W. Carter Johnson

Dr. Johnson is the chairperson of EcoSun Prairie Farms. He also is Distinguished Professor of Ecology in the Department of Natural Resource Management at South Dakota State University. He is well published in the areas of wetland ecology, landscape ecology, the effects of water regulation (dams, diversions) on large rivers (Missouri, Platte, Columbia, Snake), and the consequences of climate change on ecosystems of the northern Great Plains. The inspiration for the Prairie Farm project was Dr. Johnson’s great uncle, Oscar Carter, who grassed down the tillage land on the family homestead in southeastern South Dakota in the 1940’s to avoid debt from increasing machinery costs and to increase his profit margins by cattle ranching.

Dr. Arvid Boe

Dr. Boe is vice-chair of EcoSun Prairie Farms. He also is Professor of Forage Breeding in the Plant Science Department at South Dakota State University. He has published numerous papers during his long career on the agronomic use of native grassland plants from the northern Great Plains. Dr. Boe also has published extensively on the use of grassland plants for biofuel, especially switchgrass and prairie cordgrass.

Dr. Thomas Schumacher

Dr. Schumacher is the secretary-treasurer of EcoSun Prairie Farms. He is also Emeritus Professor of Soil Science in the Plant Science Department at South Dakota State University. Dr. Schumacher has numerous publications on the effects of tillage on soil quality in the western corn belt region. He is especially interested in how converting tilled cropland to native grassland improves soil quality.

Dr. Meghann Jarchow

Dr. Jarchow is chair and associate professor in the Department of Sustainability & Environment at the University of South Dakota.  Her research focuses on multifunctional landscapes in the prairie region including plant ecology, residents’ values towards their landscapes, and scenarios and visions for the future. Her research interests also include sustainability education and inclusive pedagogy.

Peter Carrels

Peter Carrels is an award – winning environmental activist, educator, journalist and author. He successfully petitioned the federal government to designate the pallid sturgeon as an endangered species, won a George Polk Award for Environmental Reporting as part of a team representing the publication High Country News, and he wrote, produced and managed a national river education traveling exhibit for the organization American Rivers. In 2018, he contributed a chapter to the book, Conservation on the Northern Plains, profiling the prairie agriculture movement. An Aberdeen, SD native, Carrels now lives in Sioux Falls, SD and directs communications for the University of South Dakota’s Division of Health Affairs.

Advisors to the Board

Dr. Cody Zilverberg

Researcher, Dakota Lakes Research Farm in Pierre

Les Miller

Farmland manager and broker in Sioux Falls

Dr. Craig Spencer

Professor emeritus Augustana University

Mike Cooper

Former Director of Planning and Development Services for the city of Sioux Falls