Having always been an active person and lover of the outdoors, Ben naturally gravitated towards a lifestyle focused on interacting with the land. With degrees in forestry and natural resources as well as agricultural engineering, it is the interactions within the world’s agroecosystems that have become his primary focus and joy. Cultivated lands take up almost half of the dry land surface on Earth and represent a critical land use impacting local, regional, and global natural resources that every single person relies on. Ben believes the Jennings Family Farm is one model that can show others how our agricultural lands have the potential to not only produce, but also support key features of the landscape such as pollination services, biodiversity, soil health, and water quality. Other models exist as well in communities across the world. And this is where Ben’s passion for Firefly Fields lies, the connection of people to integrated agricultural operations, such as Jennings Family Farm, is a necessary step in creating the social change needed to create a demand not only for food, but for nutritious food, for good food that is produced in a sustainable way, from farms that support the land rather than deplete it, and for a new way to taste the landscape.
