Agroecology Correspondents

UW-Madison's Agroecology Program is supported by Agroecology Correspondents. We are organizing a diverse group of farmers, policy makers, researchers, activists and business owners from a broad range of agroecological endeavors. These people will provide our program with critical "information from the field" and enable our curriculum to be well informed and relevant. Our correspondents inform the UW Agroecology Program in a variety of ways:

Jules Pretty

Professor Jules Pretty is Head of the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Essex. His books include The Earth Only Endures (2007), Environment (4 vols, ed 2006), Biological Approaches to Sustainable Soil Systems (2006, co-authored), The Earthscan Reader in Sustainable Agriculture (2005, ed), The Pesticide Detox (2005), Agri-Culture (2002) and Guide to a Green Planet (ed, 2002).

He is a Fellow of the Institute of the Biology and the Royal Society of Arts, Deputy-Chair of the government's Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE), and has served on advisory committees for DEFRA, DFID, the Cabinet Office and DTI. He received a 1997 international award from the Indian Ecological Society, and was appointed A D White Professor-at-Large by Cornell University from 2001. He received an OBE in 2006 for services to sustainable agriculture.

Sharon Adams

Sharon Adams returned to her parents homestead in 1997. With her husband, Larry Adams, neighbors and friends, she founded the Walnut Way Conservation Corp to restore a central city community of approximately thirty blocks. During the last ten years, environmental stewardship has been a central focus of the rehabilitation and economic development. Sharon's love and trust of nature led to the creation of public commercial gardens on vacant lots, growth in private gardens and new found interest in utilizing rainwater for natural irrigation. She believes Walnut Way is becoming a "garden community."

Sharon Adams was appointed Director of the Institute for Service Learning (ISL) in January of 2004. Adams serves on the Growing Power Board of Directors. She came to UWM after a full career in non-profit administration, including directing the Girl Scout Council of Greater New York. Adams received a BA from UW-Milwaukee and MSW from Wayne University in Detroit. She is a Revson Fellow at Columbia College, New York.

Margaret Krome

Margaret Krome is Policy Program Director for the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute in East Troy, Wisconsin. In this capacity she coordinates the annual national grassroots campaign to fund federal programs supported by the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture and works to develop state programs and policies supporting environmentally sound, profitable, and socially responsible agriculture.

In addition to policy work, Ms. Krome conducts workshops nationwide on grant writing and using federal programs to support sustainable agriculture. She sits on the board of the National Center for Appropriate Technology, and the Board of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection for the state of Wisconsin. She writes a bi-weekly editorial column for the evening paper in Madison, where she lives with her husband and two children.

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