17th Annual Practical Tools and Solutions for Sustaining Family Farms Conference
January 16 – 19, 2008 • The Galt House Hotel and Suites • Louisville, KY |
2008 Conference Presenters
Here are the presenters for our Practical Tools and Solutions For Sustaining Family Farms Conference to be held January 16-19, 2008 at the Galt House Hotel and Suites in Louisville, Kentucky.
We are proud that the following outstanding producers, researchers, educators and organizers will be presenting at our 2008 conference. With their practical experience and knowledge, they bring tremendous expertise to the program.
Jeanette Abi-Nader (VA) is the Evaluation Program Manager for the Community Food Security Coalition (CFSC). For the past five years, she has provided evaluation training and technical support and developed program resources including the CFP Evaluation Handbook and Toolkit and the Growing Communities Curriculum (through ACGA). Jeanette is trained as an organic farmer, permaculture designer and instructor, and organic farm inspector. She has managed community food system programs such as urban community gardens, farmed for the first CSA in Louisiana, and managed the cultivation of culinary and medicinal herbs both in the states and internationally. She is on the Southern SAWG Board of Directors.
Mike Appel (OK) owns and operates Three Springs with Emily Oakley. Emily and Mike have been involved in sustainable agriculture for the past 11 years and have traveled to the Middle East, East Africa, South Asia, and Latin America to study innovative farming systems. After interning for several years on California farms, they moved to Emily's home state of Oklahoma to start a small-scale, diverse, and organic vegetable farm in the fall of 2003. They are passionate about generating awareness of conscientious eating and community involvement in local food.
Betty Bailey (NC) comes from a long line of Appalachian farm families. She has served as executive director of the Rural Advancement Foundation International-USA (RAFI) for sixteen years. RAFI, a non-profit organization based in Pittsboro, North Carolina, works to sustain family farmers and rural communities. RAFI-USA's programs address the trends and changes in agriculture that affect farmers and communities from a local to a global level. Working with a variety of farm, community, faith, business, university and government groups, RAFI-USA provides practical assistance, creates market opportunities, promotes policy changes, and opens access to financial and technical resources. Betty has more than 30 years experience in the non-profit sector. She directed the Farm Survival Project in the 1980s, which supported Carolina farmers during the farm crisis of that decade. She coordinated a national implementation campaign for the Ag Credit Act of 1987, a major policy outcome of the crisis. She founded the Tobacco Communities Reinvestment Fund and other programs to support viable farm and community based enterprises. She is a founder of Southern SAWG. Betty also currently serves on the North Carolina Agricultural Advancement Consortium and Farmers' Legal Action Group boards.
Owusu Bandele (LA) is a professor of horticulture at the Southern University Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana where he has teaching, research and extension responsibilities. Much of his work has involved identifying and evaluating alternative crops and sustainable cropping systems for limited resource farmers. He has been active in coordinating and participating in numerous workshops in the southeast United States that highlighted organic production practices. His international experiences include conducting organic workshops for farmers and extension workers in El Salvador and the Virgin Islands, and providing technical assistance to agricultural projects in Jamaica and Africa. Bandele served as Crops Committee Chairman on the National Organic Standards Board. In 1997, he and his wife established the Food for Thought Organic Farm in Baton Rouge to encourage more small-scale farmers in the South to grow organically. Dr. Bandele holds an M.S. in Plant and Soil Sciences from Tuskegee University and a Ph.D. in horticultural science from North Carolina State University.
Sylvia Blain (AR)
Lorna Bourg (LA) is President/Executive Director of Southern Mutual Help Association, which helps people develop strong, healthy, prosperous rural communities in Louisiana. Southern Mutual’s special focus is with distressed rural communities whose livelihoods are interdependent with our land and waters. Working primarily with agricultural and pervasively poor communities, women and people of color, Southern Mutual helps build rural communities through people's growth in their own empowerment and the just management of resources. In keeping with its mission, Southern Mutual is playing a key role in the recovery and long-term development of hurricane-ravaged areas of South Louisiana ravaged through its Rural Recovery Response Program. Lorna is a MacArthur Fellow, a Fannie Mae Foundation James A. Johnson Fellow, and a graduate of Harvard’s JFK School of Government Program for Senior Executives. She has worked for more that three decades in rural community and housing development, and is a leadership consultant in local, regional and national nonprofit initiatives. Lorna holds a Master’s degree in Psychology. She brings extensive experience in community organizing and development to this panel.
Jim Brown (KY) is a professional mechanic working at the Kentucky State University Research Farm, with training in diesel engines and hydraulics. Together, Jim and his co-presenter, Eddie Reed, have over 40 years experience and regularly present hands-on machinery classes at KYSU farm's "Third Thursday" sustainable agriculture workshops.
Joe Brown (AL) is an environmental engineer with 6 years experience in low-cost, alternative water systems. His most recent project was a 25,000 gallon rainwater catchment system in rural Cambodia. Much of Joe’s research focuses on environmental health microbiology and the epidemiology of waterborne infectious diseases. Joe teaches environmental science and green design in New College at the University of Alabama.
Bill Buchanan (DC)
Ben Burkett (MS) has been actively farming since 1973, and is now involved in a 220 acre operation, which consists of vegetable production, beef cattle, and timber. He is currently employed by the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/LAF through the MS Association of Cooperatives and the Indian Springs Cooperative, located in Petal, MS. This fund works with small farmers and cooperatives throughout the south. Ben is the secretary/manager of Indian Springs Cooperative. Ben serves on many boards, including Southern SAWG, MS Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association, and the MS Agri-Business Advisory Council; and is the newly-elected Chairman of the MS. State Farm Service Agency Committee. He also serves on an Advisory Committee with Congressman Bennie Thompson. Ben has been a member of the Mississippi Farm Service Agency State Committee since 1993, and served on the Federal Reserve Bank Advisory Board (Atlanta Bank District) from 1995-1998. He has studied Cooperative Development in the United States, Africa, Central America, Asia, and the Middle East, in working and developing marketing processing cooperatives.
William Buster (MI)
Freda Butner (NC) Freda’s role at NCDepartment of Agriculture & Consumer Services is to promote all N.C. agricultural commodities from a nutritional perspective, enhancing sustainable outreach to buyers and sellers. In 2002, she received the Crystal Diamond Award from the Produce for Better Health Foundation and the National 5-a-Day program in recognition of her work establishing new, alternative farmers markets on-site at corporations, hospitals and other public and private work environments. She has for numerous magazines. Freda was previously employed as a public health nutritionist and in nutrition intervention research with the elderly and prior to that she worked ten years in early childhood education. Her experience with diverse age ranges and her farming heritage imparts a formidable foundation for nutrition support in the agricultural community and for all life stages. Freda received degrees in Child Development from East Carolina University, Human Nutrition and Dietetics from UNC-Greensboro, and interned at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Mark Cain (AR) has been farming organically in the Northwest Arkansas Ozarks since 1984. He was a student of master gardener Alan Chadwick in the late 70’s, and apprenticed at the Farm and Garden Project of the University of California in Santa Cruz. Since the mid-eighties, he and farm partner Michael Crane have owned and operated Dripping Springs Garden, an intensively-cropped 5 acre market garden in Huntsville, AR. Their cut flowers and other crops are sold at the Fayetteville Farmers’ Market. Mark has given presentations around the region on cut flower production for years and they have hosted tours at their farm for the American Specialty Cut Flower Growers Association and numerous other groups. Their large variety of specialty cut flowers is a huge draw at their market booth with customers frequently having to wait in line. They even had to initiate a take a number system for bouquets made on the spot!
Kaycie Len Carter (KY) is a Rural Organizer for the Community Farm Alliance, primarily working on legislative issues. Community Farm Alliance is a grassroots membership organization with over 2,000 members in 75 counties in Kentucky. From creating new Farmers' Markets in underserved urban communities, to developing Farm-to-Cafeteria programs that link local farmers with institutional buyers, to promoting family farm-friendly policies in the halls of the State Capitol, CFA provides a grassroots voice for Kentucky's citizens–farmer and non-farmer, urban and rural alike–on farm, food, and economic issues. A graduate of the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Kaycie Len previously worked for the UK Dairy Research Farm, the Kentucky Office of the Secretary of State, the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service in 4-H and Youth Development, and the Kentucky Nonprofit Leadership Initiative. Her family has been farming in Anderson and Washington Counties in Kentucky for several generations.
Tera Couchman (OR) is the Program Supervisor at Janus Youth Programs, Inc. in Portland, Oregon, which is a non-profit organization that operates community based programs focused on youth. At Janus, she is the associate director of the Seeds of Harmony Garden program in Portland, which brings together a diverse group of residents in mixed-income housing to address hunger problems, build community, and promote healthy eating and living though gardening. She is also the associate director of St. Johns Woods Garden Project, which provides families living well below the poverty line the necessary tools to grow their own food. When describing her work in this community, she says that "my commitment to the project is that this is theirs. It's their community, their neighborhood". Tera is also a member of the 2006-2007 Community Food and Security Coalition's board.
Ken Dawson (NC), with his wife, Libby Outlaw, own and operate Maple Spring Gardens in Cedar Grove, NC. Ken has grown vegetables by organic methods since 1972 and farmed full-time since 1984. In addition to selling at farmers’ markets, Maple Springs Garden has a 150 member CSA. They produce crops in the field and in a number of unheated hoophouses. Ken and his co-presenter, Cathy Jones, have decades of experience producing organic vegetables commercially. They each have highly diversified operations where dozens of varieties of vegetables are produced, as well as many other crops. Each is a skilled direct marketer, selling at the famous Carrboro Farmers' Market, and through other direct market avenues. They have been sharing their knowledge and mentoring new farmers through internships on their farms, workshops in their area and trainings around the South for years. Ken has served for 21 years on the Boards of Directors of local farmers’ markets and currently serves as a farmer representative on the Southern SARE Administrative Council.
Johanna Divine (TX) is a freelance filmmaker, writer and development
consultant based in Austin, Texas. Her company, Glory B. Media, specializes in video production, communications and development consultation for non-profits and other organizations working toward positive change. Divine produced and directed the award-winning film Young Agrarians, documenting the next generation of farmers and ranchers in America. Her related work includes: Worldlink's Nourish: Food + Community public television special; Arts Engine's Media That Matters: Good Food film series; and Youth Renewing the Countryside, a book showcasing innovative young leaders in rural America.
Dave Dowling (MD) started Farmhouse Flowers & Plants as a small cutting garden in the spring of 1994 and has expanded to three acres of annual and perennial plants for cutting and over 8,300 sq ft of greenhouses and two high tunnels used for season extension. Dave served three years as the Mid-Atlantic Regional Director of the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers (ascfg.org) and began a second, two year term as President of the ASCFG this Month. He also serves as the Cut Flower Grower Representative on the Board of the Maryland Greenhouse Growers, Inc. and was named MGGA's Cut Flower Grower of the Year in 2004. Farmhouse Flowers & Plants operates year round, selling direct to florists, several local Whole Foods Markets, as well as four farmers markets each week, including the highly acclaimed Dupont Circle Fresh Farm Market in Washington, DC.
Greg Drake (KY) serves as the UK County Extension Agent for Agriculture in Butler County. He works with grain, livestock, horticulture, and community development in Butler County. He has active beekeeping, stockman’s, and rural development clubs that he advises as part of his program. Greg has a B.S. and M.S. degrees from Western Kentucky University. He and his wife Shanna have a daughter Maggie and they live on their family farm in southern Butler County.
Todd Dumke (NC) has been a chef for over 15 years, most recently serving as Chef de Cuisine at the Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill. An avid gardener, Todd was a loyal local food buyer and wanted to get out of the kitchen to help develop a local food system that could reliably serve growers and chefs. Todd oversees Operations and Quality Control for Eastern Carolina Organics, a farmer owned distribution and marketing company.
Darcy Freedman (TN)
Keecha Harris (AL) is President of Keecha Harris and Associates, Inc., a food systems and public health consulting firm based in Birmingham, Alabama. She works with corporate, philanthropic and advocacy organizations on resource management, communications, strategic planning and cultural competence issues. She serves as Associate Director of Southern SAWG's Community Food Program. Dr. Harris is an alumnus of the Food and Society Policy Fellowship Program supported by the WK Kellogg Foundation. She is the resident nutrition expert for www.msn.com where she covers a variety of nutrition topics including cardiovascular wellness, child nutrition and food policy. She has been recognized as Young Dietitian of the Year by the American Dietetic Association and as a Mover and Shaker in the upcoming publication Becoming a Nutritionist: A Guide for Dietitians and Dietetics Students.
Cynthia Hayes (GA)
Annette Hiatt (NC) is the Policy Director for the North Carolina Association of Black Lawyers’ Land Loss Prevention Project. Founded in 1983, LLPP’s mission is to stop the epidemic losses of land amongst farmers, low income and communities of color. The organization provides free legal expertise and advocates for community-driven policy solutions for low-income North Carolinians working on issues associated with sustainable agriculture, land tenure, and environmental justice. Annette worked from 2001-2006 with the litigation and policy units of the organization and now works solely in the policy unit. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Agricultural Resources Center—Pesticide Education Project, and is a Section Council Member for the Natural Resources, Environment, and Energy Section of the North Carolina Bar Association.
Jonell Hinsey (TN) is the Instructional Designer for Tennessee State University Cooperative Extension Program at the Agriculture Information Technology Center. She provides instructional design and technology to support comprehensive distance education programs in agriculture, natural resources, 4-H and youth development, family and consumer sciences and community resource and economic development. She is currently completing her Doctoral Degree at Tennessee State University in Curriculum and Instruction with a concentration in Technology.
Alex Hitt (NC) and his wife Betsy own and operate Peregrine Farm in Graham, NC. They planted their first perennial crops in 1982 and their first quarter acre of vegetable crops for market in 1986. By 1990, both Betsy and Alex were full-time on the farm. They now have 4 acres in production and grow crops in the field, in unheated hoophouses and in field-scale high tunnels. They have decades of experience producing organic vegetables commercially. They have a highly diversified operation where dozens of varieties of vegetables are produced, as well as many other crops. They are skilled direct marketer, selling at the famous Carrboro Farmers' Market, and through other direct market avenues. They have been sharing their knowledge and mentoring new farmers through internships on their farms, workshops in their area and trainings around the South for years. In recognition of their pioneering leadership in sustainable agriculture, Alex and Betsy recently received the prestigious Patrick Madden Award given by the National SARE Program.
Steve Hodges (TN) founded and has been Executive Director of Jubilee Project, a faith-based community development nonprofit, since 1991. He began the Clinch-Powell Community Kitchens in 2000, a shared-use commercial kitchen incubator helping those producing value-added farm and food products. Steve’s advocacy efforts secured a Tennessee Department of Agriculture policy change to reduce the annual processor registration fee for users of the Kitchens. In 2001 he helped organize the Appalachian Spring Cooperative, a marketing organization primarily for farmers and businesses using the Kitchens, and helped them persuade the Uniform Code Council to issue one UPC license for the whole cooperative, saving each member the $800 fee. In 2005 Steve helped begin a 2-county farm-to-school project enabling local farmers to switch from growing tobacco to growing produce for local schools, and is currently helping state legislators draft a bill for the Tennessee Legislature that will change procurement and bidding policies and safety standards to enable small- and medium-scale Tennessee farmers to sell to Tennessee schools. Steve is a consultant and trainer for Southern SAWG on starting, funding and managing community food projects. He is a member of the Central Appalachian Network, the New Orleans Farm and Food National Advisory Committee, and a Board member of Appalachian Sustainable Development.
Joseph James (SC)
Cathy Jones (NC) and husband Michael Perry own and operate Perry-winkle Farm in Chapel Hill, NC. In 1983 they bought the farm and by 1991, working a quarter acre, took their first crop to market. Currently, they have about 3 acres in production and are expanding production by adding a new quarter- or half-acre section each year. Cathy and her co-presenter, Ken Dawson, have decades of experience producing organic vegetables commercially. They each have highly diversified operations where dozens of varieties of vegetables are produced, as well as many other crops. Each is a skilled direct marketer, selling at the famous Carrboro Farmers' Market, and through other direct market avenues. They have been sharing their knowledge and mentoring new farmers through internships on their farms, workshops in their area and trainings around the South for years. Cathy collaborates with Cooperative Extension on on-farm research projects as well as a cut flower farmer mentoring program. She and Michael are members of the Slow Food Triangle and were delegates to the Terra Madre Slow Food World Summit.
Vicky Karhu (OK) is Executive Director of the Mvskoke Food Sovereignty Initiative in Okmulgee, OK, the capitol of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. She is an active organic market gardener, advocate for Native American cultural preservation and community organizer. Vicky works with both traditional Indigenous peoples and sustainable agriculture practitioners to blend the best of the past and present into healthy future food systems.
Margaret Krome (WI)
Hilda Kurt (GA)
Susana Lein (KY) started Salamander Springs Farm near Berea, KY (southern Appalachians) in 2000, building the soil, infrastructure, and her home from scratch. She grows pinto & black turtle beans, cornmeal, corn, and popcorn, plus a wide variety of vegetables, fruits, and herbs. Susana has taught permaculture applications in farming in several countries and regions of this country.
Dena Lindley (OK) works for Oklahoma State University Extension as a Nutrition Educator. Dena was born in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia and grew up in a rural area surrounded by beef and dairy cattle farms. At nineteen, Dena began work at a large farmers’ cooperative, The Culpeper Farmers’ Cooperative and remained with them for approximately ten years, while concurrently managing a large farm and exercising racehorses to make ends meet. She says, “I had gone from sales and merchandising, shipping and receiving, to, finally, serving as a field representative to the area's many farms and stockyards.”
Currently, in addition to her work at the extension, she advocated for sustainable agricultural practices. Dena and her husband also run their own large beef cattle and hay farm, Grass Roots Farm, in Delaplane, OK. The work they do is for the lives of their children and successive generations to come.
Wanda Lindsey (TN) grew up in rural Southern Alabama and has been gardening since 1999 when she became fascinated with herbs, and started designing and building herb gardens of her own filled with edible, medicinal, and dye herbs. She co-partnered a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program in 2002-2007, where her herbs were one of the mainstays, and she sells at the Nashville Farmers Market, caters, and sells to restaurants. Wanda has taught herb classes for the Master Gardeners in Giles County and she also installs herb gardens for clients. Wanda is a partner in Fogg Hollow Farm where twenty-four Scotch Highland Cattle are raised for beef on fifty-one acres. Wanda is currently building a commercial kitchen/classroom to use for her herbs and has future plans to open a B & B with weekend classes on growing and using herbs.
Fred Magdoff (VA) is Emeritus Professor of Soils in the Department of Plant and Soil Science at the University of Vermont. He received his degrees from Oberlin College (BA) and from Cornell University (MS and PhD). Fred was Plant and Soil Science Department Chair for 8 years (1985-1993), a member of the National Small Farm Commission (1997-1999, USDA), and was the Coordinator in the 12-state Northeast Region for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program for 20 years. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Agronomy. He developed the first reliable soil test for nitrogen availability to corn for the humid regions of the U.S. This test, called the Pre-Sidedress Nitrate Test (PSNT) and the Spring or Late Spring Nitrate Test, is now used throughout much of the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Midwestern states as well as in eastern Canada. His book, Building Soils for Better Crops (2000) (Harold van Es, co-author), is an ecologically-based approach that explains how to work with and enhance the inherent built-in strengths of plant/soil systems. Magdoff is also interested in political and economic issues surrounding agriculture and was senior editor of Hungry for Profit: the agribusiness threat to farmers, food, and the environment (2000, Monthly Review Press, NY).
Scott Marlow (NC) is the Director of the Farm Sustainability Program for the Rural Advancement Foundation International - USA. RAFI-USA is a non-profit organization based in Pittsboro, NC that addresses issues of equity, diversity, and sustainability in agriculture and rural communities. Scott’s responsibilities include directing RAFI-USA’s farm advocacy program which provides in-depth financial counseling to farmers facing financial crises and assistance for farmers in gaining access to disaster assistance programs. His work also focuses on assisting mid-scale farmers in making the transition to environmental, higher-value markets. He is currently a member of the steering committee of the National Task Force to Renew Agriculture of the Middle, and is on the Board of the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group and the North Carolina Farm Transition Network. Scott holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Duke University, and a Master’s degree in Crop Science from NC State. Born in Pennsylvania, Scott has lived and worked in North Carolina for 25 years.
David Marrison (OH) is an Assistant Professor and Extension Educator for Ohio State University in Ashtabula County, Ohio. David has a B.S. in Agriculture Education & Agricultural Economics from Ohio State University and a M.S. in Education from Purdue University. He is the co-leader of the Ohio Ag Manager team which provides farm management education programming for the State of Ohio. He is also the leader for the farm transition planning team which is helping Ohio farmers and agribusinesses people plan for their transition to the next generation.
Marty Mesh (FL) is the Executive Director of Florida Certified Organic Growers and Consumers, Inc. (FOG). His work in the natural foods community started in 1973. He was a part of Bellevue Gardens Organic Farm for 26 years and is a long-time advocate for organic farm policies. He serves on the Boards of Southern SAWG and the Organic Trade Association (OTA), is a founding member of the Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI) and he also works with the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture.
Paul Miller (TN) is the Chief Technical Officer and principle Web Designer of Persephone's Garden Webscaping Service (PGWS). Paul brings to his work with PGWS thirty-five years of broad educational and professional experience in business operations and management, community organizing and economic development, and information technology. Paul served as the Technology Training & Technical Assistance Coordinator for Appalachian Spring Cooperative (ASC) (a member-owned value-added agricultural producers marketing association), lead developer for the Cooperative's Web Development Group, webmaster for the Cooperative's public and private websites, and as the Coordinator of ASC's Tele-Guild Project, a U.S. Dept. of Commerce Technology Opportunities Program (TOP) project, which provided laptop computers and classroom training to Cooperative members during the project period.
Steve Moore (NC) has been involved in high tunnel production for over 15 years. He currently conducts research and extension outreach at the Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS) at NC State University. Prior to his work at CEFS, Steve farmed organically for over 30 years in Pennsylvania with his family, raising a wide range of vegetables, small fruits, and livestock. Steve was the past Director of the Center for Sustainable Living at Wilson College, founder of the Robyn Van En Center for Community Supported Agriculture Resources, and co-founder (with wife Carol) of Harmony Essentials, an organization dedicated to the vision and practices of a sustaining food system.
Jim Munsch (WI) and his wife Phylis raise organic pastured beef at Deer Run Farm in Vernon County. He has been in the beef business since 1981, and his operation was certified organic in 1999. Jim markets his beef in partnership with Harmony Valley Farm which is a large CSA serving Madison WI and Minneapolis MN. Jim works part time with the Vernon County Conservation Department as a grazing specialist, and he is also a business consultant to local organic vegetable producers and both organic and conventional beef producers. He has degrees and experience in agricultural engineering, industrial management, and international business. Jim is interested in preserving a viable and diverse agricultural base in his county and region where farmers produce a wide variety of food, make enough money to stay on their farms, and the soils and environments on those farms are no worse off from the activity of making that money.
Azeez Mustafa (SC) was born in Horatio, South Carolina, and both he and his wife grew up in farming. Together, Azeez and his wife, Fathiyyah, chair Sumter Cooperative Farms, which includes eleven other farmers, African American and white, ranging in age from 30s to 70s. Azeez is also currently a member of the Small Farmer Agricultural Leadership Training Program. The Mustafas were the first African American certified organic farmers in SC, and their farm, Asya Organics, is family run with the help of their son Shaheed, daughter-in-law Yolanda, and granddaughter, Asya for whom the farm is named. In 2006, Azeez was named Farmer of the Year by the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, and it is his goal to produce “the best food in the world.”
Rashid Nuri (GA) has managed public, private, and community-based food and agriculture businesses in over 30 countries around the world. Travel has enabled Rashid to observe numerous local food economies. He now lends his experience to urban areas where good health and nutrition are lacking. Rashid also served four years as a Senior Executive in the Clinton administration including Deputy Administrator of the Farm Service Agency and Foreign Agricultural Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture. He is a graduate of Harvard College, where he studied Political Science and has a M.S. in Plant and Soil Science from the University of Massachusetts.
Emily Oakley (OK) owns and operates Three Springs with Mike Appel. Emily and Mike have been involved in sustainable agriculture for the past 11 years and have traveled to the Middle East, East Africa, South Asia, and Latin America to study innovative farming systems. After interning for several years on California farms, they moved to Emily's home state of Oklahoma to start a small-scale, diverse, and organic vegetable farm in the fall of 2003. They are passionate about generating awareness of conscientious eating and community involvement in local food.
Ruth Peebles (NC) has more than 20 years of hands-on-experience in nonprofit management, fundraising and development, and project management. She is the founder and president of The INS Group (Innovative Nonprofit Solutions) providing consulting services for nonprofits, faith-based institutions and governmental agencies nationally. She earned a bachelor's degree in Communication and a graduate degree in Public Administration, specializing in nonprofit management and policy analysis. Ruth is an instructor for the Duke University Certificate Program in Nonprofit Management and is the creator of the workshops: Grassroots Fundraising, The ABCs of Grant Writing and Establishing an Effective Direct Mail Campaign. She is an adjunct instructor for the Master of Public Administration Program at North Carolina State University. Ms. Peebles currently serves as the Funding Development Coordinator for Southern SAWG and has facilitated organizational development sessions for Southern SAWG’s Community Food Systems Program trainings.
An Peischel (TN) was raised on a livestock (cattle and hog) and crop farm. She got a BS in Agribusiness and Economics, an MS in monogastric nutrition, and a PhD in Range Livestock Nutrition. She has lived in South America on a large sheep and cattle ranch, and managed a beef cattle research facility in Alaska. In 1985, An began raising meat goats in the Hawaiian Islands, moved them to California, and also taught in both those states. She has now moved her goat farm to Tennessee and also works as the small ruminant extension specialist for both Tennessee State and the University of Tennessee.
Mary Pergande (FL) is the Director of Customer Relations and graphic designer for Persephone's Garden Webscaping Service. Mary brings to her role with PGWS thirty years' experience in business management and client relations in the for-profit banking, real estate and small business fields and in the non-profit rural economic development sector. She is a former and current small business entrepreneur who is well acquainted with the challenges of rural small and microenterprise development. Mary's work with PGWS includes website design, graphic design, animations, and small business e-commerce systems development.
Harrison M. Pittman (AR) received his J.D. from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law, after attending Mississippi State University and graduating from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He earned an L.L.M. in Agricultural Law from the University of Arkansas School of Law's Graduate Program in Agricultural Law. Harrison has authored articles on numerous subjects, including the National Organic Program, the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act, the constitutionality of corporate farming laws, pesticide regulation and litigation, agritourism, states' recreational use statutes, legal issues associated with the structure of the livestock industry, agricultural bankruptcy issues, environmental regulation of agriculture. He currently serves as Vice-Chair of the Agriculture Committee of the American Bar Association's Section on Administrative Law & Regulatory Practice.
Chip Planck (VA) and his wife, Susan, have run Wheatland Vegetable Farms in Loudoun County, Virginia, since 1979, hiring ten to twenty college students seasonally and selling exclusively at producer-only farmers markets in the Washington, DC area. The farm is 60 acres, with 20 typically under cultivation in recent years. They use no pesticides, a man-made foliar fertilizer, and are zealots for organic mulches. Chip has been frequently involved in county, regional, and state efforts to preserve farmland and promote rural economy. The Plancks learned to farm working with Tony and Hiu Newcomb of Potomac Vegetable Farms in Vienna, Virginia, with whom Ellen Polishuk also got her start and is now their partner.
Anita Poole (OK)
Eddie Reed (KY) is on the Kentucky State University staff managing the University farm. In his 20 years at the University he has worked in aquaculture, research and now the farm. Eddie considers himself a jack-of-all-trades. Together Eddie and his co-presenter, Jim Brown, have over 40 years experience and regularly present hands-on machinery classes at KYSU farm's "Third Thursday" sustainable agriculture workshops.
Jason Roehrig (NC) manages a direct market vegetable operation with his wife and directs RAFI-USA's Tobacco Communities Reinvestment Project of the Rural Advancement Foundation International – USA. The Reinvestment Project assists innovative farmers and community groups throughout North Carolina in developing viable agricultural alternatives to replace lost tobacco income. Jason also manages RAFI’s Farmer and Lender project, a project designed to assist North Carolina farmers in accessing capital for non-traditional agricultural enterprises. Jason came to RAFI after working as an agro-forestry volunteer in the Peace Corps in Madagascar.
Debbie Roos (NC) is an Agriculture Agent for the Chatham County Center of North Carolina Cooperative Extension where she works primarily with producers interested in sustainable and organic production. She began her Extension career as an agroforestry Extension agent for the Peace Corps in West Africa and later completed graduate degrees in applied anthropology and horticulture at the University of Florida. Debbie delivers educational programming to growers through monthly workshops, a newsletter, and her Growing Small Farms website.
Joel F. Salatin, (VA) a third generation alternative farmer, returned fulltime to his family farm, Polyface Inc. (“The Farm of Many Faces”), in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley in 1982. He has authored five books, four of them how-to types: Pastured Poultry Profits, Salad Bar Beef, You Can Farm, and Family Friendly Farming. His most recent release, Holy Cows and Hog Heaven: The Food Buyer’s Guide to Farm Friendly Food, is an attempt to bring producers and patrons together in mutual understanding and appreciation. His speaking and writing reflect dirt-under-the-fingernails experience punctuated with mischievous humor. He passionately defends small farms, local food systems, and the right to opt out of the conventional food paradigm.
Jenell Sargent (TN) is the Director/Associate Professor at the Agricultural Information Technology Center (AITC) at Tennessee State University. The technology center was built to serve the School of Agriculture and Consumer Sciences; Institute of Agricultural & Environmental Research; and the Cooperative Extension Program. She collaborates with the campus, as well as, the outreach community to improve the usage of technology. Previously, she served as the WebCT Certified Trainer for the campus, as well as, a tenured Assistant Professor of Mathematics.
Mark Schonbeck (VA) has been involved in research, education, outreach and advocacy in sustainable agriculture for twenty years. He is experienced in organic vegetable production systems, caring for the soil as a living system, cover cropping, reduced tillage and organic weed management. He also edits the quarterly newsletter for Virginia Association for Biological Farming, and helps manage small food garden for the small intentional community that is his home.
Carol Schreiber (KY) serves as the UK County Extension Agent for Horticulture in Warren County. She works with commercial, consumer and youth horticulture. She also serves as the advisor for the Southern KY Regional Farmers' Market and the Warren County Beekeepers Association. Carol received her B.S. in Horticulture from Northwest Missouri State University and a M.S. in Horticulture & Urban Forestry from Iowa State University. She and her husband Kevin live in Bowling Green, KY.
Beth Seely (FL) is a dairy farmer's daughter, a retired crisis care RN, wife to Marine Vet. and mom to two military families. Beth is also a rabbit producer/processor. She is a founding board member for Southern Commercial Rabbit Producers Association and has twenty plus years experience in commercial rabbit production/processing and marketing. Her farm, Seely's Ark, is a 500 doe rabbitry and USDA processing facility.
Marion Simon (KY) is program coordinator for the Kentucky State University Extension Small Farm Program and Small Farmer Outreach and Technical Assistance Project. She runs a popular monthly training program at KSU’s research farm, known as “Third Thursday”. These hands-on trainings help small farmers and extension specialist learn about sustainable farming. A native from Kentucky, she was raised on a small tobacco and livestock farm in Scott County and currently owns and operates a small quarter horse farm. Marion obtained her Ph.D. from Oklahoma State University in Agricultural Economics in 1984.
Michael Sligh (NC) has been the Just Foods Program Director for Rural Advancement Foundation International – USA (RAFI-USA) since 1991, working to promote sound domestic and international agricultural policies with a special focus on organic and sustainable agriculture and trade policy. RAFI-USA is non-profit, non-governmental organization that works with a variety of farm, community, university and government groups to promote sustainability, equity and diversity in agriculture through policy changes, research and education, practical assistance, market opportunities, and access to financial and technical resources. Michael has authored or co-authored numerous documents and reports on organic and just food issues. He was the founding chairman of the USDA National Organic Standards Board, which was responsible for the bulk of the recommendations that led to the National Organic Program standards. He is an NGO member of UN/FAO/WHO Codex Food Labeling Commission, and worked for 10 years to ensure that international organic guidelines were adopted by this Commission for member country guidance. He is a founding member of the USDA Agricultural Biotechnology Advisory Council. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the International Organic Accreditation Service, which accredits organic certifiers around the world. He is a founder of numerous organizations, including National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture, Domestic Fair Trade Working Group, the National Organic Coalition and Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (SAWG).
Andrew Smiley (TX) has over 12 years experience working in sustainable agriculture and food systems, including on-farm production, agricultural marketing, micro-enterprise development, food journalism, farmer training and technical assistance, and even food-service management. He currently works with Sustainable Food Center in Austin, Texas as Farm Marketing Program Manager, which includes serving as project director for several Farm-Direct marketing and education initiatives. Andrew is also the former Executive Director of Baton Rouge Economic and Agricultural Development Alliance, Inc. (BREADA). He is an active supporter of and volunteer with the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group and Texas Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, and operates a small farm in Elgin, TX.
Les Snyder (KY) owns and operatesSunshine Farm, in Lagrange, KY with his wife Pam. The thirty-two acre farm was established in 1979 and is where Les and Pam raised their two children. Now, all these years later, their grandchildren are helping during harvest time. They worked very hard to keep their farm a "Family Farm.” The Snyders have been involved with the Family Farm Project CSA since it began in 2002. They also have 2 other farmer's markets separate from their CSA. In 1998, Les received the "Master Soil Conservation Award" in 1998.
Laraine Staples (KY) is married with two sons, one daughter, and one granddaughter. She lives and works on the three hundred plus acres of the Staples Family Farm with her in-laws. Staples Farm raises Charolais cattle offered as grass fed, antibiotic and growth hormone free, aged twenty days harvested in Spring and Fall in whole, half, quarter, or twenty-five pound sample box. Individual cuts are available at the CSA market. The farm also raises alfalfa and grass hay for sale plus participates in The Family Farm Project, a local CSA since 2002. Laraine also serves as program administrator for money distributed to farmers in Oldham, Trimble and Henry counties.
Anim Steel (MA)
Jim Tanner (TN) was born in 1940 in Covington Ky. He completed an AA degree at Sacramento City College, a BA at Calif State Univ. Sacramento, and an MA at University of California. He also attended Mc George School of Law at the University of the Pacific. After completing his formal education he pursued careers as an investment broker, college instructor, and building contractor. In 1995, during a prospecting visit to the South scouting for property, Jim and Gayle made an offer that was accepted on the old creek farm now owned by them. He is currently a goat farmer and operates the only licensed grade A goat dairy and farmstead goat cheese operation in Tennessee. He and his wife Gayle were recently named "Small Farmer of the Year" for the State of Tennessee.
Liz Tuckermanty(DC)
Robert Waldrop (OK) is a native, fourth generation Oklahoman who was raised on a farm in the southwest of his state. He is president and general manager of the Oklahoma Food Cooperative; begun in 2003, by the end of this year the co-op will sell their "millionth dollar" of locally produced food and non-food items. Bob is also the founder of the Oscar Romero Catholic Worker House community, the director of music at Epiphany of the Lord Catholic Church, and a member of the Oklahoma Food Policy Council. He formerly served on the founding board of directors of the Oklahoma Sustainability Network and the Migrants and Refugees Advisory Committee of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and as a coordinator for the Oklahoma Catholic Peace Fellowship. He is an apprentice permaculture designer with Barking Frogs Permaculture, lives in a house built in 1929 in an inner city neighborhood, and presently cultivates one hundred and twenty acres of useful or edible plants.
Relinda Walker (GA) was born and raised in south Georgia. She graduated from Emory University with a degree in mathematics. After what she refers to as her checkered career, Relinda recently returned to her father’s Screven County farm where she has transitioned forty acres to certified organic production. As South Georgia Program Coordinator for Georgia Organics, Relinda organizes field days and workshops and coordinates grant activity, including projects for the EPA’s Strategic Agriculture Initiative and the USDA’s Risk Management Agency. She has been active in the promotion of cover crops and no-till production for conventional and organic farmers; has organized working groups of growers, extension specialists and researchers to help transition growers to organic production; and is part of an experiment to grow organic peanuts in the Southeast.
Stephan Walker (AR) is a forth generation small farmer in Southeast Arkansas, growing row crops and vegetables. He acquired a degree in agribusiness and economics and now works as an Extension Associate with the Small Farm/Risk Management Education Project at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. He works continually to help other farmers sustain life and welfare on the farm. Currently he serves on the boards of Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group, Arkansas Black Farmers & Agriculturalists Association, the Arkansas Farm Community Alliance, the Arkansas Food Policy Council Steering Committee, and the Tri-County Community Coalition.
Mike Walters (OK) and his wife, Teresa, of Walters' Poultry in Oklahoma have over 16 years of experience in poultry. After an exchange visit to France's Label Rouge, Mike introduced French free range chicken techniques to the U.S. He now raises Bronze Crosses in his free range system. He is a pioneer in commercial pastured turkey production and is known as “The Turkey Man.” Mike and Teresa produce meat birds on pasture that he ships frozen across the country. They also run a hatchery specializing in breeder quality heritage turkeys. Mike works closely with the Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture and is a supplier to Oklahoma's Slow Food Movement.
Don Wambles (AL) is the director of the Alabama Farmers Market Authority. In the past seven years Don has lead the development of 81 new farmers markets in Alabama. During this time, the number of farmers selling at farmers markets has increased from 234 to more than 900. The Farmers Market Nutrition Programs (FMNP) -WIC & Senior- are two programs that he has used to assist with market development. Alabama’s Senior FMNP is the fourth largest in the nation under Wambles leadership. One program that has yielded the greatest reward for Alabama farmers and consumers is the Buy Fresh, Buy Local campaign that Wambles implemented. Above all, Wambles and his son have been vendors at farmers markets, so he speaks from experience. Don offers sound advice and an approachable demeanor.
Randall Ware (OK) resides in Fort Cobb, Oklahoma. And is a full blood member of the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma, he is an Extension/Outreach Specialist for Langston University, and he serves the eight plains Indian tribes in southwest Oklahoma: the Kiowa, Comanche, Apache, Wichita, Caddo, Delaware, Cheyenne and Ft. Sill Apache. Currently, he is teaching them in the area of Farming and Ranching, Natural Resources and available USDA Programs. He is an active partner of Heifer Projects International thru Langston University. Thru his Partnership with HPI he was able to secure a grant from HPI to purchase 85 bred Black Angus Heifers and 4 Bulls for the 1st Native American Livestock Association, (1st NALA) HOPE PROJECT. 1st NALA consists of seventeen families that completed Pasture and Beef Management Training and each family received (5) bred Black Angus Heifers to start their Ranching operations. Randall is also credited for the development of the Native American Indian Farming and Ranching Cooperative (NAIFRC) based in Anadarko, Oklahoma. He built a Membership of (260) Native American families that is growing daily.
Hollis Watkins (MS) was the first Mississippi student to become involved in 1961 in the Mississippi Voting Rights Project of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and has remained in Mississippi throughout his adult life, continuing to work in the community trying to empower people through education, culture, economics, and the political process. His list of successes in securing protection of voting rights and more equitable representation for blacks in Mississippi over the past 4 decades is both lengthy and stunning. In 1989, Hollis established Southern Echo, Inc. and still serves as its President. Southern Echo is a non-profit leadership development, education, and training organization that provides training and technical assistance to individuals, groups and organization in Mississippi and throughout the South. Southern Echo’s work focuses on the environment, education, community organizing, economic development, legal, agriculture and the political process. Hollis’ work through Southern Echo led to doubling the size of Mississippi’s Black Legislative Caucus in a single election from 21 to 42 legislative seats. He has prevented several unwanted and undeserving landfills from being established in the state, as well as halted the establishment of huge hog farms (factories). Hollis’ work is forcing the political and educational systems in Mississippi to become more accountable. Hollis serves on the board of directors of Southern SAWG and a number of community-based non-profit organizations.
Bill Welch (SC) and his family moved to South Carolina from Nevada in 1997. Bill, his wife Holly, and their two boys started the twelve-acre Broken Wing Farm in Honea Path, South Carolina in 2000. This family farm branched out from layers in the two first years to include meat chickens, turkeys, and hogs, using as many endangered breeds as possible. All of their animals are pasture-raised and rotated to help protect against predators as well as to follow heritage gardening patterns. They have more than ten beehives to help pollinate their two-acre garden and use only organic and sustainable methods. Bill serves as the Market Manager of his local Simpsonville Farmers Market, is on the advisory board for the Greenville County Clemson Extension Service, is a board member of the Greenville County Farm Bureau, and is Chairperson of the Upstate SARE group at Clemson University.
Paul and Alison Wiediger (KY) are pioneers in the use of hoophouses for year-round production. They have been growing in hoophouses for 12 years. Combined, they have over 65 years growing experience using organic methods which they use in both their hoophouses and outside production. Their farm, Au Naturel Farm, is a diversified operation, including pastured broilers and layers, greenhouse plant production, cut flowers and more. They also write a regular article, “Growing Great Vegetables”, in Growing For Market. Their markets include a producer only farmers’ market that they helped to develop and email for the “off” season. The Wiedigers’ wrote the book on hoophouse production, literally! They authored the highly acclaimed, Walking To Spring, a start to finish how-to guide to hoophouse production.
Mark Winne (NM) currently serves on the New Mexico Task Force to End Hunger, the New Mexico Food and Agriculture Policy Council, and the Southwest Grass-fed Livestock Alliance. Mark writes, speaks, and consults extensively on community food system topics including hunger and food insecurity, local and regional agriculture, community assessment, and food policy. He also does policy communication and food policy council work for the Community Food Security Coalition. From 1979 to 2003, Mark was the Executive Director of the Hartford Food System, a private non-profit agency that works on food and hunger issues in the Hartford, Connecticut area. From 2002 until 2004, Mark was a Food and Society Policy Fellow, a position supported by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. His first book "Closing the Food Gap -- Resetting the Table in the Land of Plenty", published by Beacon Press, is due out in January 2008.
Aimee Witteman (D.C.) is the Grassroots Organizing and Outreach Director for the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (SAC), a national alliance of grassroots family farm, rural, and conservation organizations that advocate for federal policies and programs supporting the long-term economic and environmental sustainability of agriculture, natural resources, and rural communities. She serves on the communications team for the Farm and Food Policy Project (FFPP) and is also a current W.K. Kellogg Food and Society Policy Fellow. Prior to working for SAC, Aimee was the Agriculture and Trade Specialist for Oxfam America and also directed environmental restoration projects on farm and ranchland in western Washington and Oregon through the Northwest Service Academy. She has a M.S. degree in Agriculture, Food, and Environmental Science and Policy from Tufts University.
Tim Woods (KY) is a Professor of Agricultural Economics at the University of Kentucky, and an Extension Specialist in the areas of produce marketing, agribusiness marketing, and management. He has devoted his time and energy to help facilitate the development of small ag-related businesses and cooperatives that have promising innovative processes and/or products. His work in farm entrepreneurship, business planning, cooperative development, and facilitating value-added enterprises for farmers and agriculture has been presented at international workshops, professional meetings, and state and regional extension programs. Tim led this outstanding marketing session at the Southern SAWG Conference last year and we received many requests to bring it back.
Marilyn Yank (LA) has been involved with the food justice movement for the past 12 years beginning with The Sustainable Food Center/ Austin, TX. There she co-designed and facilitated the award winning cooking and food education program, La Cocina Alegre/The Happy Kitchen which emphasizes seasonal local produce for low income families. She is a co-founder of The New Orleans Food and Farm Network, an organization dedicated to improving fresh food access in New Orleans neighborhoods, and currently serves as its executive director.
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