The Founding
Circle.

Founding Circle

Green Cover - Keith Berns

Green Cover · Bladen, NE

“We believe that if people really understand how the plants, the soil, and the biology all work together in diverse communities as God created them to, the adoption of soil health and regenerative agriculture practices will naturally follow.”

Green Cover is a cover crop seed company dedicated to providing the custom seed mixes to fit any cover crop situation in any area of the country with the use of high quality seed and vital educational content.

Founding Circle

1840 Farm Foundation

Led by U.S. Air Force veteran Matt Adler, 1840 Farm Foundation helps small producers turn conservation goals into practical action—from soil testing and cover crops to navigating NRCS programs.

Founding Circle

Piumi Madhuwanthi

New Mexico State University · New Mexico

Graduate research assistant in Plant and Environmental Sciences at New Mexico State University, studying soil health, conservation tillage, organic amendments, and greenhouse-gas dynamics in dryland cropping systems.

Founding Circle

Sledge Taylor

Mississippi

“The lessons of taking care of the land, the people that worked with us, the animals and even of the wildlife on the land were more of a lesson of responsibility than of taking care of the environment.”

A fifth-generation Mississippi farmer and owner of Buckeye Farms, Sledge Taylor has used cover crops since 1979 and decades of reduced tillage while serving in national cotton leadership roles.

Founding Circle

Cody Menefee

A technologist and pasture-raised livestock advocate, Cody Menefee explores how rotational grazing, virtual fencing, drones, and AI can make regenerative livestock systems easier to scale.

Founding Circle

Saurav Das

Soil scientist specializing in soil health, nutrient cycling, and sustainable agriculture; founder of Soil Health Exchange and OpenAgData.

Founding Circle

Ed Liegel

Crop Consultant · Wisconsin

“I believe in passing on practical in-field knowledge and/or experiences to the next generation of agriculturists.”

An independent crop consultant in southwestern Wisconsin, Ed brings more than four decades of field experience in nutrient management, soil testing, crop scouting, and practical fertility decisions.

Founding Circle

Michael McDonald

Indigo Ridge Farms and the NE Soil Health Coalition · Palmyra, NE

I live and farm with my north of Palmyra, NE. We want to learn and improve our stewardship steps with others.

Founding Circle

Deepak Ghimire

Missouri

I’m an agronomist and researcher with a research background in soil and water sciences, specializing in nutrient management, precision agriculture, and sustainable crop production.

Founding Circle

Katherine A

Northwestern University

“Open soil knowledge gives those who need it most, farmers, researchers, policy makers, the public, etc access to information that can help them make a difference and stay informed. The more information we all have access to, the better collaboration can happen.”

3rd year PhD Candidate researching the intersection of sustainable agriculture, carbon removal and capture, and isotope geochemistry to improve our understanding of how to protect and restore our natural systems for the future.