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Jacob Grace
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Savanna Institute
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The Savanna Institute to recognize Forever Green Initiative’s Dr. Don Wyse posthumously with 2024 Deep Roots Award

Veggie Emporium co-founders Jacque and Dan Enge receive New Shoots Award

Spring Green, Wis – Each year at the Perennial Farm Gathering when the perennial agriculture community comes together to network and share stories, the Savanna Institute gives out two special awards of appreciation. The Deep Roots Award recognizes a community member with years of history and accomplishments advancing the science, practice, and adoption of agroforestry. The New Shoots Award recognizes an emerging leader in perennial agriculture working towards the same goals. Award recipients are nominated by the community.

This year’s Deep Roots Award is extended posthumously to Dr. Don Wyse, a beloved leader who passed away unexpectedly in 2024. Earlier this year, Don celebrated 50 years of teaching and research at the University of Minnesota. He was the visionary and co-founder of the Forever Green Initiative, which serves as a platform and model for developing alternative crops and cropping systems that provide longer-living cover on the landscape with additional economic and environmental benefits to rural and urban communities. Several of these crops have achieved commercial success and the Forever Green Initiative has gained global recognition and support. He was instrumental in bringing together individuals across the industry to work on the most challenging issues affecting agriculture, the environment, and society.

The 2024 New Shoots Award goes to Jacque and Dan Enge, founders of the Veggie Emporium, a regenerative microfarm growing nutrient dense produce while promoting soil health, water quality, and biodiversity. They hosted an agroforestry mini-symposium on their family land in 2022 with Nearby Nature Milwaukee, the Savanna Institute, Grassland 2.0, and Rural Urban FLOW. Jacque has also served as the rural coordinator for the FLOW network, facilitating important exchanges across the region – including the creation of the Outdoor Land Theatre at Fermentation Fest, which showed a seed exchange documentary. They are both movers and shakers with one foot in honoring the agricultural / familial lineage of the past, and one foot in transitioning toward more sustainable models of the future.

On Monday, October 7th, awards will be presented as part of our 2024 Perennial Farm Gathering at the Monona Terrace in Madison, Wisconsin. The Perennial Farm Gathering is being held in-person for the first time in five years, and press passes are available to attend at no charge.

Sponsors for the 2024 Perennial Farm Gathering include Compeer Financial, Canopy Farm Management, Agroforestry Coalition, Marbleseed, NĀTIFS, American Farmland Trust, River Hills Harvest, American Hazelnut Company, The Nature Conservancy, USDA National Agroforestry Center, University of Missouri Center for Agroforestry, Wisconsin Farmers Union, Wormfarm Institute, Alliant Energy, Cutler Fence, Meadowlark, Nature’s Path Organic, Scattergood, Green Lands Blue Waters, Midwestern BioAg, Appalachian Forest Farmer Coalition, Organic Valley, Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE), Grassworks, and Forrest Keeling Nursery.

What: 2024 Deep Roots Award and 2024 New Shoots Award, presented with appreciation by the Savanna Institute

When: Perennial Farm Gathering, Monday, October 7th, 9:00 am – 10:00 am

Who: Dr. Don Wyse, co-founder of the Forever Green Initiative at University of Minnesota; Jacque and Dan Enge, co-founders of the Veggie Emporium

Where: Monona Terrace, Madison WI and virtually at savannainstitute.org/pfg2024

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About the Savanna Institute

The Savanna Institute is a nonprofit organization that works with farmers and scientists to lay the groundwork for widespread agroforestry, a beneficial method of farming with trees. The Perennial Farm Gathering is the organization’s signature event, hosted each year for the perennial agriculture community. Learn more at savannainstitute.org.

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