Pollinate 2022

Thank you to everyone who made Pollinate 2022 an amazing experience! Stay tuned for information about Pollinate 2023!

If you attended Pollinate 2022, please fill out the survey below.

Pollinate 2022 Attendee Survey

Pollinate 2022 is a multi-day conference series for women in agriculture and conservation, with presentations from industry professionals about interpreting USDA contracts, conservation ag practices, taking leadership roles in your conservation or agriculture communities, legislative updates, and more!

Each session goes from 10am to 3pm and will include lunch.

Registration is $40 for all three dates, or $15 for individual dates. Please inquire about available scholarships and volunteer opportunities.

REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED. PLEASE CHECK BACK FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT POLLINATE 2023.

October 27th, 2022
AgroLiquid
3055 M-21, Saint Johns, MI 48879

10am - Open event with introductions
10:10am Keynote Speaker - Becky Huttinga, MIFarmLink
10:30am Session A - Jan Motz, DF Seeds
Session B - Kylie McElrath, Ducks Unlimite
11:30am Lunch from Krista Mead Catering
12:00pm Session C - Becky Huttinga, MIFarmLink
Session D - Andrea Wendt, Shiawassee Conservation District
1:00pm Networking and Roundtable Panel Q&A
2:00pm Explore AgroLiquid IQ Hub
3:00pm Adjourn

AgroLiquid is a pioneer in liquid fertilizer application, and makes notable contributions to Michigan's agricultural community by providing events including AgroExpo, supporting Michigan FFA and Michigan 4-H, and running the IQhub Agricultural Center. Learn more at www.agroliquid.com

November 3rd, 2022
Woldumar Nature Center
5739 Old Lansing Rd, Lansing, MI 48917

10am - Open event with introductions
10:10am Keynote Speaker - Janet MacFarlane Natural Photography
10:30am Session A - Ryann Rich, Pheasants Forever
Session B - Laura Campbell, Michigan Farm Bureau
11:30am Lunch from Morning Lory Cafe
12:00pm Session C - Gail Holman, Michigan Farmers Union
Session D - Leslie Warner, Farm Service Agency
1:00pm Networking and Roundtable Panel Q&A
2:00pm Walking tour of Woldumar Nature Center
3:00pm Adjourn

Woldumar Nature Center is a membership based non-profit that supports the Lansing community and surrounding areas by offering extensive outreach and environmental education opportunities, maintaining wilderness trails and kids camps, and encourages curiosity for the natural world around them. Learn more at www.woldumar.org

November 10th, 2022
Shawhaven Farm
1826 Rolfe Rd, Mason, MI 48854

10am - Open event with introductions
10:10am Keynote Speaker - Nancy Szikszay, Michigan Association of Conservation Districts
10:30am Session A - Julie Crick, MSU
Session B - Fahimeh Baziari & Alice Puchalsky, MiSTRIPS
11:30am Lunch from The Vault Deli
12:00pm Session C - Connie Crancer, Pollinator Partnership
Session D - Dr. Morgan Mathisonslee, MSU
1:00pm Networking and Roundtable Panel Q&A
2:00pm Walking tour of Shawhaven Farm
3:00pm Adjourn

Shawhaven Farm is an agrotourism destination south of Mason, Michigan, offering educational and entertainment events throughout the year. Doug and Tammy Shaw are passionate about bringing back the experience of visiting Grandma and Grandpa's family farm by hosting a variety of programs including corn mazes, haunted hayrides, spring Lamb Days, school tours, and more. Learn more at www.shawhavenfarm.com

Meet our speakers

Dr. Morgan MathisonSlee
Michigan State University
Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research

Dr. Morgan MathisonSlee is a Research Associate at Michigan State University (MSU) where she researches the ecological and social impacts of sustainable animal agriculture, particularly farmers and ranchers who have grazing animals. She became a fellow with the Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research and actively participates in the Resilience Alliance Young Scholars program. She has received several awards from the
College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at MSU for her research of food systems, and has collaborated with researchers internationally to determine the best way to measure the wellbeing of farmers and ranchers in developed nations such as the United States, Canada, and Australia.

Leslie Warner
USDA Farm Services Agency - Ionia and Barry Counties

Leslie Warner is the County Executive Director for the Farm Service Agency (FSA) in Ionia and Barry counties, she’s been with FSA for twelve years. She’s a Michigan State animal science alumni and received her masters in crop science from Illinois. Leslie has a small farm in Belding and raises registered Shetland sheep, Boer goats and Alpine dairy goats. She utilizing rotational grazing practices and has 3 acres planted to a wildflower/native grass pollinator mix. Her farm is MAEAP verified in Farmstead, Livestock and Cropping Systems.

Jan Motz
DF Seeds

Jan grew up on a cash crop and swine farm in Nebraska and received two Bachelor of Science degrees in Agriculture and Journalism from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln. She took these degrees on a path of advertising, production, agronomy and sales through positions with Ciba-Geigy, United Ag Products, Ag Reliant Genetics (formerly Great Lakes Hybrids), and Citizens Elevator, eventually finding her place at DF Seeds in 2016, helping grow the non-GMO market for corn, wheat, cover crop, alfalfa, and soybean seed in Michigan. She works in discovering high quality genetics to share with DF Seeds producers and providing agronomic support, in addition to holding her position as Sales Manager. Jan and her husband have three grown children, and farm with their two sons near Saint Johns, Michigan.

Fahimeh Baziari
Michigan State University
W.K. Kellogg Biological Station

Fahimeh is the MiSTRIPS coordinator for the Long-term Ecological Research at Michigan State University W. K. Kellogg Biological Station. She has worked in various fields within natural resources management including wildlife management, forestry, and education. Her experience has taken her across the country, and across the world as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ghana (2013 - 2015). While in Ghana, Fahimeh collaborated with women farming groups to help them identify agricultural conservation strategies to meet their needs regarding food security. It is through this experience that she has developed a passion for encouraging land stewardship in her community.

Becky Huttinga
Economic Development Coordinator for Ottawa County

Becky Huttenga, a lifelong resident of Ottawa County, grew up as a 4-H kid on a 24-acre hobby farm in Spring Lake Township before heading off to Michigan State University where she earned her Bachelor of Science in Animal Science. Her passion for being the bridge between natural resources and agriculture began when she became Executive Director at the Ottawa Conservation District in 2011, and continues today with her work at Ottawa County in brownfield redevelopment and farmland preservation. Becky is a Farm Bureau member, currently serving on the Promotion and Education Committee. Over the years, she has served on numerous boards and committees, including Breakfast on the Farm, the West Michigan Conservation Network, Ottawa County Solid Waste Committee, Brownfield Redevelopment Authority, and as a Farm Bureau State Delegate. Becky currently resides in the City of Grand Haven and in her free time she enjoys volunteering at local festivals, fostering rescued puppies, watching Spartan basketball, reading, and playing league soccer.

Ryann Rich
Pheasants Forever

Ryann was hired onto the Pheasants Forever team in May of this year to serve as the first private lands staff in Michigan and spear head a new position as a Regenerative Agriculture and Conservation Specialist. In this new role, Ryann will assist landowners in identifying opportunities to implement regenerative ag practices that simultaneously improve their operation’s sustainability and profitability.

Ryann’s services are available to a range of farm types – dairies, row crops, produce, grazing operations, orchards, etc. looking to incorporate best management practices that improve soil health, wildlife
habitat and water quality without sacrificing (and in many cases, improving) an operation’s return-on- investment.

Ryann has a dual bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science and Natural Resource Management from Northern Michigan University complimented by significant experience in the field of agriculture and natural resources from both public and private industry. She is excited to provide these services to the agriculture community and work for a great cause in the very place that taught her the importance of
conservation.

Janet MacFarlane
Janet MacFarlane Natural Photography

Janet is a nature photographer and backyard naturalist. She focuses her lens on native bees and pollinators. She endeavors to create artful renditions that have a dual function—to catch the eye and to educate. She is a frequent contributor to iNaturalist and Bug Guide and has had one of her Monarch photos published in the journal Nature. As a member of the Lansing Art Council and the Working Women Artists Group, she seeks to bring nature to the forefront with her photography. In sharing her art, she hopes to conjure awe from her viewers, whether it is through a reflection in a drop of water, the small pollen structures of an aster, or the fluffy hairs of a bumble bee. Her intention is to promote knowledge, appreciation and compassion. She wants people to recognize how vital the natural world is to our own human well-being.
When Janet is not out and about with her camera, she instructs yoga classes and spends time with her family in Haslett.

Connie Crancer
Pollinator Partnership

Connie Crancer (BS Horticulture, MS Terrestrial Ecology) enjoyed a 26 year career at University of MI Botanical Gardens and Arboretum where her later years of employ focused on native plants - native plant seed collection and dissemination, planning and implementing plantings using native species, and habitat restoration. After retirement she took a position with Pollinator Partnership and is in her third and final season as MI State Coordinator for Project Wingspan - a short-term, grassroots, pollinator and Monarch habitat enhancement project sponsored by the Fish and Wildlife Foundation which enlists volunteers throughout MI to collect seed of target native species which is in turn distributed to shovel-ready habitat projects. Last year she took on the role of MI NRCS Liaison where her tasks include outreach about the benefits of pollinator and beneficial insect habitat enhancement and creation on farms for our food- and local ecosystems.

Gail Holman
Michigan Farmers Union

Gail Holman is the co-director of Come and See Farm, an educational, permaculture farm and garden. She also serves on the board of the Michigan Farmers Union representing small family farmers in Michigan. She is passionate about sustainable farming and bringing to life the permaculture principles of caring for the earth, caring for people and sharing the excess fairly. Gail has dual Master’s degrees in Environmental Studies and Divinity. Her concern for planet and people has been a driving force in establishing Come and See Farm, where people of all ages are empowered to think about where their food comes from and to learn how to sustainably create a backyard farm. Gail believes mental and physical health begins in our own backyards and within our small communities. Each person who moves towards more sustainable living and eating improves their own quality of life, and contributes to saving the world. She lives in Berrien Springs with her partner Melissa, smallest farm dog Dewey, a donkey, a pig, some sheep, a few goats and too many chickens to count.

Nancy Szikszay
Michigan Association of Conservation Districts

Nancy and her husband, Bill, farm 2500 acres of cash crops in Genesee, Lapeer, and Tuscola Counties, and also work with Szikszay Family Farms, Inc, in farming an additional 3000 in Michigan. Her family's farm has participated in a number of NRCS programs and is MAEAP verified to continue to progress in conservation-minded practices. Being raised in downtown Flint, Michigan, Nancy's path to agriculture began as an educator for three years in Sierra Leone, and returning to the US to work at Mott Farm, an educational farm owned by Flint Community Schools.

Nancy has 20 years of experience being involved with conservation districts, beginning at the Genesee Conservation District serving as chair, vice-chair, and treasurer, and then as representative of Region 9 on the Michigan Association of Conservation Districts board.

Kylie McElrath
Ducks Unlimited

Kylie started with Ducks Unlimited in November of 2021. Kylie is responsible for developing, delivering, and administering agriculture programs throughout Michigan. Kylie earned her bachelor's degree in natural resources and master’s degree in conservation biology from Central Michigan University. Kylie has prior experience with various wildlife species in environments such as Great Lakes coastal wetlands, prairie pothole wetlands of North Dakota, grasslands and agricultural land of Nebraska, and uplands of Idaho.

Julie Crick
Michigan State University

Julie Crick started as a Forestry and Natural Resource Educator with Michigan State University Extension in 2013. Her focus areas are forest health, sustainable forest management, and, most recently, the practice of silvopasture.

Alice Puchalsky
Michigan State University
W.K. Kellogg Biological Station

Alice is a PhD student at Michigan State University and the W.K. Kellogg Biological Station. Her research focuses on conservation strategies that harness the ecosystem services insects can provide to agricultural landscapes, while conserving insect biodiversity. Before starting graduate school at MSU, Alice received a B.S. in environmental science from Temple University, where she conducted research on bats, land snails, and a rare butterfly.