Ecosystem Services Market Consortium Announces Inaugural Producer Circle Members
The Ecosystem Services Market Consortium (ESMC) is pleased to announce 28 farmers and ranchers from across the United States have been selected as the inaugural cohort of Producer Circle members. The Producer Circle is vitally important to provide farmer and rancher input while pilot testing ESMC’s innovative protocols and the technical assistance, verification, and certification requirements over the next two years in preparation for full market launch in 2022.
The newly appointed Producer Circle members are: Andrew Moore from Georgia, Brandon Hunnicutt from Nebraska, Charles Atkinson from Kansas, Cornelius Key from Georgia, Darren Hoyme from North Dakota, Dave Rylander from Illinois, Debbie Lyons-Blythe from Kansas, Ed Kuykendall from California, Gary Van Horn from Kansas, Jared Gregg from Illinois, Jay Tanner from Utah, Jeff Rice from Kentucky, Joseph Fitzsimons from Texas, Kevin Kester from California, Kip Kummerle from Ohio, Kristin Duncanson from Minnesota, Kyle Brase from Illinois, Lee Scheufler from Kansas, Lukas Fricke from Nebraska, Maggie Hanna from Colorado, Mark Isbell from Arkansas, Neal Wilkins from Texas, Patrick O’Toole from Wyoming, Robin Boies from Nevada, Tim Boring from Michigan, and Trent Hendricks from Missouri.
“On behalf of the (ESMC) Board of Directors, we are excited to welcome the inaugural Producer Circle members to the ESMC team,” stated Gary Price. “These advisors will be instrumental to the success of the ESMC program now and in the future.” Price is a rancher from Blooming Grove, Texas, and Co-chair of the inaugural ESMC Producer Circle, together with Tim Palmer, a farmer from Truro, Iowa. “Bringing farmers and ranchers to the table is a key next step,” continued Price. “We have made progress in the past few years, but now the true test is piloting the protocols on operations and further refining them to work across the country. We look forward to the input and feedback from Producer Circle members as the ESMC program continues to grow and evolve through the development process.”
Price and Palmer have been involved in ESMC since 2017, and currently serve on ESMC’s Board of Directors. Their dedicated support and guidance of ESMC since its inception will help to provide continuity of leadership on the Producer Circle and enable strong farmer and rancher voices to guide current and future ESMC developments. ESMC received support from the Walton Family Foundation (WFF) to launch the Producer Circle, ensuring that the voices of farmers and ranchers across the country are heard during the ESMC program buildout. ESMC’s first operating principle is to be producer-centric, meaning a market-based approach must work first and foremost for farmers and ranchers to achieve desired ecosystem service impacts. The Producer Circle will serve as an in-house focus group and advisory committee on all aspects of program delivery, including the development of outreach materials, pilot, and protocol development and program operations.
