Katie Sierks

Katie is on the Microsoft Carbon Removal Team. She works to catalyze development of high-quality carbon removal at scale.

She previously worked in product management at Granular where she helped build the Corteva soil carbon program. Her team enabled farmers to adopt new, soil health-building practices that sequester carbon. Katie also has experience working across the agricultural supply chain at Cargill and Walmart in engineering, corporate sustainability, and supply chain management. She graduated with honors from Harvard College with a degree in Environmental Engineering and a minor in Earth and Planetary Sciences. She enjoys hiking, cross country skiing, pickleball, and soil science.

Markets for a range of grains can grow widely and quickly — Businesses big and small can drive growth for regenerative growth across a range of crops.

In the words of the great agricultural philosopher Liza Minnelli, “Money makes the world go round.” Most stakeholders RAI interviewed across agricultural supply chains, especially farmers, want to grow crops and raise livestock in a sustainable way. Yet this desire to minimize environmental harm is not feasible if it creates...

Cover Crops for All Day with RAI — Farmers' informal networks can drive progress for finance, food and the farming business. The RAI visited pioneers in Iowa in 2018.

Achieving the transition from conventional to regenerative agriculture will require a major shift in the strategy and behavior of many of America’s two million farmers. For a farmer, farming for healthy soils, ecosystems, communities and climate conflicts at many points with conventional agriculture practice. Wider success comes only from the...

Regenerative ag's open for business- and investment — This "beyond organic" farm in New York's Hudson Valley earned capital from a REIT that saw its growth potential.

The traditional landscape of farmland ownership and financing in the United States thwarts the adoption of regenerative agriculture. First, farmland is expensive. Farm real estate prices have doubled in the last decade. But models have emerged to power regenerative practices forward. These include concessionary capital, financing from real estate investment...

Is this the way to crop reform? — (Photo courtesy of Pexels.com) Farmers can deliver steeper returns to themselves, their ecosystem, and their economy when their insurance system makes more sense.

Across the political spectrum, most Americans have favorable opinions of farmers and are happy with the idea that the federal government provides financial assistance to help pay for crop insurance. If they knew crop insurance's full cost, that might change. This system, while well-intentioned, leaves out the majority of farmers...

Regenerative agriculture begins here — How deeply can regenerative farming affect the way societies value farming- and farmers build value? (Photo courtesy of Lukas via Pexels.)

This article, by The Regenerative Agriculture Initiative (RAI) team at the Yale Center for Business and the Environment (CBEY), is the first in a series on key opportunities to accelerate regenerative agriculture in the United States. At today’s rate of soil degradation, some scientists predict the world’s topsoil could be...

Conservation Finance Network

Katie Sierks

Authored Articles

Show Me the Money: Making a Downstream Market for Diverse Regenerative Crops

Farmers on the Frontlines of the Regenerative Agriculture Transition

So, You're Thinking of Investing in Regenerative Food Systems...

The Case for Crop Insurance Reform

The State of Regenerative Agriculture: Growing With Room to Grow More