Outreach & Advocacy

Grower Engagement

Bringing scientific knowledge directly to growers and land managers is essential to bring best practices to reality. Through direct farmer engagement at conferences, field days, and through participatory research, I aim to arm growers with knowledge to improve their practice and reach their production and soil management goals.

Extension

Farming conferences bring scientific finding directly to growers. I have presented work on soil microbial ecology at the New Mexico Organic Farming Conference and Western Colorado Food and Farm Forum. Check this radio program where we talked about soil health and microbes!

Participatory Research

Soil health research is for farmers, and so it should bring them to the table. Through participatory, on-farm experiments, we are able to amplify the impact of our work and directly engage with the farming community. Learn more about some of our farmer collaborators on the project website. You can find the NRCS conservation webinar on our findings here.

Policy

Public policy is the cornerstone of sustainable agriculture research and practice. Whether its advocating for funding appropriation for research or advising on policy measures to support regenerative agriculture, the science-policy mutualism is now more critical than ever to act swiftly and cohesively on critical issues facing agriculture and the environment.

Congressional Visits Day

As part of an annual advocacy event in Washington D.C., I represented soil scientists from Colorado in meetings with Congressional representatives to advocate for agricultural research support. The trip was supported by the ASA, CSA and SSSA Future Leaders in Science Award. Read the article about the event here.

"State of the Science"

Along with a group of graduate students, we organized a science showcase, bringing together local policy makers with graduate students presenting policy-related research. Increased communication between active research and application in policy improves both.

Advocacy Training

I am a current participant in the policy and advocacy training program Scientists Engaging and Educating Decision-makers (SEED) ambassadors, through the Alliance of Crop, Soil, and Environmental Science Societies. The program is detailed in this article.

Outreach

Bringing our skills and knowledge to the public is essential for building trust in science. Through various types of community outreach events, I have been recharged by the interest and support of youth, government leaders, and members of the community.

Science Communication

I had the privilege of joining 19 other early-career scientists as a 2019-2020 School of Global Environmental Sustainability Fellow. This program trains scientists in public engagement through storytelling, interview techniques, and cross-discipline collaboration. You can read my blog post about issues and innovations in water-limited agriculture in the central US.

Community Outreach

In collaboration with other researchers at CSU, we developed soil ecology lessons for elementary and middle school students that has been presented to over 200 students. Open access to the lesson material here.