Understanding Ag LLC, the regenerative agriculture consulting education company that Gabe Brown, Bismarck, N.D., co-founded a year ago, has hired a CEO.

In response to what it called “overwhelming demand” for its services, UA announced the appointment of Walter Lynn Jr. as its CEO. UA has been consulting with General Mills, a food manufacturer; Dr. Bronner’s, a personal hygiene product manufacturer; and other companies.

“Due to the rapid growth of UA, we felt it was a prudent strategic move to expeditiously appoint a well-qualified CEO to facilitate our future growth and direction, which will free up the founding partners to work on key projects within the mission and vision of UA,” Brown says. “The move will allow the UA partners to focus on serving our clients, building educational materials, writing and filmmaking, and expanding the reach of the organization’s efforts. The new CEO will focus on critical administrative and fiduciary functions and develop strategies to expand the impact of regenerative agriculture.”

Brown, along with Ray Archuleta, a former Natural Resource Conservation Service soils specialist; Shane New, a Holton, Kan., farmer; and Allen Williams, former Louisiana Tech professor, farmer and partner in Joyce Farms, a Winston-Salem, N.C., food company, co-founded UA in January 2019. In addition to serving as on-farm consultants, Soil Health Academy instructors and speakers, the four also make up UA’s board of directors.

Lynn brings a decades-long portfolio of experience working with non-government organizations, businesses and industry leaders involved in all facets of production agriculture, agribusiness and conservation to his new position. He currently serves as chairperson of Holistic Management International and sees his new position with UA as an opportunity to significantly increase adoption of regenerative agriculture throughout the nation and beyond.

“The current primary adoption constraint for regenerative agriculture is education,” Lynn says. “Because UA is the world leader in helping ag producers understand and successfully apply soil health-improving practices on their farms and ranches, I’m looking forward to my new role in scaling up and amplifying the reach of this important education and consulting work.”

In addition to his business leadership credentials, Brown says Lynn is also an active farm landlord in Illinois. “Mr. Lynn is a tireless advocate for regenerative agriculture,” he says. “His knowledge, expertise, passion and vision make him the perfect candidate to lead UA into the future.”

UA provided quotes from its founders and Paul Lyon.