Ann Marie Ward

Ann Marie grew up in central Michigan on a hobby farm with great diversity. Her appreciation for agriculture blossomed through 4-H, working on bailing and harvest crews as well as on a local hog farm. Ann Marie raised her daughters in northern Minnesota along with a lot of pigs, and an extensive number show chickens, in addition to production and market birds.

Ann Marie’s work in youth and community development began in 1989. Her passions have blended for education and agriculture through career transitions from Midland Intermediate School District- Vocational Education, PBS/Department of Education - Ready to Learn Outreach Services, to University of Minnesota Extension-Youth Development 4-H.

In 2019, she joined the Minnesota Agriculture in the Classroom, Inc. Foundation as the Executive Director. She is passionate about agricultural literacy and cultivating collaborations that empower educators and advocates to help students see there is a place for everyone in agriculture. Ann Marie works with the Minnesota Agriculture in the Classroom team to create opportunities to empower educators to infuse agriculture into their classrooms. These opportunities require investors, Ann Marie works to maintain and forge new partnership/relationships with investors and content experts to sustain successful outreach programs, grow impact, support innovated additions to programming and share the story of Minnesota Agriculture in the Classroom.