AgEmerge Podcast 069 with Dr Fred Provenza

Dr. Fred Provenza, is a Professor Emeritus of Behavioral Ecology in the Department of Wildland Resources at Utah State University where he directed an award-winning research group that pioneered an understanding of how learning influences foraging behavior and how behavior links soil, plants, herbivores, and humans. Today, he and Monte explore some of that research and the connections between animal and human nutrition.

Fred Provenza grew up in Salida, Colorado. He later worked on a ranch while attending school in Wildlife Biology at Colorado State University. He obtained a Master’s and a Ph.D. degree in Range Science from Utah State University where he then worked for 35 years. He is professor emeritus of Behavioral Ecology in the Department of Wildland Resources at Utah State University where he directed an award-winning research group that pioneered an understanding of how learning influences foraging behavior and how behavior links soil, plants, herbivores, and humans.

That work culminated in a program called BEHAVE, which was active from 2000-2010. BEHAVE was an international network of scientists, ranchers, farmers, and land managers committed to integrating behavioral principles with local knowledge to enhance environmental, economic, and cultural values of rural and urban communities. Though BEHAVE is no longer active, the principles and practices continue to influence researchers and managers worldwide.

He authored three books, including Nourishment: What Animals Can Teach Us About Rediscovering Our Nutritional Wisdom; Foraging Behavior: Managing to Survive in a World of Change; and The Art & Science of Shepherding: Tapping the Wisdom of French Herders (co-author with Michel Meuret).

He published more than 300 research papers in a wide variety of scientific journals. He has been an invited speaker at more than 500 conferences. The many awards he received for research, teaching, and mentoring are the creativity that flowed from warm professional and personal relationships with over 75 graduate students, post-doctoral students, visiting scientists, and colleagues during the past 45 years.

BEHAVE website link: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/behave/

Got questions you want answered? Send them our way and we’ll do our best to research and find answers. Know someone you think would be great on the AgEmerge stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to [email protected]

We’d love to hear from you!