On Pasture Receives “Radical Center Award for Outstanding Leadership”

Last week was a really great one for your On Pasture editors.

First, WE MADE OUR MATCH! Thank you to everyone who contributed to help us reach our $15,000 goal for 2017. YOU ROCK!!! Your books and bumper stickers will be headed out in the mail soon to thank you for your support.

Second, we spent the week together in Albuquerque, New Mexico at the annual Quivira Coalition Conference where we were honored to receive the Radical Center Award for Outstanding Leadership in Research!

Being together in the same place for 6 days is always special since most of our work together is done via phone, email and text. Plus spending time together at the Quivira Conference meant we learned a lot and met lots of great people. But sitting on stage with our fellow awardees was truly exciting and humbling.

What is this Award?

Here’s how Executive Director Sarah Wentzel-Fisher described it to us when she told us that the Quivira Coalition had selected us for the award:

The Annual Awards for Outstanding Leadership in the Radical Center are dedicated to the four legs of the Quivira Coalition’s original chair — ranchers, conservationists, civil servants, and researchers. They recognize individuals in each category who have shown remarkable and enduring leadership in the difficult job of working in the radical center. As described by conservation leader Bill deBuys, this is the place where people come together to explore their common interests rather than argue their differences.

Quivira honors those who have advanced the cause of the radical center with integrity, vision, and determination, sometimes against long odds. Each recipient has inspired us with his or her dedication to community, healthy lands, and the advancement of our movement through teaching, writing, research, service, hard effort, and good humor. As a nominee, you represent the common bonds that unite us. We cherish your friendship and are proud to recognize your work in the radical center.

On Pasture is the best source for scientifically accurate information on pasture-based livestock production. Your online magazine provides up-to-date, accessible and relevant information to pasture-based livestock producers. We value you as an educational resource for our staff, and for the entire Quivira community — Mollie [Quivira’s Land and Water Program Director] likes to describe how you both have no qualms taking to task any piece of research that won’t hold water, or any story that hasn’t got its science right, because you care deeply about how the research impacts both producers and public perception. Good science plays such a critical roll in the efficacy of and advocacy for resilient soil, healthy livestock, and strong communities — so we would like to say thank you.

Our fellow awardees are doing truly amazing work and we were truly humbled to share the stage with them. We’ll be sharing their stories, along with more of what we learned at the conference. For now, during this Thanksgiving week, we’d like to thank the Quivira Coalition for honoring us, and you for being part of the On Pasture community that made this possible. Without you and your support, none of this would happen.

Thank you!

Kathy and Rachel