When Monsanto was first sued nearly a decade ago over allegations that its Roundup weedkiller causes cancer, Ryerson wandered into a San Francisco courtroom out of curiosity. Struck by what she considered “biased and indifferent” media coverage of the lawsuits—which Monsanto lost—Ryerson quit her job and started an anonymous blog called Glyphosate Girl, named after Roundup’s active ingredient. She covered the trials and the underlying science, gave lectures at colleges, and quickly gained a following.
“Truth in reporting wasn’t really happening in terms of exposing the massive cover-up and corruption,” says Ryerson, an economics major who previously worked in investment banking and private equity. Monsanto hired people to spy on her and track her phone, she says, crediting Dartmouth for encouraging her to be bold and resilient.
Today, she is co-executive director and cofounder of American Regeneration, an organization that secures financial support for farmers who want to reduce or eliminate the use of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers through regenerative agriculture.
“We can solve the pesticide issue through investing in farmer transition,” she says. While the Trump administration calls for increased glyphosate production, her goal is to “heal our soils and grow more nutrient-dense, diverse food and pivot away from this genetically modified, chemical-intensive system.” The organization’s co-executive director, Ryland Engelhart, says Ryerson “sees clearly that farmers are often trapped in a cycle of chemical dependency, operating within an economic system that makes change difficult.”
Ryerson, who has been active in the “Make America Healthy Again” movement, pushes for government to curb or ban the use of dangerous chemicals and often brings farmers to discuss their experiences with lawmakers. “I’ve never felt closer to the tipping point of being able to unseat the chemical agriculture system,” she says.
