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Board
of Directors
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Deirdre Birmingham - Deirdre is starting an organic orchard and vintage cider business in Wisconsin. Deirdre runs the Midwest Organic Tree Fruit Growers Network, which she co-founded. She chairs the Citizens Advisory Council for the Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Deirdre has been a board member of several agricultural nonprofits, served on the Southern SARE Professional Development Program’s Leadership Council, was the first executive director of
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| Georgia Organics, and served on the Governor’s Organic Task Force in Wisconsin. Prior to farming, she worked in developing country agriculture, particularly in Africa. She holds an M.S. in Agronomy (Soil Fertility) and a Joint Ph.D. in Adult Education and Land Resource Management. Deirdre serves as Vice-President
of OFRF. |
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Johari
Cole - Johari and her family own and operate Iyabo Farms, a certified organic farm in Momence, Illinois, 70 miles south of Chicago. Johari is also the Executive Director of Multi-Talent Resource Center, a non-profit bringing technology and agricultural training, resources and infrastructure to rural African American communities. Johari and her family are members of the Pembroke Farming Family. In the near past, she served as a marketing coordinator and editor of the PFF newsletter, connecting African American |
| farmers to farmers markets and African American consumers in the Chicago metropolitan area and central Illinois region. Recently, Johari was appointed by Illinois' Governor, Rob Blagojevich, to the Illinois Organic Food & Farm Task Force. |
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Cynthia
Connolly - Cynthia owns and operates Ladybird Organics, a 50-acre organic farm and nursery in North Florida. Her farm operation specializes in viticulture and vermiculture and is home to Monticello Vineyards & Winery. Before beginning her farm operation and winery, Cynthia completed a Ph.D. in Agricultural Education & Engineering (Iowa State University) and worked internationally for USDA’s International Training Division, the UN Development Program, the UN Food & Agriculture Organization, the US Agency for |
| International Development, and the International Center of Tropical Agriculture, serving in South America and several African countries. |
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Heather Darby - Heather is an Agronomic and Soils Specialist for the University of Vermont Extension. She was raised on a dairy farm in Alburg, Vermont. On the same land, six generations later, Heather operates a diversified certified organic farm with her partner Ron Hermann. They market organic vegetables from a farm stand and at local farmers' markets. They also operate a custom grazing service for local farms, supporting 80 head of certified organic cattle during the grazing season. Heather is a founding member of the Vermont Organic Seed |
| Initiative organized by organic grain producers in Vermont and Quebec with the goal of providing support and education to grain growers to protect and improve the integrity and quality of seed. Heather has a Ph.D. in Agronomy. |
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Jerry DeWitt - Jerry is a professor of entomology at Iowa State University. He serves as the Director of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University and also coordinates ISU’s Extension Sustainable Agriculture Program. At ISU, Jerry has served as associate dean in the College of Agriculture, associate director for ISU Extension, program leader for ISU Agriculture and Natural Resources Extension, and state liaison for the USDA National Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program. He was
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| interim national program leader for USDA-SARE three times between 1993 and 2004 and has worked on special outreach projects for the agency. Jerry is also an avid photographer, whose images have been published in two books: People Sustaining the Land (2002) and Renewing the Countryside – Iowa (2003), national magazines, and educational publications. |
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Steve Ela - Steve is a partner and orchard manager of Ela Family Farms/Silver Spruce Partners, a 100-acre organic orchard operation in Hotchkiss, Colorado. With an M.S. in Soil Science, Steve serves on the Advisory Board for the Western Integrated Pest Management Council, is the coordinator and board member of the Colorado Organic Crop Management Association, serves on several local water and ditch boards, and served two terms on the Colorado Agricultural Commission. Steve
serves as President of OFRF. |
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Rick Hartmann - Rick owns and co-manages Small Potatoes Farm, a 10-acre certified organic farm in central Iowa with his spouse, Stacy. Their farm is organized as a model of a small but intensively managed system focusing on high quality vegetable production in conjunction with ecologically-based management. Rick previously served as Food Systems Program staff with Practical Farmers of Iowa, providing training and technical assistance to farmers in marketing, research, and planning. Rick has earned degrees in Agronomy and Plant Breeding from Iowa State University. |
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Rose Koenig - Rose owns and operates Rosie's Organic Farm, a 10-acre certified organic vegetable farm in Gainesville, Florida. She is also the Co-Director of the University of Florida’s Center for Organic Agriculture. Rose was a Research Agronomist Intern for the Rodale Institute’s international program and a Food and Society Policy Fellow at the Thomas Jefferson Agricultural Institute. She has served on the National Organic Standards Board, the Southern SARE Administrative Council, the Organic Materials Review Institute board, and as |
| President of the Community Green Market Association of North Florida. Rose has a Ph.D. in Plant Pathology (University of Florida), an MS in International Agricultural Development (UC, Davis), and a B.S. in Agricultural Science (Rutgers). |
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Pam Marrone - Pam has spent 25 years leading groups and companies that have focused on finding naturally occurring microorganisms for Integrated Pest Management (IPM). She is CEO of Marrone Organic Innovations, a company she founded in 2006 to find natural product solutions for unmet weed and pest management needs. At the previous company she founded, AgraQuest, Pam discovered and launched a range of products based on natural Bacillus for which the EPA awarded the 2003 Presidential Green Chemistry Small Business Award. |
| She is on the Board of the Association of Applied IPM Ecologists, Cornell’s Ag & Life Sciences Dean’s Advisory Council, the California Roundtable for Ag & the Environment, and several others. |
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Theresa
Podoll - Theresa co-owns and operates Prairie Road Organic Farm in Fullerton, North Dakota with her extended family. The 480-acre farm produces certified organic garden seeds under contract with seed catalog companies and a variety of small grains and livestock. She has served as the Stewardship Director and Executive Director for the Northern Plains Sustainable Agriculture Society (NPSAS). Theresa is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Community Development through Iowa State University focusing on sustainable agriculture issues. |
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Mac Stone - Mac farms Elmwood Stock Farm with his wife, Ann
Bell Stone, and her family in Georgetown Kentucky, where they grow and market certified organic vegetables, poultry, eggs, beef, and lamb on 475 acres. Mac is also the Executive Director for the Office of Marketing and Product Promotion with the Kentucky Department of Agriculture. Mac serves as OFRF's Treasurer. |
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Dorothy Suput - Dorothy is the founder and Executive Director of The Carrot Project based in Somerville, Massachusetts, a non-profit organization whose mission is to create small-farm financing solutions. Prior to this endeavor, Dorothy provided high-impact consulting services to enhance the development capabilities and bottom line of not-for-profit organizations. She also has been Vice-President of Development for the Conservation Law Foundation, leading all aspects of fund development and member communications |
| across five states. Dorothy was Executive Director of the Massachusetts Recycling Coalition during the latter half of the 1990’s, and the Northeast Regional Organizer for the Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture before that, working primarily on 1995 Farm Bill issues. Dorothy earned an M.A. in Environmental Policy from Tufts University. Dorothy has also been a consultant for Hartford Food Systems and the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, among other clients. |
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John Teixeira - John is the owner of Lone Willow Ranch, a 48-acre CCOF-certified organic farm in Firebaugh, California. He grows a variety of fruits and vegetables including heirloom organic tomatoes marketed directly to high-end restaurants and organic retail markets. John serves on the California Tomato Commission and CCOF board. He is an advisor to the Sustainable Cotton Project, a Madera Slow Food member, and a Firebaugh Ag Booster. |
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Francis
Thicke - Francis owns and operates Radiance Dairy, a 75-cow
grass-based organic dairy in Fairfield, Iowa, producing organic
bottled milk, cream, yogurt, and cheese for sale through local
stores and restaurants. He has been a Kellogg Food
and Society Policy Fellow; USDA National Program Leader for Soil
Science; and served on Iowa’s Environmental Protection Commission,
the Steering Committee of the Scientific Congress on Organic Agricultural
Research, the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Services board, and the |
| Consortium for Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (CSARE) Governing Council. Francis holds a Ph.D. in
Agronomy/Soil Fertility (Univ. Illinois), M.S. in Soil Science (Univ.
Minnesota), and a B.A. in Music & Philosophy (Winona State College). |
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Ann
Thrupp - Ann is Manager of Sustainability and Organic Development at Fetzer Vineyards in Hopland, California, providing information and technical assistance for growers, wine industry partners, university scientists and government agencies on organic practices and sustainability initiatives. Ann also works part-time as a Project Manager (and was formerly Director) of the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance. Previously, Ann worked with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Agriculture Initiative and in |
| international ag education, research and policy analysis. From 1990-1998, she was Director of Sustainable Agriculture at the World Resources Institute in Washington, DC. Ann has a PhD and MA from Sussex University, a BA from Stanford University, and is a graduate of the California Agriculture Leadership Program. She is currently serving on the National Academy of Science (National Research Council) Committee on 21st Century Agriculture. |
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