Cory grew up in the city of Missoula with a small garden where he helped his mother grow flowers.
Cory's interest in gardening waned, as he discovered sports. In high school, he volunteered to build a garden for a group home that housed disabled adults. One of the greatest moments in his life was being invited back that fall for a dinner prepared from everything they planted. Cory went to college to study business and simultaneously started a commercial cleaning company.
Marlon Winger earned a BS and MS degrees at Utah State University in Plant Science. He grew up on a family-owned dairy farm in Dayton, Idaho, where he found his professional passion for life (Agriculture). Worked as a County Agricultural Agent for Utah State University Extension service for 9 years in Price, Utah. Has been working for the USDA - Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) for 18 years, as Area Agronomist in Northern Utah and State Agronomist in Idaho, currently works as the Regional Soil Health Specialist for CO, UT, NM, and west TX.
Kevin Sedivec, Ph.D., will share research on the benefits of Diverse Rangelands, wildflower forage value, and the effects they have on livestock and pollinators.
Jeff Lowenfels is a leader in the organic gardening/sustainability movement as a result of his best-selling books on the science behind organics known as the Teaming Series.
These books are international best sellers and have been translated into numerous languages ranging from Italian, French, Spanish and Dutch to Korean, Romanian and Turkish.
After getting his degree in Agriculture from the University of Saskatchewan and various jobs around western Canada, he and his wife Christina bought land and moved back to the family farm. Quickly realizing they bought dirt not soil. The previous owners would bale the straw then burn the stubble, then every three years they would summer fallow. By using regenerative agriculture principles before they were being talked about and including using cover crops in 2008. He travels Western Canada educating producers regenerative agriculture principles.
