Agriculture is a complex natural system.

Keep the culture in agriculture

Dirt's under our fingernails, soil's under our feet.

Associate professor of Animal Science (Michigan State University) and C.S. Mott Professor of Sustainable Agriculture , Dr. Jason Rowntree coordinates Lake City and UPREC AgBioResearch and Extension Centers where he addresses economic, environmental and social complexity in agriculture. He studys how grazing livestock can improve land and mitigate climate change by capturing carbon and providing other ecosystem services. He strives to increase local food systems that strengthen local communities. He is former chair of the Grassfed Exchange, a leading U.S. grass-fed beef educational organization, serves on the board of the American Grassfed Association, is an accredited Holistic Management Educator and is an advisor of Standard Soil, a startup corporation that aims to meet the nation’s growing demand for grass-finished beef while restoring the ecosystems they manage.

Jason's objective is to develop low-cost, low-input beef production systems for the Upper Great Lakes. His research and extension focuses on forage utilization of grazing beef cattle, extending the grazing season and forage-finishing. Another facet of his work is to improve economics of small and medium size beef producers through local and regional beef production and distribution system development. Bovine tuberculosis is a challenge to northern Michigan beef cattle producers, and they aim to develop holistic approaches to beef cattle and white-tail deer management through selective forage plot establishment, hay feeding and fencing strategies.

Lake City Research Center - https://www.canr.msu.edu/lakecity/

AgBioResearch Upper Peninsula Research and Extension Center - https://www.canr.msu.edu/uprc/

"Soil carbon storage informed by particulate and mineral-associated organic matter." MF Cotrufo, et. al - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-019-0484-6

"Simulating measurable ecosystem carbon and nitrogen dynamics with the mechanistically-defined MEMS 2.0 model." Yao Zhang, et. al. - https://bg.copernicus.org/preprints/bg-2020-493/

"Ecosystem Impacts and Productive Capacity of a Multi-Species Pastured Livestock System." J. E. Rowntree, et. al. - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2020.544984/full