The Ground We Share: Conversations on Soil, Food, and Health

6:30pm: Doors open for interactive exhibits to experience soil, food, and human health:

• Interact with soil health and water quality demonstrations
• Regenerative agriculture practices that improve soil health
• Experience and taste healthy food produced from the Driftless
• Peruse and check out gardening, cooking, and health books
• Engage with connections between gut microbiome, food, and health

7:30pm: Keynote Presentation by Anne Bikle:

Linking Soil Health to Human Health
Is it true that you are what you eat? Not entirely. The full story lies in how we grow the crops and raise animals that make their way into our bodies. Biklé will draw on her most recent book, “What Your Food Ate: How to Heal Our Land and Reclaim Our Health“, co-authored with her husband David Montgomery. Recent and forgotten science reveal intimate connections between soil health and human health traveling along a pathway that winds through soil, the bodies of crops, livestock, and microbiomes, eventually reaching us.

About Anne Bikle
Anne Biklé is a science writer and public speaker. She draws on her background in biology and hands-on experiences in the garden and natural world to explore agriculture and medicine, two of humanity’s greatest endeavors.
web: www.Dig2Grow.com || email: Dig2Grow@gmail.com

8:30 pm: ‘Soil, Food, and Health Panel Conversation’ with local/regional soil and human health care providers, including:

• Wendy Johnson, Livestock and organic grain farmer and owner of Joia Food and Fiber Farm, Charles City, IA. 2024 Iowa Leopold Conservation Farmer of the Year
• Robby Jewell ‘14, 6th generation organic/conventional livestock and crop farmer and co-owner of Jewell Enterprizes, Decorah, IA. Nominated for 2025 Iowa Leopold Conservation Farmer of the Year
• Carly Zierke, Organic vegetable farmer and co-owner of Sweet Season Farm, Calmar, IA
  Board member of Decorah Farmers Market and Oneota Community Food Co-op
• Jake Larkin ‘12, Lead PA in hospital medicine and clinical preceptor, Emplify/Gundersen Health System, La Crosse, WI. Co-founder of Gundersen rooftop garden and leading development of campus farm. 2018 Gundersen Main campus Educator of the Year Award
• Erin Meyer, MSFS, RD, Executive Director and Founder, Basil’s Harvest, Clinical Associate and co-founder of Culinary Medicine program, University of Illinois College of Medicine, Peoria