Gideon Fynaardt

Gideon is a graduate student pursuing a master’s degree in Agroecology under Gregg Sanford’s advising. He was raised in northwest Iowa on a once-abandoned acreage, where his love for wilderness and fascination with agriculture flourished together. He earned his B.A. in Biology—Ecological Science from Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa, where he became convicted of the ways agriculture is both a cause and victim of ecological crises, and strove to promote positive change for farmers and land. His research is focused on ecological intensification—the integration of ecologically-founded changes to agricultural systems to improve productivity and sustainability—of dairy-forage and cash-grain systems, and how these changes affect soil health, especially the sequestration of soil organic carbon, which is vital to soil ecosystems.