Marni Thompson grew up on a family ranch near Townsend, Montana. The Meadowland Ranch raised irrigated hay, dryland wheat and registered Gelbieh cattle. After graduating from high school, Marni attended Montana State University and graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in range science.

After college, she began her career with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) where she has worked for 26 years, starting first as a soil conservationist in Miles City, Montana, where she worked on rangeland on large ranches. She then worked 12 years as a District Conservationist in Sheridan, Montana. During those years, Marni honed her expertise on large stock water pipelines, irrigated pasture and native rangeland. It was there that Marni discovered her soil health passion when she watched Ray Archelata do the slake test. That burning passion inspired Marni to pursue as much knowledge regarding soil health as possible. She then moved to Great Falls, Montana as the Area Conservationist for Programs, assisting 13 field offices and three tribal offices in implementing NRCS conservation programs. After six years in that position, Marni was able to get back to her technical roots and was the Area Conservationist for Technology and was responsible for technical training for 13 field offices and three tribal offices. The transition to the Great Falls Area allowed Marni to gain more experience with soil health and dryland cropping and became Montana’s first Soil Health Specialist. In this role, she is responsible for soil health education, outreach, and training for the state of Montana.

Marni and her husband Jory, have three grown children and two grand children and live in Fort Benton Montana. Her passion is practicing soil health principles in her no-till garden. She also likes to ride her horses, fish and water-ski.