I first met Ren Olive about 8 or 9 years ago camping at the Land Institute’s Prairie Festival in Salina, KS. I clearly remember having a number of very thought provoking conversations with them throughout that weekend about topics such as removing the barriers to food access in rural communities, democratizing food systems, developing more sustainable approaches to agriculture and food, and building more resilient communities.

In the years following our initial meeting, it’s become clear to me that Ren has committed themselves to efforts pursuing all the objectives that we talked about in Kansas. Throughout the time that I’ve known them they’ve worked directly to build and strengthen access to food in a range of communities and to improve the capacity of institutions of higher-education to support communities. They’ve in the past worked at the University of Minnesota’s Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships and Second Harvest Heartland, and will soon be the Grants Development Coordinator at the Rochester Community and Technical College.

Links:

1. https://extension.umn.edu/community-development/rural-grocery-stores
   
   
2. https://extension.umn.edu/regional-partnerships
   
   
3. https://www.2harvest.org/second-harvest-heartland-local-minnesota-wisconsin-food-bank