Laura Lengnick is an award-winning soil scientist who has explored agricultural sustainability for more than 30 years as a researcher, policy-maker, educator, and farmer. Her work in soil quality and sustainable farming systems was nationally-recognized with a USDA Secretary’s Honor Award in 2002 and she contributed to the 3rd National Climate Assessment as a lead author of the 2013 USDA report Climate Change and Agriculture in the United States: Effects and Adaptation. Laura led the academic program in sustainable agriculture at Warren Wilson College for more than a decade, where she also served as the Director of Sustainability Education, conducted research in sustainability assessment and holistic management, led energy descent action planning, and developed an adaptive sustainable dining policy for the college. In 2014, Laura left the college to launch Cultivating Resilience, LLC, a private consulting firm offering ecosystem-based climate risk management services to civil society, business, and government. She serves as an advisor to the Asheville-Buncombe Food Policy Council and the North American Climate Smart Agriculture Alliance. Her 2015 award-winning book, Resilient Agriculture: Cultivating Food Systems for a Changing Climate (New Society Publishers), examines climate change, resilience and the future of food through the adaptation stories of 27 leading sustainable farmers and ranchers located across the U.S. You can learn more about Laura and her work at www.cultivatingresilience.com.
Laura Lengnick
