Emerging Leaders in Food & Ag unveiled their 10 award winners at a virtual event on Dec. 15, 2021, and included Jessica Gnad, Manhattan, Kansas, the executive director of Great Plains Regeneration. Gnad is also a soil health consultant at High Plains Journal.
Emerging Leaders in Food & Ag is a national initiative that aims to grow, connect and celebrate visionary leaders across the agriculture and food system in order to ensure that the enormous challenges facing food and agriculture today are addressed by a new generation of innovative, engaged leaders.
The 2021 award winners included farmers and people in various levels of the food and agriculture value chains across the United States and Canada. An initial group of nominees was narrowed down to 25 finalists after open voting on the EmergingLeadersFA.com website. From there, selection of the 10 award winners was based on a set of criteria, including responses to curated questions.
This year’s award winners are creating change by connecting under-served communities to better food sources, advocating for and training soil health principles, striving for increased food equity and justice, improving food system policy, addressing food production, and much more. Other winners recognized were Kayla Birdsong, Fresh Food Connect; Alyssa Harding, Sustainable Brands; Alyssa Hartman, Artisan Grain Collaborative; Aria McLauchlan and Harley Cross, Land Core; Krystal Oriadha, formerly of National Farm to School Network; Vanessa Garcia Polanco, National Young Farmers Coalition; Meredith Rose, Community Ag Alliance; Wanda Stewart, Common Vision; and Shreyaa Venkat, NEST4US.
