College of Agricultural and Life Sciences
Above ↑ Bridget Holcomb gained experienc as a leader in a campus sustainable agriculture group and through an internship exploring organic food marketing issues in Chicago .
Preparing for a Lifetime of Change - Educating an advocate
Bridget Holcomb’s focus at the UW-Madison and her career plans can both be summed up in two words: sustainable agriculture.
She served two years as president of F.H. King Students of Sustainable Agriculture, a teaching and advocacy group.
“Our largest project is a half-acre sustainable organic garden,”Holcomb says. “We have 30 to 40 active students.”
Holcomb helped secure grants for the garden, which donates produce to food pantries. She also helped plan a new course on organic farming — a seminar that features guest lectures from farm operators and other industry professionals. The class has been popular, filling to capacity each time it was offered.
Because of her interest in environmental issues, Holcomb came to the UW-Madison intending to major in biology. Agronomy professor Bill Tracy was assigned to her as an advisor. "He helped me choose really great classes for my interests,” she recalls.
The biology major was a good choice for her, she says.
“I appreciated the hard science base — biology, physics, chemistry — because it gave me an understanding of the science behind what I’m interested in. I also gained a solid understanding of agriculture with a focus on communications, economics and policy.”
“My ideal job would be working as an advocate for sustainable ag on the local level or as a lobbyist on the national level,” she explains.
She got a taste of that kind of work during a summer internship in Chicago.
“I worked on an initiative aimed at getting organic foods more locally sourced — more from the tri-state area and less from California and Argentina,” she says. “The number of people buying organics in Chicago is huge, but there are almost no organic producers in Illinois.”
Upon graduating, Holcomb began an internship with the Michael Fields Institute, a Wisconsin-based educational center focused on sustainable and organic agriculture.
“I want to work for a couple of years learning skills that will serve me in what I hope will be a long career organizing for sustainable ag,” she says.