In “The future of wild rice may depend on an unlikely alliance,” published in collaboration with The Nation, Nancy Averett explains that when University of Minnesota researcher Crystal Ng won a grant to study wild rice in Ojibwe waters, tribal members reacted to her with anger. Ng spent a year listening to their concerns and now works closely with a tribal wild rice technician.

This piece was shared in Grist’s newsletter, The Beacon, as well as Hunter College’s Food Policy Watch. The University of Illinois‘ website and Food & Dining (a Louisville-based lifestyle publication) also mentioned and linked to the story.

On Twitter, the story saw over 68K impressions and 700 engagements. Engagements were seen from The Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Minnesota (700 followers), University of Minnesota, Office of the VP for Research (7K followers), Horticulture Research and Outreach from the University of Minnesota, 180 followers), Fred Rose (Adjunct at Institute on the Environment & Humphrey School of Public Affairs, Univ. of Minnesota, 630 followers), Geophysical Union (81.3K followers), Bear Trust International (helping to conserve wild bears and other wildlife, 6.7K followers), Climatematch Academy (A volunteer-driven, wide-reaching, inclusive and approachable program to introduce computational methods for climate science, 500 followers), David Litwin (PhD candidate at Johns Hopkins interested in hydrology and landscape evolution, 1.2K followers), Dr. Alexandra Phelan (associate professor at John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 33.6K followers), Aimee Gabay (environment reporter, 760 followers), Jess Mador (health reporter, 1.3K followers), Brian Gordon (News & Observer, 1.3K followers), Michael Tisserand (author, 10.6K followers), Peter C. Jacobsen (Minnesota Dept of Natural Resources, 1.7K followers), Rachel Gabor (enviro chemist, 2.4K followers), EJ Today News (1.4K followers), and North Dakota News Cooperative (270 followers).

On Facebook, the story saw around 60K impressions and 5K engagements. Some notable engagements included Traditional Indigenous Medicine (community page), Green Dubuque (nonprofit org focused on enviro protections), Niibi Center (repository of Anishinaabe culture and knowledge. Nonprofit org that works with Crystal Ng), Head of the Lake – Minnesota Master Naturalist Program (public group), Fox Den Pine Creek (micro event space and nature studio located in Pittsburgh, PA), Yakima Beach Permacultural Collective (educational org based in Washington State that serves as a unique, land-based, permaculture-minded incubator), Celtic Glen Heritage Livestock, LLC (farm located in Indiana that provides pasture-raised, heritage livestock, as well as direct-to-customer natural meats, and workshops on animal care), Ecosystems and Human Influence – ENVR 103 at Concordia College (enviro course at Concordia College in Minnesota), Ethical Designs in housing, farming and more (public group), and Braiding Sweetgrass Book Discussion Group (public group to discuss native grasses).

On Instagram, the story saw over 10,000 impressions and 400 engagements. Some notable engagements included Freshwater Reporter (free community newspaper in Michigan, 150 followers), Ecotrust (6.8K followers), Organic Farming Research Foundation (works to foster the improvement & widespread adoption of organic farming systems, 2K followers), Brian DeVore (Land Stewardship Project editor & author of “Wildly Successful Farming: Sustainability & the New Agricultural Land Ethic.” 270 followers), Maggie’s Farm Gettysburg (sustainable farm in Gettysburg, PA. 1.2K followers), Youth for Climate India (enviro conservation org, 12.3K followers), Amanda Harris (permaculture & resource management, 1.3K followers), Robert Barker (photographer, 1K followers), Stone Pier Press (publisher, 2K followers), BeeGirl.org (grassroots nonprofit centered on bee habitat conservation, 35K followers), and Giovanni Quaratesi (food blogger. Food Studies at NYU. 200 followers).

All in all, the total social reach & engagements for this story included more than 140K impressions & 6.1K engagements.

Our media partner for this story, The Nation, reaches an online audience of 4.4M per month, has 2 million social media followers, and has a print circulation of 100K.