Living Soil Symposium – Conference

Director, Living Soils Symposium Montreal

Gabrielle’s interest for living soils and their tremendous carbon storage potential stems from her Master’s degree in Sustainability and Environmental Management at Harvard University. Learning about the possibility to restore degraded land into productive landscapes triggered a curiosity towards practices that regenerate soil health, in particular in agricultural systems. In wanting to untangle the feasibility of certain sustainable agricultural movements in our current economic market, Gabrielle focused her Master’s thesis on the economic viability of permaculture-inspired farms in Quebec. During her degree in Boston, Gabrielle helped organize conferences on restoring ecosystems to reverse global warming with Biodiversity for a Livable Climate. She recently founded Regeneration Canada, an nonprofit that will facilitate the implementation of regenerative practices through education, events and on-the-ground agroforestry projects.

Longhouse Faith Keeper, Kahnawake Mohawk Territory

Stephen Silverbear McComber is a longhouse faith keeper from the Kahnawake Mohawk Territory. He has been collecting seeds throughout the Iroquois confederacy for the last 30 years, and is recognized as a keeper of Iroquois seeds in Canada and the USA. Silverbear has represented the Six Nations Confederacy at the 2012 conference on Corn in Oaxaca, Mexico. As an Elder, he has worked with inmates at Corrections Canada for the past 10 years, which includes traditional teachings, native ceremonies and traditional gardening practices, where inmates grow indigenous food. This allows inmates to find pride in their work, develop self-esteem and allows for enhanced rehabilitation, just another wonderful aspect of seed saving and knowledge. Silverbear is an avid gardener who protects and shares the knowledge of his people through the techniques and ceremonies that follow the natural cycles of the earth and the moon.

Co-founder and International Director, Organic Consumers Association

Ronnie Cummins is the International Director of the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) and its Mexico affiliate Via Organica. OCA is a non-profit, U.S.-based network of two million consumers, dedicated to safeguarding organic standards and promoting healthy, just, and sustainable agriculture and commerce. Cummins has been a writer and activist since the 1960s, with experience in public education, grassroots mobilization, and marketplace pressure campaigns. Over two decades, he has served as director of campaigns dealing with sustainable agriculture issues. In 2015, Cummins cofounded Regeneration International, a network dedicated to mitigating and reversing climate change through regenerative food, farming and land use. Cummins has published hundreds of articles in the alternative and mainstream press.

Agricultural Coordinator, International Cryosphere Climate Initiative; Co-founder and Co-director of Regenerative Agriculture Initiative, Chico State University

Timothy is serving as the International Coordinator for the Open Burning Project for the International Cryosphere Climate Initiative and is Co-Director of the Regenerative Agriculture Initiative, CSU Chico. LaSalle has served as the first CEO of Rodale Institute, Executive Director of the Allan Savory Center for Holistic Management, consultant, advisor, and research coordinator for the Howard Buffett Foundation in Africa on soils and food security for smallholder farmers. He is Professor Emeritus of California Polytechnic State University, and former President/CEO, of the California Agriculture Leadership Program where he arranged educational leadership programs in more than 80 countries with heads of state, ministers, and community leaders.

CEO, Earth Alive Clean Technologies

Michael is the CEO at Earth Alive Clean Technologies, a Montreal-based company that develops environmentally sound microbial products using clean technologies. With a natural propensity for adventure and discovery, Michael has spent the last 20 years identifying innovative business concepts in the natural resources industry and bringing them to market. His passion for nature and organic products led him to build and manage LFP Solutions, an organic soil inputs distribution company, which joined Earth Alive in 2014. LFP Solutions’ vision was based on the conviction that organic is for everyone, and that products should be good for both the Earth and its inhabitants – a philosophy that is at the heart of Earth Alive’s business strategy.

Founder & President, IFOAM – Organics International

Andre Leu is the President of IFOAM – Organics International, the world umbrella body for the organic sector. He is founding steering committee member of Regeneration International, an organization that promotes regenerative farming systems. Andre has an extensive knowledge of farming and environmental systems across Asia, Europe, the Americas, Africa and Australasia from over 40 years of visiting and working in over 100 countries. He has a degree in Communications and postgraduate qualifications in adult education. He lectures and teaches at universities, institutions and workshops around the world. He has published extensively in magazines, newspapers, journals, conference proceedings, newsletters, websites and other media, as well as done media interviews.

Founder and Vice-president, 4 per 1000 Initiative; Former Minister of Agriculture, Agri-Food and Forestry of France (2017-2017)

Owner & Principal Consultant, DocTerre

Vivian studied at the School of Environment at McGill which spearheaded her passion to find solutions to environmental and food crises. She took classes in Permaculture and Agroforestry, and applied these concepts as solutions towards mitigating disastrous climate change and world hunger. With ecological field work training with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in 2011, Vivian confirmed that applied field ecology was the direction to go in. She later went to study privately with Dr. Elaine Ingham of Soil Foodweb Inc, training in soil ecology, applied microbial soil regeneration, high quality compost, and more. She has since founded DocTerre, a soil consulting service and laboratory, and continues to work with Dr. Ingham and other certified soil consultants.

Founder and Director of Research, Soil Foodweb Inc.

Dr. Elaine Ingham is currently Founder, President and Director of Research for Soil Foodweb Inc., a business that grew out of her Oregon State University research program. Behind her user-friendly approach lies a wealth of knowledge gained from years of research into the organisms which make up the soil food web. Her goal is to translate this knowledge into actions that ensure a healthy food web, for it to promote plant growth and reduce reliance on inorganic chemicals. Elaine also offers a pioneering vision for sustainable farming, improving our current soils to a healthier state, without damaging any other ecosystem.

Engineer and Agronomist, Advisor in Soil and Water Conservation, Ministère de l’agriculture, des pêcheries et de l’alimentation du Québec (MAPAQ)

Odette Ménard is an agricultural engineer from Ste-Hyacinthe in Quebec who has become the first woman to be admitted on the Conservation Hall of Fame of the Soil Conservation Council of Canada (CCSC). Along the years, Ms. Ménard has had a major role in the promotion of soil conservation in the southwest region of Quebec. She has participated actively in many councils, associations and clubs focused on soil health and conservation.

Owner, Les Jardins de la Grelinette; Production Director; Ferme des Quatre-Temps; Author, The Market Gardener

Jean-Martin Fortier is a farmer, educator and author specializing in organic and biologically intensive cropping practices. His award-winning book, The Market Gardener, has inspired tens of thousands of readers worldwide to reimagine human-scale food systems. His message is one of empowerment in order to educate, encourage and inspire people into pursuing a farming career and lifestyle. In his new farming project, Ferme des Quatre-Temps, he has set out to further demonstrate how diversified small-scale farms, using regenerative and economically efficient agricultural practices, can produce a higher nutritional quality of foods and more profitable farms.

Founder, Maraîchage Sol Vivant Network

Project Chief, Institut de l’agriculture durable

Founder, Elemental Ecosystems

Protégé of revolutionary Austrian farmer Sepp Holzer, Zach is the first person to earn Holzer Practitioner certification directly from Sepp – through a rigorous two-year apprenticeship. Blending a unique combination of systems thinking, empathy and awareness, Zach created Elemental Ecosystems to provide an action-oriented process to improve clients’ relationship with their landscape. Harvesting time and the productivity of natural systems is the guiding principle – resulting in abundant oases with the potential to last till the next ice age. Elemental Ecosystems currently has projects in 13 nations on 4 continents, spanning a wide range of climates, contexts, landforms and ecosystems.

Author, Cows Save the Planet & Water in Plain Sight

Judith D. Schwartz is a widely published journalist and the author of Cows Save the Planet and Other Improbably Ways of Restoring Soil to Heal the Earth and Water In Plain Sight: Hope for a Thirsty World. She speaks nationally and internationally about soil-water-climate connections and solutions, most recently in Mexico, France, Norway and Switzerland. She is based in southern Vermont. Learn more at http://judithdschwartz.com/

Owner, Studio Hill Farm

Jesse McDougall and his wife, Caroline, own and operate Studio Hill—a pasture-based regenerative farm—on their family’s fourth-generation farm in southern Vermont, USA. In 2012, Jesse and Caroline began transitioning their farm away from conventional practices to regenerative, organic practices—mainly mob grazing with sheep and poultry, no-till annual vegetables, fruit orchards, and beekeeping. In 2017, the team at Studio Hill began work developing a 4.5-acre perennial food forest on land that was formerly clear cut for timber. In 2015 and 2016, Jesse helped to write and introduce legislation that would promote regenerative agricultural practices within Vermont.

Executive Director, Bionutrient Food Association

Dan is the Founder and Executive Director of the Bionutrient Food Association. Raised by parents who are prominent leaders in the organic food movement, Dan has been an organic farmer since childhood. His experience managing organic farms and developing sustainable agriculture techniques has connected him to farmers in Central America, Russia, India and the U.S. In 2008, Dan founded The Real Food Campaign (RFC), which aims to empower and educate farmers towards the production of quality food for the improvement of human health.

Founder, Center for Sustainable Medicine & Author, The Ecology of Care

Didi Pershouse is a cross-pollinator, helping to connect the dots between soil health and human health. She is the author of The Ecology of Care: Medicine, Agriculture, Money, and the Quiet Power of Human and Microbial Communities. As the founder of the Center for Sustainable Medicine, she developed a practice and theoretical framework for systems-based ecological medicine—restoring health to people as well as the social and ecological systems around them. After 22 years of clinical work with patients, she is now working with the Soil Carbon Coalition on a large-scale citizen-science program that engages schools, conservation districts, farmers, and the public in understanding the intersections between soil, water, public health, and climate change. She develops learning resources and teaches workshops on whole systems health and resiliency, for land and people.

Professor, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Science, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM)

Marc Lucotte, professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Science at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), earned a PhD in Oceanography from McGill University and has received multiple distinctions, including two awards from the ACFAS (Michel Jurdant in 2004 and Adrien Pouliot in 2013). He has directed the interdisciplinary project PLUPH (Poor Land Use, Poor Health) from the CIHR Global Health Initiatives, using the links between environmental degradation and the health deterioration of local communities to promote the use of sustainable agricultural practices in the Amazonian rainforest. He was also the main instigator of the SABRE strategic project (Salix pour des Bandes Riveraines Énergétiques) aiming to establish the efficiency of riparian buffers to limit the leaching of agricultural inputs in waterways. Through his new strategic chair on the Sustainability Transition at UQÀM, he is working on agronomic and environmental impacts of untimely pesticides use, in particular glyphosate-based herbicides, in the St-Laurent plains as well as Brazil.

Farmer, Farm Duhamel-Lapierre Inc.

Agronomist, SCV Agrologie

Louis Pérusse is a consultant agronomist specialized in soil conservation. He founded SCV Agrologie in 2009 to support farmers in their ecological management of soil and crops in the field. Inspired by the work of French agricultural engineer Louis Séguy, Pérusse’s passion for living soils and his innovative temperament led him to introduce direct-seeding mulch-based cropping systems (DMCs) in Quebec ten years ago. DMCs are based on three main principles: no tilling of the soil (100% biological tillage), permanent soil coverage and functional biodiversity. This holistic approach accounts for agroenvironmental, socioeconomic and technical aspects of the farm and aims for soil and crop intensification while decreasing the use of mechanical tools and chemicals. Today, SCV Agrologie works with approximately 40 agricultural businesses accounting for over 24,500 acres across many regions of Quebec, helping farmers secure a future for agriculture!

Coordinator – Environment, Development & Consulting Services, Union des Producteurs Agricoles (UPA)

Agronomist and advisor, Club agroenvironnemental du Bassin Laguerre

Lead Scientist, United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)

Dr. Barron Joseph Orr was recently appointed Lead Scientist for the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). He an Emeritus Professor from the University of Arizona, where he also served as a NASA Geospatial Extension Specialist. He was awarded a Marie Curie Fellowship for his work on bridging the divide between science and society. Since 2010 he has been involved in UNCCD monitoring and indicator development, was selected as an independent scientist serving on the Science-Policy Interface
(SPI), and was the co-lead author of Pivotal Soil Carbon and the Scientific Conceptual Framework on Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN).

General Director in General Direction of Natural Resources, Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries (Uruguay)

Mariana Hill holds a Degree in Agronomy and a Master in Soil Science from the Faculty of Agronomy, at the University of the Republic (Uruguay). She has been the Director of the General Direction of Natural Resources at the Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries of Uruguay since 2010. Mariana is leading the public policy in sustainable agriculture and sustainable intensification in soil, water and natural pastures. She is particularly responsible of the Soils Management Plan in crop agriculture and in dairy systems, and also participating in the Uruguayan group that is working in nationally determined contributions (NDCs) for the 2015 Paris Agreement. From 2003 to 2012 Ms. Hill was an active member of the Soil and Water Department at the University of the Republic (Uruguay), and a researcher in soil erosion, soil degradation and soil organic carbon. She has published several articles in different journals and others.

Research Fellow, Project Drawdown

Mamta Mehra, PhD is the senior fellow at Project Drawdown, where she is working on the biosequesteration modelling of various landuse and food system solutions. These solutions have many cascading benefits, besides their high potential for carbon sequesteration and avoided emissions. She has more than eight year’s of professional experience working with national and international organizations in the field of climate change adaptation and mitigation related to the agriculture and landuse sector. As part of her PhD research, she has developed a framework for the delineation and characterization of resource management domain for sustainable agriculture and resource use in the semi-arid region of India.

Associate Professor of Agronomy & Agroecology, University of Dalhousie ; Canada Research Chair in Organic Agriculture (2005-2015)

Derek Lynch is Professor of Agronomy and Agroecology at Dalhousie University. His academic training is in agronomy (McGill University) and soil science (University of Guelph) and from 2005-2015 held the position as Canada Research Chair in Organic Agriculture. He has also served for many years on the executive of the Canadian Society of Agronomy, including as president from 2014-15. Derek teaches on soil and field crop management and agroecology at the undergraduate and graduate level at Dalhousie. His research program, much of it conducted directly in partnership with participating farms, focuses on cropping and farming system influence on productivity, soil carbon and nutrient dynamics, and soil health and biodiversity.

Professor, Department of Geography, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM)

Michelle Garneau is the Director of the Research Chair on the dynamics of peat ecosystems and climate change (DÉCLIQUE) at UQAM. As a professor in biogeography and geomorphology, her objective is to teach the notions of biophysical environment in their entirety in order to clearly expose the inseparable links between the biophysical and human aspects in the context of climate change and their effects on the natural environment, land use and people’s lifestyles.

Regenerative Farmer, Hjertaas Farm

Mr. Hjertaas is a third-generation farmer on Hjertaas Farm, established by his grandfather in 1915. He began in the early 70’s with a high-tech industrial approach to agriculture. After 20 years, he realized this could not work long term. He began seeding grass and custom grazing cows. Along the way, he was exposed to holistic management and that greatly helped speed his learning. Today, his son is involved in the business. The farm has 600 ewes and 150 custom grazed cow/calf pairs. Blain is very passionate about the importance of soil health to human and environmental health and his experience speaks for itself.

CEO, The Fair Carbon Exchange

James has been working with Dr. Elaine Ingham for two years to implement her soil building and carbon sequestering programs in mainstream agriculture. He combined a career in management consultancy with education, centred on the application of “Lean Thinking” in manufacturing, distribution and service. Working with corporations, including IBM, Procter and Gamble, and Kellogg’s, he has implemented systems that continuously improve efficiency. James has created and run 6 companies in Europe and the US in a variety of fields. James authored the chapter “Using Lean Thinking Approaches to Speed Sustainable Development” in “Sustainable Development” edited by Ukaga, Maser and Reichenbach, CRC Press 2009. After obtaining a graduate degree in Ecology (MSc equivalent) from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, James founded the government funded South African Seaweed Research Unit that produced sustainably harvested plant growth stimulants which are still sold in South Africa. (

President & Co-Founder, The Carbon Underground

Considered a leading brand-building architect, Larry Kopald spent over twenty years at some of the world’s leading advertising agencies overseeing advertising fro companies ranging from American Express and McDonalds to Honda and Pepsico. Also a committed environmentalist (Director of Greenpeace, Oceana, 1% For The Planet) in 2013 he co-founded The Carbon Underground, an organization focused on re-sequestering carbon in our soil to improve both the climate and food security. By combining science, business and a high level of experience in the food industry The Carbon Underground is already working with corporations, governments, the United Nations and The Vatican, along with groups representing millions of farmers around the world. He is also Managing Partner and Chief Optimist at Kopald/Stranger, a change agency committed to growing businesses while simultaneously creating positive social change. Kopald/Stranger counts Nike, Patagonia, Walmart, and 3M among its clients. Larry is currently a Senior Fellow at USC’s Marshall School of Business in the area of Social Entrepreneurism, and served on the White House Panel on Social Innovation under President Obama.

Co-founder, Oneka

Philippe is a passionate social entrepreneur committed to conscious business and sustainable agriculture. He co-founded Oneka in 2008 with his wife Stacey. Oneka Elements is a leading brand of natural personal care products made from certified organic plant extracts grown on the couple’s farm in Frelighsburg. Growing up on a large conventional apple orchard showed him how our relationship to the land and water had to be re-designed.

Co-founder and Head of Farm Development, Propagate Ventures

Harry Greene is the co-founder of and head of farm development at Propagate Ventures. Propagate Ventures creates the financial infrastructure required to add profitable, functional tree systems to working farms. We integrate organic tree crops into the landscape, which results in a multi-species regenerative agriculture. Propagate’s ethos centres on growing soil while strengthening rural economies. Harry is based in Burlington, Vermont, and also heads up Propagate’s agroforestry design and installation arm, 100 Years of Sun. He is a graduate of The University of Vermont’s MBA program, and spends his free time running and cooking.

CEO, Terra Genesis International

Gregory’s passion for creating healthy relationships through trade and agriculture has led him on a journey to explore all phases of the value adding process from farming and agriculture through processing and manufacture to marketing to the end customer. Out of these ecosystem-based farming approaches he has helped to grow an ecosystem of businesses and organizations dedicated to expressing the essence of a product through the entire value adding process. Gregory is the co-author of the pioneering book Regenerative Enterprise (2013).

Founder, Vice-president and Chief Brand Ambassador, Inocucor

Ananda Fitzsimmons has had a life-long passion for growing food organically, making compost and brewing microbes in the kitchen and the garden. She spent many years experimenting with microbial potions based on naturally occurring microbes extracted from plants, composts and soil. In 2008, she teamed up with Dr. Margaret Bywater Ekegard and they founded Inocucor Technologies. Their goal was to commercialize products for agriculture based on consortia of naturally occurring beneficial microorganisms. They hoped to bridge the divide between small scale, organic growers and large scale industrial agriculture. Today, the company is positioned to become a global biotech company.

Chief Science Officer, Destiny Biotechnology

With a Master of Science in Plant Sciences from McGill University, David Bernard-Perron is an agrologist, and the Vice President of growing operations at The Green Organic Dutchman in Ontario. He also consults as the Chief Science Officer for Destiny Biotechnology, a company based in Vernon, BC that provides living soil systems for organic cannabis production. David began his career working in greenhouse production in 2001, then for McGill Greenhouses and Horticultural Research Centre. From there, he went on to become the lead agrologist at the Whistler Medical Marijuana Corporation (WMMC), where he designed the certified organic growing program and made the facility the only fully certified organic licensed producer of medical cannabis in Canada.

Professor, Sociology and Anthropology, Concordia University

Dr. Ikeda studies the political sociology of global futures, sustainable agriculture, and Japan and East Asia using the method of Polanyi-Hopkins historical sociology informed by the world-system perspective. Development and international economics inform his study on the global structure of accumulation and governance. His study seeks alternatives to neoliberal globalization that are sustainable ecologically, socially, and economically.

Together with a group of like-minded students, Dr. Ikeda is engaging in the Transition Project. This projects looks into the social economies as possible alternatives to the dysfunctional and unsustainable corporate economy. Those who initiated and practice social economies are video interviewed to reveal their ‘transition moments’ from individualistic and materialistic mentality to collective and sustainable mindset. The project team is working to create video clips to share inspiring stories of ‘transition’ for wider public.