2023 OGRAIN Conference Schedule
Expanded workshop descriptions and presenter bios are below.
Thursday, January 26th, 2023
4:00-9:00 PM Regenerative Organic Gathering with Erin Silva (UW-Madison), Matt Ryan (Cornell), Brian Luck (UW-Madison), Lea Vereecke (Rodale), and Ben Brockmueller (UW-Madison)
Limited attendance, separate registration fee. Registration closed: FULL
Join us for an evening of the latest research updates and discussion related to regenerative organic agricultural practices! Topics covered will include: organic reduced-tillage corn and soybean production using living and rolled covers; interseeding cover crops into organic corn; growing organic corn on wide (60”) rows; and reduced tillage strategies for alternative crops in the organic rotation (including cereal grains and dry beans). We will share research from UW-Madison and Cornell University, plus ample time for discussion and sharing of farmer experiences over dinner and drinks.
This event and the remainder of the conference will take place at the Gordon Dining and Event Hall on the UW-Madison Campus.
Friday, January 27th, 2023
7:30 AM Registration and Breakfast
8:00-8:10 AM Welcome and Overview: Erin Silva (Organic and Sustainable Cropping Systems Specialist, UW-Madison) and Alyssa Hartman (Executive Director of the Artisan Grain Collaborative)
8:10-9:20 AM Choosing the right cultivation equipment for your farm with Paul Hoffman, Lydell Steiner, and Harold Wilken
Break 9:20-9:40 AM
9:40-10:40 AM Concurrent Sessions
Session 1: Updates on organic grain markets with Mike Schulist (OFARM) and James Copher (DeLong)
Session 2: Post-harvest handling of grains with Andrew Harris (Granor Farm) and John Wepking (Meadowlark)
Break 10:40-11:00 AM
11:00 AM-12:00 PM Keynote Presentation: Cracking the Kernel: On Marketing Organic Grains to Eaters with Theresa Marquez, former longtime Organic Valley chief marketing officer, and Lola Milholland, CEO of Umi Organic
12:00-1:00 PM Lunch and Exhibit Hall opens
1:00-2:30 PM Roundtable Office Hours: Rotate through tables featuring farmers and industry experts to ask questions and engage in conversation about topics including equipment, crop production, crop insurance, land access, and value-added products.
2:30-3:30 PM Ecological weed management (Dr. Matt Ryan, Associate Professor, Cornell Univ)
Break 3:30-3:45 PM
3:45-5:00 PM Concurrent Sessions
Session 1: Midwest organic rice production with Michael Schlappi and Tim Hemminger
Session 2: Organic no-till updates and experiences with Erin Silva and Ben Brockmueller (UW-Madison) and Vince Heiman (organic farmer, Deerfield, WI)
5:00-6:30 PM Reception and Exhibit Hall
6:30-8:30 PM Offsite (additional $, pre-registration required): Celebrating Local Grains | Beer + Pizza will take place at Giant Jones Brewing, 931 East Main Street Entrance on, S Brearly St, Madison, WI 53703 from 6:30-8:30pm. Join your fellow grain enthusiasts for a family-style meal featuring hand-stretched sourdough pizza (made with local Meadowlark flour!) loaded with local toppings and other grain-y foods from ORIGIN Breads and a cash bar from Giant Jones Brewing. Mingle with other farmers and meet some of the makers who create value-added products featuring regional grains.
Saturday, January 28th, 2023
7:30 AM Registration and Breakfast
8:00-8:10 AM Welcome: Erin Silva (Organic and Sustainable Cropping Systems Specialist, UW Madison) and Alyssa Hartman (Executive Director of the Artisan Grain Collaborative)
8:10-9:10 AM Soil health: Dr. Richard Lankau (Associate Professor, UW-Madison)
Break 9:10-9:25 AM
9:25-10:30 AM Concurrent Sessions
Session 1: Fertility management in Organic Systems with Léa Vereecke (Rodale Institute)
Session 2: Farmer Roundtables with Andrew Harris on post-harvest handling (Granor Farm), Harold Wilken on rental agreements (Janie’s Farm), Linda Halley (Gwenyn Hill Farm), GRIT (Grains Resource & Immersive Training) and AGC (Artisan Grain Collaborative) Farmers
Break 10:30-11:00 AM
11:00-12:00 PM Concurrent Sessions
Session 1: Organic soybean production: (Chris Wilson, organic farmer, Cuba City, WI; Brett Krug organic farmer, Secor, IL)
Session 2: Organic disease management with Damon Smith and Kelly Debbink (UW-Madison)
12:00-1:00 PM Lunch
1:10-2:10 PM Keynote Presentation: Everyone Has a Role to Fulfill Carmen Fernholz, Organic Grain Farmer, Madison, MN
2:15-3:15 PM Concurrent Sessions
Session 1: Oilseed crops (sunflower and camelina) in the organic grain rotation with Russ Gesch (forage and cropping systems extension agronomist out of University of Minnesota), Dale Johnson (Century Sun Oil), and Mike Kroll (Century Sun Oil)
Session 2: Grain varieties update with Julie Dawson (UW-Madison), Keith Williams (University of Minnesota), and Matt Leavitt (Albert Lea Seed)
3:20-4:15 PM Crop rotations for grains in a changing climate with Dr. Gregg Sanford (UW-Madison)
4:15-4:30 PM Closing remarks
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTIONS and SPEAKER BIOS
4:00-9:00 PM Thursday, Organic Regenerative Gathering
Join us for an evening of the latest research updates and discussion related to regenerative organic agricultural practices! Topics covered will include: organic reduced-tillage corn and soybean production using living and rolled covers; interseeding cover crops into organic corn; growing organic corn on wide (60”) rows; and reduced tillage strategies for alternative crops in the organic rotation (including cereal grains and dry beans). We will share research from UW-Madison and Cornell University, plus ample time for discussion and sharing of farmer experiences over dinner and drinks.
8:10-9:20 AM Friday, Choosing the right cultivation equipment for your farm
How do you choose the cultivation equipment that is best for your organic grain farm? Listen to experienced farmers discuss the different cultivation tools used for weed management in their organic grain systems, including tools such as torsion weeders, finger weeders, and modifying your own equipment.
Paul Hoffman farms in LaSalle County, Illinois with his family where he’s raised certified organic crops since 2014. He started with a very limited line of equipment (rotary hoe and one cultivator) and has slowly expanded his toolbox with additional equipment and modifications of existing tools. Winifred Hoffman (Paul’s mother) maintains a grass-fed, dual-purpose cattle herd and genetics business that works symbiotically to allow extended rotations for the organic row crop system. Additionally, Paul’s wife Trisha and their children help maintain a small, grass-fed, hair sheep flock. Harold Wilken, along with his son Ross and nephew Tim, farm 3000+ acres in a 3 year crop rotation with cover crops. They use GPS technology and use a variety of different tools for weed control. They also operate Janie’s Mill in Ashkum Il. Lydell Steiner has been actively farming with his family for over 25 years. In 2006 their 114 acre home farm was transitioned to organic and ever since they have been growing a wide range of crops, from vegetables, to traditional corn, soybeans and hay and more specialized grains like spelt, einkorn, open pollinated corn, and more recently dryland rice. Lydell’s day job is working with their family’s business Tilmor, which manufactures and sells a variety of in row cultivation tools and other specialized equipment for the organic industry.
9:40-10:40 AM Friday, Organic grain market projections and marketing strategies
Interested in diving deeper into “the process of taking the crop from the field to the checking account”? This presentation will cover topics including a market overview and market projections from Mike Schulist and Jim Copher. Mike Schulist will take us through a day of a typical organic train transaction and discuss co-op membership, licensing and bonding, and Grain Marketing Agreements (contracts). Jim Copher will discuss new opportunities with the climate smart commodity program, and explore different risk management strategies specific to organic producers.
Mike Schulist of National Farmers Organization oversees the organic grain department of NFO called NF Organics. Mike has been involved in organic grain marketing for 16 years, the past 5 with NFO. Born and raised on a dairy farm in Central Wisconsin, Mike was a dairy and cash grain farmer for 28 years, and he transitioned the herd to organic in 2004. Though he is no longer a dairy farmer, Mike rents his land to his cousin who grows organic potatoes, organic soybeans, and organic triticale in the potato rotation. Mike is married, he and his wife Pat have 3 adult children and reside on the farm he was raised on. Jim Copher manages the Specialty Grain Group at The DeLong Company and the Organic Soybean Meal Program at Quality Roasting LLC. He has been in the specialty grains market for over 6 years trading over 20 commodities via truck, rail, barge, and container.
9:40-10:40 AM Friday, Post-harvest Handling of Culinary Grains
Post-harvest handling is a critical component of food-grade grain production. Listen in to the stories of how three organic farms in the region address critical post-harvest handling steps such as cleaning, drying, and storage on their farms. This discussion is part of a NCR-SARE Partnership grant on best practices for post-harvest handling of wheat and rye, for which a series of videos, case studies, and other resources will be released this spring on the AGC website and posted to the OGRAIN listserv.
Andrew Harris’s lifelong love for agriculture has landed him milking on a homestead-scale dairy farm to operating a combine harvester the literal entire length of the United States, and many points in between. This love manifests itself most in the sustainable growing of artisan and heirloom grains. Andrew studied Agroecology at Goshen College in Northern Indiana and employs the sustainability techniques he learned there in Granor’s fields. Outside of farming, Andrew enjoys cycling, camping and good beer. John Wepking is the lead farmer at Meadowlark Organics and handles grain supply. Will Glazik studied Crop Science at the University of Illinois and currently is an organic farmer at his 5th generation family farm that specializes in cover crops. He and his brothers own and operate Silver Tree Beer and Spirits. You can find him at crop conferences and conventions all over the Midwest.
11:00 AM -12:00 PM Friday, Keynote Cracking the Kernel: On Marketing Organic Grains to Eaters
Mother-daughter duo Theresa Marquez, former longtime Organic Valley chief marketing officer, and Lola Milholland, CEO of Umi Organic, maker of the first fresh organic ramen noodle for groceries, share their successes, challenges, and thoughts on the future of marketing organic to eaters.
Theresa Marquez is a long time advocate for organic ag. She joined CROPP Cooperative, the nation’s largest organic, farmer-owned co-op and owner of the Organic Valley brand, in 1995 as Chief Marketing Executive and was instrumental in growing the Cooperative and Brand from $5m to 1.2 billion( 2019 sales). She received the Organic Trade Association’s 2010 Organic Leadership Award for Achievement in Growing the Organic Industry. During her career, she served 11 years on the Board of the Organic Trade Association and was the founding president of The Organic Center. Currently she is retired from CROPP and continues her dedication to the value of organic science and research through her work with the Health in the Heartland Research Alliance – HH-RA – researching the impact of pesticides in the MW on moms and infants. Her weekly podcast and radio show interviewing change makers in food and ag, can be accessed on the HH-RA website: Heartland Stories Radio.com and also on a variety of podcasts and community radio outlets. Lola Milholland is a small food business owner, social practice artist, and writer who lives in Portland, Oregon. She runs Umi Organic, a noodle company that makes the first fresh certified organic ramen noodles for groceries in the U.S. Umi’s ramen noodles won a 2021 Good Food Award and its yakisoba noodles were named one of the best school lunches in the nation! Lola’s writing has been published by Gastronomica, Lucky Peach, Oregon Humanities, and Edible Portland. She writes a regular Substack newsletter and her debut book will be published by Spiegel & Grau in 2024.
1:00-2:30 PM Friday, Roundtable Office Hours
New this year is a round table office hour style session. Tables hosted by the NRCS, crop insurance experts in organic agriculture, and folks working in land access will be available for 1:1 or small group discussions. There will be three 30 minute rotations to explore different tables.
2:40-3:45 PM Friday, Ecological weed management
Learn about new developments in ecological weed management for organic grain cropping systems.
Matthew Ryan is an agroecologist and conducts research on sustainable cropping systems. Over the next several decades, farmers need to adapt to increased climate variability, decrease their environmental impact, and feed billions of more people. Despite these challenges, it is an exciting time to be involved in agriculture, as more consumers want to know about the practices used to produce their food and new farmers are increasingly from non-farm backgrounds.
4:00-5:00 pm Friday, Organic Rice Growing Market, Challenges, and Opportunities
Do you have an area of your farm that tends to be too wet for vegetables, fruit, or grain? Join Michael Schläppi, Professor of Biological Sciences at Marquette University and Farmer/Operator of Red Stone Rice LLC, who has been growing and experimenting with cold tolerant rice (Oryza sativa) at Fondy Farm for over 10 years. With the help of Fondy Farm manager Stephen Petro and Hmong growers who produce vegetables at Fondy and used to grow rice in Laos, Farmer Michael is now producing a marketable rice crop. From seed to transplant to harvest and post-harvest handling, Michael will describe the ins and outs of a rice growing system that has been adapted to the climate of Southeastern Wisconsin. Both mechanical and hand-scale techniques will be discussed, in addition to machinery used from beginning to end.
Tim Hemminger of Ancient Brands Milling will discuss markets for organic rice, along with the challenges and opportunities for this crop. Tim will talk about the opportunities for midwest farmers to be growing organic brown rice, and talk about the continued growth in value-added requests he has seen. The growth in retail space for organic brown rice has put pressure on Southern farmers, where most of the production pressure falls on Texas and Louisiana. Present supply chain challenges and exciting growth, especially with puffed rice and abundant consumer demand, present potential for rice as a value-added product in the Midwest.
Michael Schläppi is a Professor of Biological Sciences at Marquette University. Michael is also the Farmer and Operator of Red Stone Rice LLC, where he has been growing and experimenting with cold tolerant rice (Oryza sativa) at Fondy Farm for over 10 years. Tim Hemminger has worked in the supply chain arena for 16 years. As the Vice President of Supply Chain and a founding member of Ancient Brands Milling, Tim has identified and contracted a supply chain of raw materials by qualified growers around the world. In addition to supply chain functions, he helps oversee company-related operations involving planning and execution of strategic goals, business process analysis, improvement, and operational management of the organization.
4:00-5:00 Friday, Organic no-till update and experience
Learn from leaders in organic no-till research from Cornell University and the University of Wisconsin – Madison about the newest advances in organic no-till.
Matt Ryan is an Associate Professor at Cornell University where he studies agroecology and works with farmers and other researchers to evaluate cropping system performance in terms of crop yield, profitability, resilience, and ecosystem services. His research is largely focused on overcoming obstacles that limit cover crop adoption, reducing tillage in organic field crop production, and integrating perennial grains into cropping systems. Ben Brockmueller has been working as a Research Specialist for Dr. Erin Silva for 2 years focused on organic crop production. He received his M.S. in Agronomy from South Dakota State University where he explored the relationships between nutrient cycling and soybean production in cover crop-based systems. Underlining his work is passion for working together with farmers to develop agricultural systems that merge ecological and agronomic objectives. Dr. Erin Silva is the director for the Center of Integrated Agricultural Systems, the Clif Bar Endowed Chair in Organic Agriculture and Outreach, and Associate Professor in the Plant Pathology Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research and extension program focuses on sustainable and organic cropping systems, including cover crops and cover crop-based no-till production, the impact of organic management on soil biological and physical properties.
8:10-9:10 AM Saturday, Soil Health
Join us for a discussion about soil heath in organic grains. We will discuss how soil biological, chemical, and physical properties interact and control important soil services, including fertility and carbon sequestration. Finally, we will discuss avenues for shaping soil microbial communities through farm management, crop selection, and biological inputs.
Dr. Rick Lankau is an associate professor in the Department of Plant Pathology at UW-Madison. His research program investigates soil microbial communities in range of natural and agricultural settings, with the goal of understanding how the structure and diversity of soil communities contributes to plant and soil health. In particular, he has investigated soil biology in both organically and conventionally managed grain and vegetable production systems, as well as forests throughout the Midwest. He collaborates with colleagues and growers to understand how soil biology connects with the physical and chemical aspects of soil health, and how these properties relate to ecosystem services such as disease suppression, nutrient cycling, and carbon sequestration.
9:25-10:30 AM Saturday, Fertility management
How do I use animal manure? What type of animal manure? Are certain types of animal manure bad? What about green manure, how much nutrients can I get from specific cover crops? During this presentation, Léa will share ways to think about nutrient management in organic grain systems, including the role of tillage in nutrient cycling, and present a few study results. After this presentation, you should walk back to your farm with key data and more confidence in your ability to build your own organic nutrient management plan.
Léa Vereecke joined the Rodale Consulting team in January 2021, and is thrilled to work with a renowned organization to support transitioning and organic farmers in the Midwest and the Central Plains. After growing up on a grain farm in Northeastern France, Léa earned an M.S. in Agronomy and Agroecology. For four years, she was a Research Specialist with Dr. Erin Silva at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, overseeing diverse research projects—including cover crop-based reduced tillage systems, organic row crops, small grains, cover crops, industrial hemp, and more. Léa has always been fascinated by sustainable agronomic crop production and values maintaining close relationships with farmers to motivate and inform her work.
9:25-10:30 AM Saturday, Farmer Roundtables
Join some of the speakers and experienced farmer-attendees for an opportunity for 1:1 Q&A and networking. Andrew Harris will host a table for post-harvest handling questions, Harold Wilken will be able to answer rental-agreement related inquiries, Linda Halley will answer questions about her Gwenyn Hill operation, Andy Hazzard will be chat with folks about Hazzard Free Farms and her post-harvest handling experience, John Hendrickson and Jim Munsch will host a table about the OGRAIN Compass to predict and understand the long-term financial outcomes that could result from a decision to pursue or expand organic grain production, Sandy Syburg and Gary Zimmer will talk about rye in their rotations (and a bit about Rye Revival), Alita Kelly will host a table about land access as the land organizing director from the National Young Farmers Coalition. GRIT farmers will have a table to reconnect at this time.
11:00-12:00 AM Saturday, Organic soybean production
Join us for a presentation from two experienced farmers who operate within the wide spectrum of organic soybean production in different systems and environments, and both with great success. The workshop will look at strategies used to successfully include organic soybeans in cropping rotations for both a grain operation and an operation that includes livestock. The presenters will look at challenges and opportunities that are similar across operations as well those unique to their farming systems. Topics will include rotations, fertility, weed control, variety characteristics, and marketing.
Chris Wilson farms with nine other family members on Wilson Organic Farms, a 7th generation family farm nestled in the Driftless Area of Southwest Wisconsin. Born in 1984, Chris grew up and worked on the farm through its transition to organics in 1998 before going to college and working off the farm in finance and commodity risk management. Chris is one spoke in the larger wheel of Wilson Organic Farms supporting the business, farm planning, and big picture management. A deep interest and mind for complex systems feeds a passion for building a highly diversified organic farm into the 21st century using new ideas and technology. Brett Krug is a Grain farmer in Central Illinois raising organic corn, soybeans, and wheat. He is married with three children, all boys. Brett is not only a farmer, but is also active in his local community as the Fire Chief for the Secor Fire Protection District and also serves as a board member for the Village of Secor.
11:00 AM -12:00 PM Saturday, Disease management in organic grain crops: What works, what doesn’t
Want some insight into the best methods for fighting disease in an organic system? This session will share results from field trials which tested different control methods for major diseases in corn, wheat, and soybean. Trials were conducted in Wisconsin and Indiana to test input-based, genetic, and agronomic disease control methods.
Damon Smith is a Professor and Extension Plant Pathologist at UW-Madison. Damon is also the director of the Nutrient and Pest Management Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Damon’s responsibilities include research and extension efforts that focus on improving our understanding of the epidemiology of plant pathogens in order to develop better control recommendations for the sustainable management of field and forage crop diseases. Damon is a native of Western New York State. He earned his B.S. in Biological Sciences at the State University of New York, College at Geneseo, and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from North Carolina State University. Prior to Damon’s appointment at UW he was an assistant professor and extension specialist at Oklahoma State University. Kelly Debbink is a master’s student in Plant Pathology in Damon Smith’s lab. Her research focuses on providing organic farmers with disease management recommendations by conducting field trials on disease management techniques. She became interested in plant pathology after working on a small, organic farm and witnessing disease struggles firsthand. Kelly is originally from Pennsylvania, where she earned a B.S. in Animal Biotechnology & Conservation at Delaware Valley University. Before returning to school, she worked in conservation in the southwestern US. Kelly also spent time in the brewing industry, which deepens her interest in grain production.
1:10-2:10 PM Saturday, Everyone Has a Role to Fulfill
Carmen Fernholz, the 2022 Organic Pioneer Award Winner with the Rodale Institute, is a family farmer in Minnesota and has been foundational in setting organic certification standards. Carmen has spent much of his career organizing farmers through various organizations, including the Organic Farmers Agency for Relationship Marketing (OFARM), the University of Minnesota, and most recently, the Perennial Promise Growers Coop.
In clarifying the many roles involved in maintaining a successful organic food system, we all need to first examine and review where and how our organic food system started and how it arrived to the point it is at today. From there we need to define where we want this same system to move in the future and what we want this system to look like for the next several generations. Defining this system will help each of us know more clearly what our roles individually and collectively will entail and the responsibilities that come with them. Carmen will draw on 50 years of personal and collective experiences and history.
Carmen Fernholz, the 2022 Organic Pioneer Award Winner with the Rodale Institute, is a family farmer in Minnesota and has been foundational in setting organic certification standards. Carmen has spent much of his career organizing farmers through various organizations, including the Organic Farmers Agency for Relationship Marketing (OFARM), the University of Minnesota, and most recently, the Perennial Promise Growers Coop.
2:15-3:15 PM Saturday, Oilseed crops (sunflower and camelina) in the organic grain rotation
Discussion of winter oilseeds (camelina and pennycress) and their fit in Midwest cropping systems (organic and conventional). Century Sun Oil representatives will discuss organic sunflower production and processing.
Dr. Russ Gesch is a Research Plant Physiologist at the USDA-Agricultural Research Service’s North Central Soil Conservation Research Laboratory in Morris, Minnesota. With over 30 years of research experience, his program focuses on the physiology and agronomy of new and alternative oilseed crops with the goal of increasing the diversity, efficiency, and economic returns of cropping systems in the northern U.S. while minimizing environmental impact. Dale Johnson is a lifelong farmer living and working on the family farm that has been in his family since 1882. After selling the dairy cows in 1997, Dale became a certified organic vegetable and grain farmer, working in the organic certification world as well. Dale is currently an organic diary consultant providing field services for farmers. Dale and his wife Pam started up Century Sun Oil LLC in 2010 and built not only processing capabilities inside their old dairy barn, but worked with WDATCP for proper licensing and food safety regulations to properly market their certified organic, high oleic sunflower oil nationwide. Mike Kroll grew up on a small dairy farm in Pulaski Wi where he helped with day-to-day operations for all my youth years. After he graduated high school, I earned my Wisconsin Industrial Electrical and Instrumentation Journeyman license and accepted a job at a paper mill where he was assigned to maintain and improve the automation of the facility. Meanwhile he continued to help on the family farm. About 10 years later he accepted a new job for a large feed mill and soybean processing plant where I continued to improve the operations with implementation of automation. This is the point at which he developed the know-how and skills of expelling oil. In the past year Mike and three other local gentlemen purchased Century Sun Oil from the Johnsons and are hoping to advance what they have already established in the past 12 years.
2:15-3:15 PM Saturday, Organic Grain Varieties Update
Experts share the latest in organic grain variety research.
Dr. Julie Dawson is an associate professor and extension specialist at UW-Madison. Her research and extension includes plant breeding for organic systems and methods for participatory selection and variety development. Keith Williams is the outreach specialist in the Department of Horticulture at UW Madison and runs maize variety trials. He is a crop improvement and development specialist with 20+ years experience in the horticultural, agricultural and biotech industries. Matt Leavitt is an agronomist, passionate advocate for the advancement of organic agriculture and dedicated organic consumer. He is the organic seed lead at Albert Lea Seed, a third-generation family owned & operated seed company specializing in organic & Non-GMO farm seed where he’s worked for the past ten years. Matt completed his master’s degree in Agronomy at the University of Minnesota studying organic no-till production with cover crops. He lives in Minneapolis with his wife, two daughters, dog & chinchilla.
3:20-4:15 PM Saturday, Grain Rotations in a Changing Climate
Data from several long-term research efforts confirms what organic farmers have known, practiced, and promoted for decades; that crop rotation and system diversity impart yield stability and resilience. As climate change increases the frequency of extreme weather events these (and other) system level management strategies can facilitate adaptation to a “new normal”. They also provide several co-benefits that may help mitigate some of the most extreme climate change scenarios, providing a win-win for farmers and society at large. In this workshop we’ll take a quick look at some of the recent data on the subject and then hear how climate change is affecting “real world” decisions on-farm and what changes farmers can make to adapt.
Dr. Sanford is a Senior Scientist in the Department of Agronomy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. As an agroecologist, his research efforts are focused on diverse agricultural landscapes and the impact that long-term management choices in such landscapes have on metrics of system performance, such as productivity, profitability, and ecosystem services. Much of Dr. Sanford’s research is directed towards the role agroecosystems can play in climate change adaptation by building stable and resilient agricultural landscapes, as well as the important role such landscapes have in mitigating rising levels of anthropogenic greenhouse gases via the stabilization and accrual of organic carbon in soils. In addition, Dr. Sanford leads management efforts for the Wisconsin Integrated Cropping Systems Trial (WICST), a large-scale (24 ha), long-term (est. 1989) cropping systems experiment in south central Wisconsin. This trial is unique globally among long-term agroecological experiments in both its scale and breadth, with systems spanning conventional and organic agriculture, commodity-grain and dairy-forage rotations, annual and perennial cropping systems, rotationally grazed livestock, native grasslands, and the production of food, feed, and fuel. Sandy Syburg farms White Oak Farm, an organic farm located in Oconomowoc, WI where he produces a variety of food, grain and seed crops, while innovating and testing potential new products. He is co-founder, and President of Purple Cow Organics, a recognized leader in the field of organic soil amendments.