The Land Grant University We Need Today: Bridging the Divide Between Academia and Farmers

Register

Join us for the most attended presentation from SWCS’s SOLD OUT 2026 International Annual Conference, “The Land Grant University We Need Today: Bridging the Divide and Harmonizing Academia and Farmers.”

Opportunities for farmers to benefit from land-grant university research and support are expansive and urgently needed, but transformation is necessary.

SWCS CEO Clare Lindahl will sit down with Linda Prokopy of the University of Vermont and Abe Collins of Land Care Cooperative and LandWEB to thoughtfully explore how land-grant university research and extension can better address contemporary agricultural challenges as trusted farmer partners.

We will reflect on the transformative idea of land-grant universities and extension, which emerged during the tumultuous nineteenth century, and discuss persistent challenges, including “scientist as expert, farmer as subject” power differences and one-way information flow, research focused on predicting average practice outcomes, and gatekeeping of innovations developed outside academic institutions.

Farmers describe a common pattern in how land-grant university faculty sometimes respond to farmer innovation: “First they ignore you, then ridicule you, then fight and work to disprove you, then claim the idea as their own.” Opportunities for collaboration are also challenged by inherent mismatches between farmers’ needs, including their livelihoods and desire to continuously improve stewardship, and academics’ needs for publications, presentations, citations, grants, career advancement, and status.

This conversation between a farmer advocate and a land-grant university dean will identify pathways to bridge and transcend this divide and create a new model of coproduction, one in which farmers participate as equals and farmers and scientists bring their respective strengths, learn from one another, and work together to meet pressing social needs while overcoming past patterns of blocking or co-opting innovation.

Speakers

• Clare Lindahl, SWCS (Moderator)
• Linda Prokopy, University of Vermont 
• Abe Collins, Land Care Cooperative (LCA) and LandWEB

What You’ll Leave With

• An honest discussion about the challenges facing farmer and land-grant university partnerships
• Emerging farmer and scientist collaborations already underway
• Ideas for those working within and alongside land-grant universities to transform existing approaches and create a new model

Cost

• Free for SWCS members
• $15 for nonmembers

Bonus: Need CEU credits? A certificate of attendance will be provided upon request. Just email events@swcs.org after the webinar.