Shannon is completing her second season with the New Agrarian Program at San Juan Ranch in Saguache, Colorado. She joined the program in the spring of 2021 as an apprentice at Sol Ranch in northeastern New Mexico. From Denver, Colorado originally, her educational background is in environmental studies and social justice. She has worked and volunteered on a variety of agricultural operations including fruit orchards, dairies and vegetable farms. Before working on a ranch her favorite former job was being the garden/farm to school coordinator at an elementary school. Shannon came to ranching through a deep love for nature, western landscapes, community, food, agrarian/rural tradition and her desire to be an instrument of positive change. Since then she has discovered an obsession with grazing animals and their impacts on the land as well as a conviction that better land stewardship must be an inclusive, just and collaborative effort. In the future Shannon hopes to continue caring for land through ranching, producing food and building community.

Plenary Panel

Young Agrarians: Living the Questions Now & Seeking Bold Solutions & NAP Graduation Ceremony

Leah grew up in Webster Groves, Missouri where she met her husband and fellow apprentice, Jesse Pinkner. She graduated with a BS in Biology, also earning minors in Chemistry and Sustainability, as well as a certificate in Environmental Education from Missouri State University. Throughout college, Leah and Jesse took many trips to Jesse’s family ranch, the LZ ranch, and dreamed of making a life there. After college she worked in the Hultgren microbiology lab at WASHU Medical School. From there she moved into plant science, working in the Miller lab at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. Here she fell in love with field work and found a way into agriculture. From there, she found the New Agrarian Program. Leah and Jesse are currently second year apprentices at the Moe Ranch in Two Dot, Montana. They are both working to start a direct marketing business, Honest Harvest, currently raising chicken and pork to sell to their community. Leah hopes to one day have a small, diverse food production operation with livestock integration that provides food and opportunities for her community.
Outside of her work, Leah enjoys gardening, cooking and baking to share with friends and family, crocheting, and camping, hiking, and climbing with Jesse and their dog Maggie.

Plenary Panel

Young Agrarians: Living the Questions Now & Seeking Bold Solutions & NAP Graduation Ceremony

I am a 2nd year NAP apprentice at the Indreland Ranch in Big Timber, MT. Before I came to the New Agrarian Program in 2021, I worked on wildland fire crews around the country. This provided me with time to dip my toes into agriculture during my off seasons, which had been an interest of mine since college. As I worked in wildland fire my interest in land management grew, particularly in the west and on large landscapes. This interest led me to books and podcasts about what ranchers were doing with grazing. When I finished my last fire season in October 2020, I set out to find my way onto a ranch that was being managed regeneratively and discovered the New Agrarian Program.

I am passionate about grasslands, grazing, soil health, good food, and community. My experience in the New Agrarian Program has fueled these passions even further and allowed me to dive headfirst into the world of agriculture and land management, and I am excited for the opportunities ahead of me.

Plenary Panel

Young Agrarians: Living the Questions Now & Seeking Bold Solutions & NAP Graduation Ceremony

Author of Collective Courage: A History of African American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice (2014), and 2016 inductee into the U.S. Cooperative Hall of Fame, Jessica Gordon-Nembhard, Ph.D., is Professor of Community Justice and Social Economic Development, in the Department of Africana Studies, John Jay College, City University of NY. Dr. Gordon-Nembhard is a political economist specializing in cooperative economics, community economic development and community-based asset building, racial wealth inequality, solidarity economics, Black Political Economy, and community-based approaches to justice. She is co-editor with Ngina Chiteji of Wealth Accumulation and Communities of Color (University of Michigan Press 2006). She is a member of the Cooperative Economics Council of NCBA/CLUSA; the International Co-operative Alliance Committee on Co-operative Research; a Faculty Fellow and Mentor with the Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing at Rutgers University School of Management and Labor Relations; and an affiliate scholar with the Centre for the Study of Co-operatives (University of Saskatchewan, Canada). Gordon-Nembhard is also a past board member of the Association of Cooperative Educators; a past fellow with the Center on Race and Wealth at Howard University; and a member and past president of the National Economic Association. She is the proud mother of Stephen and Susan, and the grandmother of Stephon, Hugo, Ismaél and Gisèle Nembhard.

Book: Collective Courage: A History of African American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice. 

Also see this interview and other information about my work.

Gordon Nembhard, Jessica. 2020. “Solidarity Cooperative Economics for the Global Majority.” The Miami Institute for the Social Sciences Economics Forum, online article inaugural forum, November 25, 2020. 

Plenary

Regenerative Promise of Black Community Economics

Throughout African American history, even when Blacks were discriminated against and oppressed at work, or could not find a job, they engaged in economic cooperation and solidarity. Blacks pooled their resources to provide and pay for services they needed but did not have access to otherwise, either due to their masters’ control, or exploitative economic systems. African Americans used solidarity for escape (i.e., the Underground Railroad); started independent schools, intentional communities, and mutual aid societies. They created intentional communities, and used cooperatives to successfully farm, to run their own cotton mills, to collectively buy equipment and supplies, to provide insurance and health services, to gain access to credit and financial services, to provide electricity and alternative energy, etc. Black Americans have retained a sense of humanity and cooperative practice from their African ancestors, and created alternative economic activities that were jointly owned and democratically governed to provide for their families and strengthen their communities. These community solidarity economic accomplishments and strategies are increasing being used to address 21st century crises.

Plenary

Creating Connections Between Land Owners and Native Youth