through the Center for the Common Good. The organization focuses on engaging with “representative meetings with community leaders, constituents, interest groups, and through site visits,” according to its TommieLink page.

“We’re advocating for humanitarian aid and bills, like the farm bill in favor of foreign aid and assistance,” student leader and junior Maggie Sutton said.

The group focuses on informational work and advocacy work and attended the UN in New York City last fall.

“It was a conference where (Catholic Relief Services) got together and we advocated for climate justice and then learned about different United Nations employees,” Sutton said.

The group is heading to advocate at the U.S. Capitol in the future, according to Sutton.

Wickham also spoke about her work on the international front.

“Regarding the climate and nutrition, …relationships with other countries are so important to the farm economy and actually getting people food,” Wickham said. International relationships with other countries are key to solving farming issues caused by climate change, according to Wickham.

She said that she is hopeful that the bill will be passed soon and that it will bring more awareness to international nutrition and farm issues.

“Having a global approach is really important because it impacts Minnesota,” Wickham said.

Anya Capistrant-Kinney can be reached at capi2087@stthomas.edu.