Where did the wheat in those organic crackers sitting in your cupboard come from? More likely Turkey than the northern Great Plains of the American West. While demand for organic food has boomed in recent years, production of organic grain in the United States has not kept pace accordingly. For those interested in improving environmental Read more about More Organic Grain? Fix the Missing Middle First—Charlotte Benishek[…]
I wrote my first blog post at the two-week mark of my internship with Vilicus Farms, a 9,600-acre organic grain, legume, and oilseed farm. I was still in awe, in love with the place, the work, and the people. As someone who is undecided about my future line of work and is farmer-curious, I was Read more about The Monotony and Excitement of Harvest Season in Montana’s Great Plains — Tim Ibboston-Sindelar[…]
Ucross High Plain Stewardship Initiative (UHPSI) is now HIRING graduate and undergraduate students enrolled in courses to work as research assistants or speaker coordinators during the academic year (September/Oct 2020– May 2021). Projects focus on applied conservation and stewardship issues in the West and collaborate with western partners. All work will be completed remotely. Information on how to apply and projects Read more about Now Hiring Students and Open House[…]
The Colorado Collaborative for Healthy Soils is a community-driven organization bringing together diverse voices of Colorado’s farmers and ranchers around soil health. The Collaborative works in a bottom-up, big-tent capacity to explore ways that soil health practices can be recognized, incentivized, and promoted at a state-wide level. I have been working on grant applications on Read more about Bottom-up, Big-tent Community Organizing — Darya Watnick[…]
I arrived at the farm on a Saturday three weeks ago. I drove for three days from Philadelphia to Hill County, Montana. The land first became flat and mostly treeless in eastern North Dakota, where I spent my second night on the road. The third and final day of driving was uninterrupted flatness. Though while Read more about From Zero to 9,600 Organic Acres in Montana’s Great Plains — Tim Ibbotson-Sindelar[…]
Tim is working this summer at Vilicus Farms, a 10,000 acre, organic, dry land (not irrigated) specialty grain and pulse (edible legumes like beans and lentils) farm. A New Haven native and long-time NYC resident, he is departing from his city roots to farm in big sky country for the summer to learn first-hand how Read more about Eco-Sensible Crop Farming in the Northern Great Plains of Montana[…]
Darya is working with Mad Agriculture, an organization focusing on regenerative agriculture out of Boulder, Colorado. She is assisting the organization with projects in two realms: policy and soil carbon sequestration. Her policy-related work includes projects in conjunction with the Colorado Collaborative for Healthy Soils and preparing a grant application aimed to increase farmer engagement Read more about Soil Health and Soil Carbon Sequestration in Regenerative Agriculture[…]
This summer I’m working as a summer fellow for Mad Agriculture. MadAg is working, as they put it, to “catalyze a regenerative revolution in agriculture that is beautiful, just, and inevitable.” MadAg works with farmers across the Mountain West, Southwest, Great Plains and Midwest to help them ecologically and economically. I had initially planned to Read more about Farming from afar — Darya Watnick[…]
The Western Speaker Series connects conservation professionals and Yale students to explore and discuss a range of issues facing land stewardship in the American West. The Symposium Coordinators worked with UHPSI staff to plan presentations, career chats, and technical training by western conservation professionals that provide our students with valuable knowledge and insight. The 2019-2020 Read more about Western Speaker Series[…]
Before my LegacyWorks Group internship in the Tetons this summer comes to a close, I’d like to highlight a couple additional major projects with which I’ve been involved beyond what I outlined in my first blog post. One great aspect of my experience has been learning new approaches to achieving conservation success, such as the Read more about Accelerating Community-Driven Impact, Part 2 — Shea Flanagan[…]
Howdy! I’ve headed west to work as the Summer Associate for LegacyWorks Group in Jackson, Wyoming. LegacyWorks accelerates community-driven impact to realize transformative change. Here in the Teton Region, we focus our efforts on large-scale conservation initiatives that could not be tackled by a single organization alone. The organization also focuses on regional initiatives in Read more about Accelerating Community-Driven Impact, Part 1 — Shea Flanagan[…]
Lucas is working for The Nature Conservancy’s Colorado River Program (CRP). His focus for the CRP is two-fold: first, Lucas is researching environmental governance and finance models to facilitate the creation of a water fund for the Colorado River delta. This work entails outreach to stakeholders and coordination with existing environmental funds to glean best Read more about Governance and Storytelling Along the Colorado River[…]