CIAS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology
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- Chairman, Department of Planning and Landscape Architecture
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- Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics
Andy is a fourth generation potato grower in Coloma, located 60 miles north of Madison. With his father, Steve they operate Coloma Farms, Inc., a 2,700 acre potato and grain farm. Both are very active within the Wisconsin Potato and Vegetable Growers Association (WPVGA) and serve on several committees related to marketing, research, and government relations. Coloma Farms and the WPVGA work pro-actively with researchers and leadership within the UW system to address issues in the vegetable industry. Andy received a BS from UW-Madison in Agricultural Engineering and currently serves on the DATCP board.
Andy is a 4th generation food manufacturer. Established in 1896, Gehl Guernsey Farms (Gehl Foods) evolved from a regional dairy to a national aseptic manufacturer and co-packer with $250 million in annual sales. Andy gave up the position of president in 2011 to focus on healthier opportunities. Andy's new company, Contract Comestibles, is focused on small batch manufacturing of sauces and dressings. Contract Comestibles is certified FDA, USDA and organic and regularly works with farmers and entrepreneurs looking to expand into the retail trade. Andy remains on the board of Gehl Foods in addition to holding a seat on the Leadership Council for Food and Beverage Wisconsin. www.contractcomestibles.com
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- Member of the Shared Leadership Team
- Department of Horticulture
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- Department of Life Sciences Communication and Division of Extension
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- Teacher, Pardeeville, Wisconsin
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- Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics
Clara taught high school agriculture for 39 years. Her family started milking dairy goats and shipping milk in 1996, and has since built a vertically integrated agricultural enterprise. Four of her five children work in this family business. In addition to milking 800 dairy goats, they run a creamery where about 35 different varieties of cheese and yogurt are prepared on site, a retail store with locally sourced products, and a café featuring locally sourced food prepared in house. They are gearing up to bottle their milk in house. Additionally, they sell caramels made from the butter and cream, goat meat, and hand soap, liquid soap and lotion made with their goat milk. www.laclarefamilycreamery.com/
Clare farms in northern Wisconsin, near the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. She runs a winter CSA featuring fresh greens and storage crops, plus treats like apple butter and apple cider. She specializes in perennial fruits and nuts as well, and she has a small market garden featuring heirloom vegetable varieties. She also raises laying hens. She manages her farm following permaculture principles and organic standards. www.elsewherefarm.com
Job Titles:
- Department of Horticulture
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- Endowed Chair in Organic Grain Agriculture and Outreach
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- Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics
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- Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology ( Adjunct )
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- Member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin
Dan Cornelius, a member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin, provides technical assistance to American Indian Tribes and Native producers. He also grows Indigenous corn, beans, and squash, as well as harvesting wild rice and ranching in his free time. iacgreatlakes.com
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- Member of the Shared Leadership Team
- Department of Community
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- Teacher, Cassville, Wisconsin
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- CALS and Extension Associate, Farm Management Outreach Specialist, SAR
- CALS and Extension Associate, Farm Management Outreach Specialist, SARE
- Coordinator for University of Wisconsin - Madison Division of Extension
Diane Mayerfeld is the sustainable agriculture coordinator for University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension. She helps educators and farmers learn about sustainable agriculture techniques and resources, including grants from the USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program. She has a PhD from the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and researches silvopasture in Wisconsin.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Shared Leadership Team
- Department of Plant
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- Department of Biological Systems Engineering
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- Associate Professor
- Director
- Director / Department of Plant Pathology
Dr. Erin Silva is an Associate Professor and State Extension Specialist in Organic and Sustainable Cropping Systems in the Department of Plant Pathology as well as the Director for the Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at UW-Madison. After completion of a PhD in Horticulture at Washington State University, Dr. Silva obtained a faculty position at New Mexico State University. During her tenure at NMSU, Dr. Silva taught courses on organic vegetable production, an experiential learning course integrating the working student organic Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm on campus. Dr. Silva initiated several organic research projects at NMSU, including work on cover crop-based reduced tillage for organic vegetable crops and breeding vegetables for organic production systems.
These research themes continued as Dr. Silva moved into the first organic-focused research position at the UW-Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences in 2006. Through her work at UW-Madison, she has developed an internationally recognized program that improves the management of organic production systems and increases the profitability and sustainability for organic producers and rural communities. Her research program provides regional, national, and international leadership on the biological aspects of organic agricultural management, employing an agroecological approach that considers socio-economic factors impacting production decisions. She applies the knowledge generated through her research towards the development of innovative organic production strategies that benefit the farmer, the environment, and the consumer. Her research influences the strong organic sector that contributes to Wisconsin's agricultural economy, with Wisconsin second only to California as the state with the greatest number of organic farms. In continued support of these farms and the organic sector within the state, nation, and globally, her research and scholarly contributions continue to be directed in the broad area of the biology and agroecology of organic crop management, with emphases on cover crops, soil health, and genotype/ environment interactions.
Silva, E.M., J. Hendrickson, P.D. Mitchell, and E. Bietila. 2017. A participatory approach to assess labor inputs on organic diversified vegetable farms in the Upper Midwestern United States. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems.
Vincent-Caboud, L., L. Vereecke, E.M. Silva, and J. Peigné. 2019. Cover crop effectiveness varies in cover crop-based rotational tillage organic soybean systems depending on species and environment. Agronomy. DOI: 10.3390/agronomy9060319
Liang, D., F. Sun, M. Wattiaux, V. Cabrera, J. Hedtcke, and E.M. Silva. 2017. Effect of feeding strategies and cropping systems on greenhouse gases emission from Wisconsin certified organic dairy farms. Journal of Dairy Science. 7:5957-5973.
Assistant Professor of Precision Pest Ecology and Extension Specialist for field and forage crops at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Dr. Bick's focus on applied agroecology and spatial population biology directly contributes to the CIAS's goal of fostering transdisciplinary inquiry and supporting a range of research, outreach, and professional development opportunities. Her research in developing tools and strategies for data-driven precision management practices is a clear example of the kind of innovative, practical solutions that the CIAS aims to promote.
Erin is an agroecologist passionate about building more ecologically sustainable and socially just food systems. Her work through CIAS supports the Great Lakes Intertribal Food Coalition (GLIFC) in its wide rage of activities that build Indigenous food sovereignty throughout the Great Lakes Region. She also does organizational development work with the Inter-Institutional Network for Food, Agriculture, and Sustainability, of which CIAS is a part.
Erin completed a masters and PhD in agroecology and sustainable food systems at UW-Madison. Her MS and PhD projects included natural science research on pollinator conservation and crop pollination and social science research on actions that can build Midwest managed grazing systems in ways that are socially just. Prior to grad school she worked in ecological research, food supply chains, and federal food policy advocacy.
Outside of work, Erin enjoys spending time outdoors, playing board games, cooking and sharing food with friends, and curling up with a good book.
Job Titles:
- Department of Soil Science
Job Titles:
- Administrative Specialist
Frankie Anderson graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2012 with her BS in psychology and is happy and proud to work for her alma mater. She traveled in 2016 to Standing Rock Reservation to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline and is interested in Native food sovereignty.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Shared Leadership Team
Job Titles:
- Department of Bacteriology
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- Department of Geography and Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies
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- Department of Horticulture
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- Member of the Shared Leadership Team
- Department of Community
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- Department of Community and Environmental Sociology
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- Department of Planning and Landscape Architecture
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- CALS and Extension Associate & Professor, Extension Agriculture Institut
- CALS and Extension Associate & Professor, Extension Agriculture Institute
Jay and his wife Heidi farm 520 acres of grain and alfalfa near Fond du Lac. In 2018, they opened Ledgerock Distillery on their farm to add value to the grain they produce. They currently make vodka, gin and whiskey from their corn and wheat. They also grow alfalfa and corn silage for nearby dairies. Jay graduated from UW-River Falls in 1992 with a BS in Agronomy. He worked as a farm manager, sales agronomist, and agricultural loan officer, and is now a dairy lending specialist at Compeer Financial.
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- Student, University of Wisconsin - Madison
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- Citizen Advisory Council Chair
- Council Chair
Joel Kuehnhold owns Lonely Oak Farm near Milladore, WI. His highly diversified farm is in the process of becoming certified organic. Over 100 head of sheep and a small herd of beef animals are rotationally grazed on 80 acres. His operation includes feeder pigs, 300 laying hens and two acres of vegetables. The farm's unique location within a wildlife area encourages management techniques that work in harmony with nature. Joel has built an on-farm certified kitchen where produce from the vegetable fields is processed and sold under the farm's label. Joel was the agricultural education instructor at Lincoln High School in Wisconsin Rapids, where he emphasized the importance of practicing sustainability in agriculture. His classes were nationally recognized for their involvement in farm to school initiatives.
Job Titles:
- CALS and Extension Associate, Teaching, Learning, & Tech Mgr & Lecturer, Horticultur
- CALS and Extension Associate, Teaching, Learning, & Tech Mgr & Lecturer, Horticulture
- Manager of the CALS DC Smith Instructional Greenhouse
Johanna Oosterwyk is the manager of the CALS DC Smith Instructional Greenhouse and teaches greenhouse cultivation and ornamental plants in the department of Horticulture. Areas of expertise include growing in controlled environments, houseplant care and gardening.
Job Titles:
- Staff Representative
- Outreach Program Coordinator, Farm Viability Specialist
John Hendrickson coordinates research and training programs in organic and sustainable specialty crop production, marketing, and profitability at the Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His work focuses on the economics and profitability of fresh market vegetable farming. He is particularly passionate about farm viability as it relates to farm scale, livelihood, labor, and equipment. He manages the Veggie Compass program, a spreadsheet tool to help diversified vegetable growers measure profitability by crop and market channel. Building on Veggie Compass, he has also helped design several other cost of production decision-making tools for other types of producers, including: Livestock Compass, OGRAIN Compass, and the forthcoming Fruit & Nut Compass and Hemp Compass. He coordinates the Wisconsin School for Beginning Market Growers, Midwest School for Beginning Apple Growers, and Wisconsin School for Cut Flower Growers. These are intensive 2 or 3-day training workshops that emphasize organic and sustainable production practices, the financial realities of starting and operating a farm business, production and marketing methods, and tools and equipment. These programs, ongoing since 1998, have helped train over 1500 participants. In the past, John owned and operated his own certified organic vegetable farm.
Job Titles:
- Department of Horticulture
Kat owns and operates Cattail Organics farm, which grows and markets fresh vegetables and mushrooms through both wholesale channels and CSA. Kat holds an M.S. in Rural Sociology from UW-Madison. cattailorganics.com
Job Titles:
- Department of Sociology
- Research Interests in Public Opinion and Political Behavior, Including Variations in Political Understanding across Types of Place
Research interests in public opinion and political behavior, including variations in political understanding across types of place.
Job Titles:
- Department of Political Science
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- Department of Bacteriology
Laura Paine and her husband raise grass-fed beef on their 82-acre farm near Columbus, WI. Laura is an agriculture educator, having held a number of grazing education, research and market development positions in Wisconsin over the last 20+ years. She spent eight years as Grazing and Organic Agriculture Specialist for the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, assisting producers in developing and marketing organic and grass-fed products. She has also done grazing research and education at the University of Wisconsin and worked for seven years as an Extension agent. She worked for Southwest Badger RC&D as a grazing broker, bringing together non-farming landowners with livestock producers for pasture leasing partnerships. Laura Paine currently serves as the outreach coordinator of the Grasslands 2.0 project, a UW-Madison led effort which seeks to reshape Midwestern agriculture as a perennial, livestock-integrated, grazing-based system in the image of the original native prairies.
Job Titles:
- Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics
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- Department of Plant Pathology
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- Continuing Adult and Vocational Education
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- Teacher, Union High School Near Waterloo, Iowa
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- Member of the Shared Leadership Team
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- Research Fellow / Michael Fields Agriculture Institute
Michael Fields Agriculture Institute | Works with CIAS on cover crops and soil health
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- Teacher, Middleton, Wisconsin
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- Department of Soil Science
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- Director Emeritus
- Department of Community
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- Member of the Shared Leadership Team
- Senior Researcher III, Practicing Economic Anthropologist
Michelle Miller works as a practicing economic anthropologist engaged in participatory action research on food systems. She holds degrees from UW-Madison in landscape architecture (emphasis: regional planning and restorative ecology), and at the Nelson Institute on sustainable development (emphasis: agriculture and food). While in school, she worked for the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection's Sustainable Agriculture Demonstration program, assisting the development of farmer networks, was the DATCP program lead for "T x 2000" soil erosion control program, and worked on watershed projects. Once out of school, Michelle worked for World Wildlife Fund in the Great Lakes states and provinces on agricultural pollution prevention. For the last 20 years she has worked with fruit growers to assist them in their efforts to reduce pesticide risk. build regional markets, and establish living infrastructure to reduce soil erosion. Current projects focus on agriculture of the middle and regional food economies, food distribution and supply networks, Smart Foodsheds, resiliency and climate change.
Michelle was born and raised in Wisconsin, a third generation Farmers Union member and a graduate of the Farmers Union Youth program. She worked on fruit and vegetable farms, in restaurants, and coffee houses in her teens and 20s. She is an active member of multiple cooperatives meeting health, banking, housing and grocery needs. She spent almost two decades studying Great Lakes ethnobotany with Keewaydinoquay, a Michigan Anishinabe Elder. Michelle was in the inaugural group of Donella Meadows Fellows to study system dynamics. She spent a lifetime dancing (ballet, folk, modern) and exploring improvisational arts. In addition to spending time in northern forests, Michelle enjoys water sports, biking, poetry, and frequenting museums. Michelle is married, with an aspiring biochemist son, and lives in Madison, Wisconsin.
Gwin, L., Miller, M., Lowe, E., Hoy, C., Cohen, N., Pirog, R, Tomich, T., Kelly, T. (submitted). "Resilience strategies for centers and institutes focused on food systems transformation", Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems and Community Development.
Job Titles:
- Department of Community and Environmental Sociology / Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies
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- Department of Community & Environmental Sociology / Robert E. and Jean F. Holtz Center for Science
Interests include supply chain disruptions, global logistics, and enterprise IT systems. Teaches course for undergrad and MBA supply chain management majors.
Job Titles:
- Department of Community and Environmental Sociology
Regina Hirsch recently returned to CIAS in the fall of 2020. Prior to her departure in 2014, she worked on the EcoFruit Project. Currently, she is working with other CIAS colleagues on four projects: Hazelnuts, Local Food Hubs, Hard Cider and Grassland 2.0. She has extensive experience in working with Midwest farmers on a variety of projects not only at CIAS, but also as an independent consultant, post-doc positions, and PhD research. She has vast experience in program management, outreach education, meeting facilitation, grant writing and program evaluation. Regina's experience also includes working in the private sector as the Vice President of operations her family R&D business, environmental consultant, co-founder and treasurer of the nonprofit Sustainable Stoughton, and as an elected alderperson in Stoughton. All these experiences and opportunities allows her to understand different perspectives from various program stakeholders for current and future initiatives. She has a PhD in Wildlife Ecology with a minor in Entomology from UW-Madison and Master's degree from Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. When not working Regina can be found outdoors exploring wild and beautiful places via biking, hiking, kayaking, snowshoeing, or birdwatching.
Miller, M., R. Hirsch, P. Werts and T. Green. 2013. Extending your business range and reaching new clients with low-cost communications technology. Crops and Soils 47(1):28-30.
Hirsch, R.M. and S.A. Temple. August 2001. Are potential behavioral effects caused by pesticide exposure contributing to the decline of terrestrial amphibians? Ecological Society of America, Madison, WI.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Shared Leadership Team
- Founding Director, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics
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- Department of Plant Pathology
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- Director Emeritus
- Member of the Shared Leadership Team
- Department of Entomology
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- Department of Landscape Architecture
Job Titles:
- Continuing Adult and Vocational Education
Forever Green Initiative, University of Minnesota | Works with CIAS on dairy policy and market structure
Scott Mericka is a first-generation dairyman. He and his wife Liana bought Uplands Cheese Company and Grass Dairy in 2014 with business partners Andy and Caitlin Hatch. Together, they run a pasture-based dairy located in rural Dodgeville. They milk 200 crossbred cows in a closed herd on 600 acres of owned and rented properties. They grow a variety of crops from forage sorghum, corn, forage brassicas, oats and peas, and grass-legume hay. Their diverse perennial pasture is the farm's centerpiece, and Uplands Cheese Company adds value to the high-quality milk their cows produce. www.uplandscheese.com
Job Titles:
- Department of Soil Science
Tony owns Stoney Acres Farm, a third-generation, 120-acre, highly diversified USDA certified organic operation located in Marathon County. He runs a CSA operation and market garden, produces maple syrup, and rotationally grazes and direct markets beef, pasture raised pork and pastured chicken. Tony holds a B.S. in Education from UW-Madison.
A native of Turkey, Troy received his B.A. in Art History from Istanbul University. In 1995, he moved to the United States to pursue his M.S. in management at FIU in Miami.
A turning point in Troy's career came when he worked for Apple Computer. Hired as a business specialist, Apple awarded him a full scholarship to study graphic design. He has worked as a graphic artist and as an art director for two decades, specializing in branding and corporate identity design.
Job Titles:
- Department of Agronomy
- Research Interests in Soil Biogeochemistry, Microbial Ecology, and Climate Change
Research interests in soil biogeochemistry, microbial ecology, and climate change
Job Titles:
- Department of Integrative Biology