Julia Olmstead
Chairperson of the Board
Prior to joining the McKnight Foundation, Julia served as coordinator for the Farmer-Led Watershed Council Project for University of Wisconsin-Extension, where she designed, launched, and managed a multi-stakeholder agriculture water quality collaborative. The project bridged public agencies (county, state, and federal), farmers, businesses, and nonprofits, and became a regional model for voluntary, watershed-based agriculture conservation. Previously, she spent four years as senior associate for the rural communities program at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy in Minneapolis. She also has worked as a news writer for NBC Bay Area News in San Jose, CA, and has published essays, journal articles, and opinion pieces in publications including Crop Science, Smithsonian magazine, and the Los Angeles Times.