Lark Joining MSU Through Agricultural Resiliency Program to Address Land Use Challenges Facing Today’s Farmers

By Cameron Rudolph

 U.S. agriculture is confronted with threats from a multitude of sources. From increasingly extreme weather and the problems it causes  droughts, floods, and emerging pests and diseases to name a few  to questions of land use, this confluence of issues has created a situation that’s progressively more difficult to navigate.

Tyler Lark has made it his mission to partner with agricultural stakeholders to help address these large-scale challenges for farmers. He will join the Michigan State University Department of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences in August as an assistant professor after spending the last six years as a scientist in the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s (UW-Madison) Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment.

At UW-Madison, Lark led research on U.S. agricultural land use change and its impacts on the nation’s land and water resources. This included projects aiming to protect farmlands from urbanization, map and improve irrigation use and efficiency, and advance agricultural conservation policy.

“These experiences helped me develop a deeper appreciation of several of the major challenges facing our farmers today,” Lark said. “I’m excited to continue tackling these topics while engaging producers, policymakers and the public to co-develop and implement solutions.”

Through the use of satellite imagery and on-farm data, Lark explores how agricultural landscapes are changing, what that means for agroecosystems, and where there are opportunities to enhance beneficial outcomes for farmers and the environment. His research considers topics such as how the implementation of regenerative agriculture practices can improve land resiliency and where efficient irrigation systems could help conserve water.