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About Us

The Agroecosystem Management Program (AMP) works to improving agroecosystems and their impact on society and the environment. We do this by deepening connections between people, enhancing our understanding of agroecosystems, and expanding use of agroecological approaches to farming. We seek to ensure future farming and food systems improve our quality of life by being just, sustainable, biodiverse, resilient.  

We serve as a platform for regional collaboration around agroecosystem management, by:

  • Distributing a regular news/events announcement to OSU faculty, staff, and students and non-OSU partners.

  • Hosting the annual Stinner Summit, an innovative networking event geared toward developing and launching new farming and food system projects.

  • Providing mapping services and geographic databases to explore agroecosystems in Ohio, and maintain an online networking platform for food system entrepreneurs (localfoodsystems.org).

  • Supporting collaborative research and engagement initiatives across disciplines, universities, and in society to generate transdisciplinary conversations and projects on agroecosystem management.

We also fund and coordinate agroecosystem research, including:

  • Managing an annual grant program to support on-farm research collaborations between Ohio farmers and OSU researchers through the Paul C. and Edna H. Warner Endowment Fund.

  • Seeking extramural funding from foundations, state and federal agencies, and private sector partners for AMP-coordinated research projects.

  • Recent examples include projects exploring the environmental and economic tradeoffs of crop-livestock integration, documenting ecological and socioeconomic benefits of farm diversity and diversification, monitoring and assessing agroecosystem health, and leveraging social networks to promote improved watershed management and food and agricultural economic development.

Finally, we are working to build and support Agroecosystem degree pathways in Ohio through:

  • Facilitating the Ohio Sustainable Agriculture Education Network (OSAEN) – a consortium of colleges and universities in Ohio working to develop and align sustainable agriculture degree programs.

  • Creating and promoting degree programs at Ohio State, including AS and BS degrees in Sustainable Agriculture, and a Master’s or PhD in Interdisciplinary Environmental Science, with a specialization in Agroecosystem Science.