Dr. Mark Sherman, a scientist and horticulture business owner, is the featured speaker for the April 16 Thursdays at the U program at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire – Barron County.
Dr. Mark Sherman
His presentation, “A Few Observations on Perennial Agriculture,” will run from 12:30-1:30 p.m. in the Blue Hills Lecture Hall in Ritzinger Hall and also will be livestreamed at ricelaketv.com.
Historically, most horticultural and agronomic crops have been grown as annual monocrops. Over the centuries, this has led to soil erosion and the depletion of organic matter.
While there are methods to mitigate these environmental detriments, scientists at The Land Institute in Salina, Kansas, sought to come up with an alternative. Their research led to the development of Kernza, the world’s first commercially available perennial grain.
Sherman will discuss this and other contributions to the field of perennial agriculture. He also will share some of his observations as owner of Anarchy Gardens, a greenhouse and floral business in Chetek.
After graduating from high school, Sherman served in the U.S. Army. Supported by the GI Bill and academic scholarships, he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in plant and soil science from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.
After earning his doctorate in vegetable crops from Cornell University, Sherman joined the faculty at the University of Florida in Gainesville, where he carried out statewide harvesting and handling responsibilities. He then joined the Green Giant Co. as a research scientist for its fresh vegetable venture. The fresh sweet corn product his team introduced became the most requested Pillsbury item ever through the company’s 800 phone number system.
Following changes at Pillsbury, Sherman chose to go into the horticultural business for himself. He ultimately purchased Anarchy Gardens, where his interests in soil quality were reignited.
The Thursdays at the U weekly series is free and open to the public thanks to support from the UW-Eau Claire – Barron County Foundation. Neither seating reservations nor parking permits are needed for in-person attendees.
While in-person attendance is encouraged, most presentations in the series are livestreamed and archived on the Thursdays at the U webpage.
The next program in the series will be April 23, with Jessica Michna presenting “Molly Brown: Hard Scrabble to High Society.”
For more information, contact Laura Holden at 715-788-6207 or holdenlk@uwec.edu.
