“My professional life was devoted to the academic world as a professor of biology and university administrator.  A wide variety of experiences in field biology, agriculture, range management,  one university’s fish hatchery, and my own emphasis in experimental cell and molecular biology shaped my appreciation of the sources of food and the interactions of agriculture and the ecology of a region.  I saw the skills and experienced the labor of producing food.  I learned how modifications of grazing regimens could simultaneously maintain meat production and restore the native plant communities of the range.  I saw how migratory birds could contribute to a local economy and how a degree program in fisheries biology could help in a major way to stimulate a sport and commercial fishing economy.

When it came time to retire from my peripatetic academic life, I chose Socorro as my home.  It is the same size as the other small university towns in which I have lived. It is in a major agricultural valley with all the beauties of small farm fields and markets full of local products.  It is surrounded by fascinating and scenic deserts and mountains with unique ecologies.  And it is bisected by a historic river that guides the flyway for bird migrations from all of the intermountain west.  It was an easy choice to move here.  Then it was predictable that I would find opportunities to volunteer on a nearby organic vegetable farm.  It was not predictable that they would lead to an invitation to join RGALT’s board of directors, but they did.  My steep learning curve in RGALT led to an understanding of the pressures that threaten this beautiful valley, its river, and the food that is produced here and of the ways that RGALT acts effectively to resist the pressures and divert the threats. Local food production, this community’s characteristic way of life, and the natural world adjacent to us depend on the conservation efforts of RGALT and its fellow organizations.  We need the support of increasing membership.”

~ Michael Donovan, RGALT Board President

“I grew up on a large scale wholesale and direct market vegetable farm in midcoast Maine, which transitioned to organic in the early 1990s. I remember well those early days of organic production on the farm. We initially tried a proto-fish emulsion fertilizer, which in Maine meant having a truckload of decomposing local fish and seaweed dumped at one end of a field and placed under a tarp for a couple of weeks before spreading. I remember the massive piles of fish and seaweed were much higher than my younger self, but I mainly remember the smell!

In the early 2000s, my family worked with our local agricultural land trust to place a conservation easement on our farmland. The neighboring capital district development was steadily moving closer and closer to our farm. I knew this to be true mostly because of the increase in city light at night. The light keeps encroaching, but with our farm conservation and management efforts, the wildlife also has increased. We now have multiple bald eagles nesting and the beavers have never been more active! The farm feels more alive and vital than ever before due to our management and conservation choices.

Growing up on a farm solidified my commitment to agricultural viability and conservation. Before moving back to NM to work for RGALT,  I directed the Western North Carolina FarmLink program, which was a partnership facilitating successful relationships between farmers looking for land to farm, and landowners aspiring to keep their farm and forest land in agriculture. This work immediately made clear the importance of succession planning, for both land access and agricultural preservation, and I became a certified farm succession coordinator through the International Farm Transition Network. This has not only informed my professional work but also my family’s multi-year farm succession planning process. In addition to working at RGALT, I also work for the American Farmland Trust as the Program Manager and a Land Access Trainer for the Farms for a New Generation national initiative. ”

~Suzanna Denison, RGALT Executive Assistant

Increase Membership! Please click the ‘Become a Member’ button below to learn more about our monthly membership options. For as little as a cup of coffee you can make a difference in your community.

 

RGALT’s Spring/Summer 2020 Print Newsletter is out!
Read the entire newsletter here!