Julia Olmstead is a senior associate in the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy’s Rural Communities Program. She works on domestic biofuel policy, climate change, and Mississippi River navigation policy. For the last decade Julia has worked on issues related to agriculture and biofuels as a researcher and journalist. She serves on the Organizational Council of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition and was formerly a graduate fellow with the Land Institute in Salina, KS. She holds an M.S. in plant breeding and sustainable agriculture from Iowa State University, an M.J. in journalism from the University of California-Berkeley and a B.A. in botany and Spanish from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Julia hails from St. Paul, MN and is excited to be transitioning to a new position soon with working to create farmer-led watershed councils in western Wisconsin with University of Wisconsin Cooperative Extension. This episode has been sponsored by Hearst Ranch.