Heidi Johnson has agreed to serve as the Agriculture Institute Director on an interim basis, effective immediately and running through July 31, 2019. A 6-month interim appointment has been implemented to provide ample time for a thorough recruitment process for the new Institute Director, the completion of ongoing tasks, and to create as seamless a transition as possible.

Heidi has worked for Extension for ten years, the last six years as the Dane County Crops and Soils Educator and the previous four as the Jefferson County Agriculture Educator. She attended UW–Madison for a Masters and PhD where she studied soybean aphid management and weed and nutrient management for processing vegetables. She is a tenured faculty member with the Extension Academic Department of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Heidi has worked both in Dane County and regionally to help farmers adopt cover crops and other conservation practices to improve soil and reduce agriculture’s impact on water quality. She chairs the planning committee for the statewide Cover Crop Conference and manages the Extension Cover Crop website. Over the course of her Extension career, Heidi’s programming has also included nutrient management planning and working with farm families on farm succession and farm business management. She served as the Executive Secretary for the Farm Technology Days show when it took place in Dane County in 2015. Prior to graduate school, Heidi also worked in various roles for Extension in Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha counties. Heidi lives in Dane County with her husband and two children, Van and Hazel.