Stephanie Rae Larson

Stephanie Larson is Director of University of California Cooperative Extension, Sonoma County.  In this position, she directs all research and extension programs in Sonoma County. In addition, she is the Livestock and Range Management Advisor, conducting education and research to integrate dairy and livestock production with rangeland management in Sonoma and Marin Counties, helping local producers to improve production and marketing. She is developing economic models to document the benefits of local agriculture to the region.

Stephanie leads the effort to increase “agritourism” in Sonoma County, working closely with Sonoma County Tourism. Her efforts are bringing more economic opportunities to local agriculture producers, making their operations more sustainable and economically viable.

Her program integrates ecosystem services provided by rangelands and highlight the benefits of using grazing animals as tools to manage local landscapes. As a certified rangeland manager, she works with land managers helping them to sound ecologic decisions about managing working landscapes for the benefit of all users.

Her program also focuses on local food systems and increasing access to both land and markets for agricultural producers. She is currently the principle investigator for the USDA Beginning Farmer and Rancher program, which is training “Agropreneurs” to increase food production throughout a five county region. She is working to develop an incubator farm that will provide opportunities for these beginners to learn their skills and increase local food access.