September 22nd, 2022
By
Scott Bjelland
AFT’s Midwest Team is Growing!
Our Midwest Team is Growing!
The importance of agriculture in the Midwest can’t be overstated in terms of supporting local economies, providing food, and delivering ecosystem services. Opportunities for Midwestern agriculture continue to grow and in August, American Farmland Trust added three new members to its Midwest team.
Marlee Giacometti
Marlee Giacometti is a program associate working on crop diversification efforts in the Midwest region. Before joining AFT, she was an environmental coordinator for Marquis Energy, where she managed environmental compliance programs at Marquis Energy’s ethanol plant and barge terminal. Marlee is from central Illinois and earned a Bachelor of Science in conservation and environmental science from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee.
Scott Bjelland
Scott Bjelland is communications manager for AFT’s Midwest region. Prior to joining AFT, Scott built a communications program for the newly-formed Turkana Basin Institute, a scientific research institute focusing on prehistory, ecology, geology, and cultural anthropology in East Africa. He is a graduate of San Diego Mesa College’s GIS Sciences program and has performed numerous analyses on the geology around Lake Turkana, Kenya.
Kathryn Pagura
As Midwest operations coordinator, Kathryn Pagura helps support the overall operations of the Midwest region. After graduating from the University of Colorado at Boulder, she spent the first part of her career as a meeting and event planner, and then helped run her family business that manufactured custom staging equipment for concerts, festivals, and special events. Kathryn enjoys using her organization and management skills to help AFT and the Midwest region protect farmland, promote sound farming practices, and keep farmers on the land.
AFT welcomes these new team members and celebrates the expansion of its Midwestern regional program! Check out the entire Midwest team here .