Lark joining MSU through Agricultural Resiliency Program to address land use challenges facing today’s farmers
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EmailTyler Lark, an expert in land use change and sustainable agriculture, will become an assistant professor at MSU in August 2025.
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Today, U.S. agriculture is confronted with threats from a multitude of sources. From increasingly extreme weather and the problems it causes — droughts, floods, and emerging pests and diseases to name a few — to questions of land use, this confluence of issues has created a situation that’s progressively more difficult to navigate.
Tyler Lark has made it his mission to partner with agricultural stakeholders to help address these large-scale challenges for farmers. He will join the Michigan State University Department of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences in August as an assistant professor after spending the last six years as a scientist in the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s (UW-Madison) Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment.
At UW-Madison, Lark led research on U.S. agricultural land use change and its impacts on the nation’s land and water resources. This included projects aiming to protect farmlands from urbanization, map and improve irrigation use and efficiency, and advance agricultural conservation policy.
“These experiences helped me develop a deeper appreciation of several of the major challenges facing our farmers today,” Lark said. “I’m excited to continue tackling these topics while engaging producers, policymakers and the public to co-develop and implement solutions.”
Through the use of satellite imagery and on-farm data, Lark explores how agricultural landscapes are changing, what that means for agroecosystems, and where there are opportunities to enhance beneficial outcomes for farmers and the environment. His research considers topics such as how the implementation of regenerative agriculture practices can improve land resiliency and where efficient irrigation systems could help conserve water.
For one project, in partnership with American Farmland Trust, Lark led the land use modeling team for Farms Under Threat 2040, a report that projects how expansion of urban areas and climate events will continue to compromise productive U.S. farmland.
“Understanding agricultural land use is essential for designing and implementing effective conservation and production systems,” Lark said. “My research monitors U.S. landscape changes and their interactions with climate, water and biodiversity to inform sustainable land use strategies that safeguard both nature and production.”
At MSU, Lark’s position is one of six new faculty roles hired through the Agricultural Resiliency Program, a partnership among MSU, the Michigan Plant Coalition, and the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. The program, which is administered by MSU AgBioResearch and MSU Extension, was established in 2024 to address long-term plant agriculture issues related to extreme weather and water.
“Dr. Lark brings tremendous knowledge in the areas of land use, geospatial modeling, irrigation practices and resilient agricultural systems,” said Wei Zhang, interim chairperson in the Department of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences. “His expertise will be a welcome addition to MSU, and we look forward to him growing his research and Extension programs to benefit Michigan agriculture.”
The chance to join an institution with a rich history of plant agriculture research in a state such as Michigan, with more than 300 agricultural commodities, was enticing for Lark.
“I’m thrilled to be joining MSU and the Agricultural Resiliency Program,” he said. “The opportunity to work directly with producers and other agricultural stakeholders while collaborating with world-renowned scholars is a dream come true. The wide variety of crops and agricultural systems to study and support in Michigan is the cherry on top.”
In addition to his work at UW-Madison, Lark has served since 2024 as a science advisor for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency, where he provides external support for the agency’s conservation division and the Working Lands for Wildlife initiative.
Lark earned two degrees from UW-Madison, a bachelor’s as a double major in engineering and mathematics, and a doctorate in environment and natural resources management focused on agricultural lands.
He hopes to utilize his experience and the collaborative environment fostered at MSU and the Agricultural Resiliency Program to develop solutions for Michigan’s farmers.
“We know that co-producing science with the stakeholders it supports is one of the most effective ways to improve the outcomes of research,” Lark said. “Working directly with the people who live and breathe this every day, who experience firsthand the challenges facing agriculture, helps to generate better research questions, more relevant insights, and practical results that are grounded in the real world.
“The Agricultural Resiliency Program, through its innovative partnerships and targeted outreach, ensures we’re addressing the industry’s most pressing issues and delivering science-backed solutions that benefit agriculture, the environment and society at large.”
Michigan State University AgBioResearch scientists discover dynamic solutions for food systems and the environment. More than 300 MSU faculty conduct leading-edge research on a variety of topics, from health and agriculture to natural resources. Originally formed in 1888 as the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station, MSU AgBioResearch oversees numerous on-campus research facilities, as well as 15 outlying centers throughout Michigan. To learn more, visit agbioresearch.msu.edu.
