Innovative Ways to Support Ag Viability and Build Trust With Farmers – FbD Lunch & Learn Series

Join us on Thursday, July 10th for a discussion with Linda Neunzig, Division Manager of Snohomish County’s Agriculture Office, and Ty Meyer, Ag Manager at Spokane Conservation District exploring how innovative technologies and practices can support agricultural viability and lead to greater engagement with farmers.
Linda will highlight the Ag Tech Program, an initiative to bring leading-edge technology and data-driven insights to farmers, which is reducing their costs for irrigation, fertilizer, and labor, while leading to direct conservation outcomes. Funded by Floodplains by Design, this pilot program is bringing these benefits to farmers at no cost to them and is something that could be replicated in other watersheds to support the ag community and build trust with conservation partners.
Ty will give an overview of various programs his program has deployed with farmers over the last 20-years including a state revolving loan program, no till technologies, and most recently an effort to create a Pacific Northwest Regenerative Ag Network. Ty is currently working with 22 large scale farms implementing BioFarming techniques on over 150,000 acres. He’ll highlight efforts to build a peer-to-peer network of farmers to shift practices away from high cost, soil depleting industrial ag.
This discussion will be full of insights and tips for how to strategically engage the farming community in ways that put the farmer first, helping build trust, engagement, and long-term partnerships.
As a follow up to this Lunch & Learn, we will also be hosting an Ag Tech Field Day on July 22nd at Swan Trail Farm in Snohomish County, where attendees will get to see and demo some of the technologies Linda will feature in her talk. Click here for more information and to RSVP, or email Allan at awarren@b-e-f.org.
While we update the specific details of the Lunch & Learn sessions monthly, the topics are informed by feedback from the Floodplains by Design network of practitioners and partners.
As always, we welcome feedback and ideas for upcoming topics so please don’t hesitate to reach out to myself (Allan Warren awarren@b-e-f.org), Carol MacIlroy (cmacilroy@gmail.com), Lisa Nelson, (lnel461@ecy.wa.gov) or Matt Gerlach, (mger461@ecy.wa.gov).
Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2125469094
Passcode: 1234