As a way to honor the late Sonja Hillgren, Farm Journal has set up the Sonja Hillgren/FARM JOURNAL Ag Journalism Field Reporting Institute. This “will allow the spirit of the late Sonja Hillgren to live on in future reporters at her alma mater, the University of Missouri-Columbia.”

The Sonja Hillgren/FARM JOURNAL Ag Journalism Field Reporting Institute is the backbone of the “Field Reporting on Food and Natural Resources” course in the University’s College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources. Designed to get students into the field to practice their craft, the Institute features a three-day, expedition-style design that allows producers, practicing journalists and students to interact and work together. The Institute explores the vast scientific, economic and social changes under way in U.S. agriculture and their impact on the food supply and the environment. Students meet, learn from and interview leading researchers, government officials, food industry representatives and others – out in the fields, on the rivers and at the facilities where these issues take shape.

You can find out more information and make a contribution of your own here.