BRANDON MEINERS lives in Eitzen, MN where he is a soil and crop consultant for Midwestern BioAg Inc. He is specialized in the care of soil health, including the balancing of minerals and promotion of biological activity. Brandon is also a student at Green Mountain College in the Master of Sustainable Food Systems program. His goal is to help conventional farmers move towards a system of farming that is not only profitable, but much more sustainable and enjoyable.  They also help conventional farmers that wish to become organic.  As a company, they carry the largest number of organic and natural fertilizers in the industry. Brandon says, “”I am fortunate to have a father that has been preaching sustainability, organic farming, cover crops, etc. for the past 35 years.  Although I may be positively influencing agriculture directly with the farmer, I see a need to educate the consumer as well.  It is difficult for a farmer to want to switch to a better way of farming, if there is no market for that type of farming.  I am excited to take part in something that I believe will change many lives through knowledge and wisdom””.

Brit MacDonald is a Community Developer for the Saskatoon Food Bank and Learning Centre and coordinates their urban agriculture program, which includes a 1.5 acre engagement and education garden on the edge of downtown Saskatoon called the Garden Patch. She is the co-creator of the Wayward Ginger podcast: Conversations with Local Food Entrepreneurs and the host of Down to Earth, an environment and sustainability show on CFCR Community Radio. Brit sits on the board of directors for Permaculture Saskatchewan and the planning group for NatureCity Festival in Saskatoon. She is passionate about the recognition of urban agriculture as a viable land use activity, and its role building healthy, resilient cities and strengthening community food systems.

CAITLIN MATTHEWS is studying to be a Food Systems Policy and Planning professional with a focus on a just and sustainable food system for both producers and consumers. Caitlin is a dual degree graduate student in Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning at Tufts University and in Agriculture, Food and Environment at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, also at Tufts University. Her background includes working with migrant workers in the dairy and poultry industries in Vermont, teaching bilingual garden education in low-income schools, and working with small-scale, low-income Latino farmers and community gardeners with the organization Adelante Mujeres in Washington County, Oregon. However, most of her professional life so far has been as a Spanish Immersion teacher in Portland Public Schools (Oregon). While Caitlin’s interests, as well as personal and professional pursuits, span a range of disciplines, they are united in a vision for a more socially and environmentally just world. Caitlin has a B.A. in Environmental Studies with a focus in Conservation Biology from Middlebury College in Middlebury, VT, as well as a M.A.T. in Secondary Spanish from Lewis and Clark Graduate School of Education and Counseling in Portland, Oregon. She has had the privilege of living and traveling in a handful of beautiful places in the Americas, but calls Colorado home.

CANDICE WOO is currently the Editor of Eater in San Diego, which is part of the Eater National Network. An award-winning food and craft beer writer, she has served as the dining critic for San Diego Magazine and San Diego CityBeat, and her work has been featured many local and national publications, including Edible San Diego and DRAFT Magazine. Candice is a founding board member of Slow Food Urban San Diego, and acted as Co-Leader of the organization from 2010 to 2012. In 2010, she was chosen as a delegate to represent San Diego at Terra Madre, Slow Food’s international food and sustainability conference held in Turin, Italy and in 2012 helped to represent her chapter at Slow Food USA’s National Congress. Candice participates on the San Diego Food System Alliance and is an organizing committee member for the Good Food Awards. She enjoys learning about the food histories of cultures both abroad and close to home and is passionate about artisan food and craft beer. Candice loves nothing better than sharing a good meal with friends and family.

Carl Motsenbocker is a professor of horticulture and sustainable agriculture holding a dual appointment with Louisiana State University and the LSU AgCenter in the School of Plant Environmental and Soil Sciences (Formerly Department of Horticulture). Motsenbocker holds 3 degrees in horticulture (B.S. Cornell, M.S./PhD. North Carolina State University) and joined the LSU faculty in 1991 after working in Thailand in agricultural development as a Peace Corps Volunteer and then graduate school in North Carolina. Dr. Motsenbocker works directly with small to large-scale vegetable and small fruit sustainable growers throughout Louisiana on cultural practices and marketing as well as with farmers markets and other direct marketing outlets. He has served on a number of boards including the New Orleans City Council Food Policy Advisory Committee (2007 – 2008) and Baton Rouge Economic and Agricultural Alliance, the sponsor of the Red Stick Farmers Market (BREADA, 1999 – 2005). He is a founding member of Slow Food Baton Rouge (SFBR), a 501c3 nonprofit that is dedicated to support a just, sustainable, local food system. Motsenbocker regularly volunteers for SFBR programing including urban agriculture classes and Greauxing Healthy Baton Rouge, a farm to school program modeled after the Sustainable Food Center’s (Austin, TX) Sprouting Healthy Kids program. Motsenbocker is a life-long gardener and teaches hands-on service-learning horticulture classes including organic gardening, campus sustainability, and vegetable crops at LSU. He has worked with gardeners and food producers on 3 continents in supporting local food systems and increasing food security.

CARY WHEATON is the Executive Director of Billings Forge Community Works, a 501c3 located in Frog Hollow, Hartford. Billings Forge Community Works (BFCW) is a driving force for community participation and empowerment in Frog Hollow through promoting access to healthy food; engaging youth; and developing employment opportunities and economically sustainable social enterprises. Cary oversees the Kitchen at Billings Forge and at the Hartford Public Library, The Studio, The Farmers Market, and the Garden. Cary has created and owned five award winning restaurants in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Previously, she oversaw Nuestra Culinary Ventures in Boston, a shared use commercial kitchen which was the home to more than sixty start up food businesses. Cary has a long history of consulting to non profits in small business development and operations; specializing in the culinary field. She has made her home in Connecticut since relocating to assist the Melville Charitable Trust in the opening of their farm to table restaurant, Firebox, in 2006. She continues to oversee Firebox operations for the Melville Trust.

Caryl & Ben Lester are the founders of Stable Days Youth Ranch and directors of the Town Square Farmer’s Market and Fork’s Mobile Farmer’s Market.  Supporting youth through agriculturally based mentoring and supporting local producers, growers, artists and bakers through market opportunities is the driving force behind their organizations. In 2015 they were awarded a USDA Farmer’s Market Promotion grant that allowed them to buy and renovate a trolley transforming it into a mobile farmer’s market with a focus on serving those in our community that face food insecurity.  At their ranch in East Grand Forks they along with the Stable Days participants tend a Share Garden where they grow produce for the local food banks.  Ben and Caryl have been married for 31 years and enjoy hiking, horseback riding, and spending time with their 5 Children and 6 grandchildren.

CHARLENE MURDOCK-WHITE – Born in to families of farmers, Charlene Murdock and Richard White have devoted their lives to providing family, friends and community with home-grown vegetables, fruits and, mostly recently, grains.

Cheri LaRue lives with her husband and son at Green Fork Farm, where they raise meat, eggs, vegetables, herbs, fruit and microgreens.  Cheri is Coordinator of the Dig In! Food and Farming Festival, manager of Green Fork Farmers Market, and Principles of Biology Coordinator at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.  She is also the Chair of the Northwest Arkansas Regional Food Council, which is working to help build a strong regional food system in Northwest Arkansas.

CHERYL MUNOZ is the Co-Founder and Project Lead for The Sugar Beet Co-op. To experience more meaningful connections to her local farmers and neighbors, she created (along with hundreds of others) a cooperative grocery store in the Village of Oak Park, IL that celebrates community and good food. From leading workshops on cooking, gardening and preserving to planning community events and farm tours, she loves sharing her passion with others and inspiring a new generation of seed sowers, veggie growers and good food enthusiasts. Cheryl lives in Oak Park, IL with her little farmers, Cedar and Cora, and her husband, Anthony, who makes her business beautiful with his original artwork and design.

CHRIS BROADBENT is the Steward of the Kalamazoo Farmers’ Market, a three days a week market engaging 150 businesses. Chris facilitates Food Assistance Currency programs to support $125,000.00 in direct to consumer access. As Steward, Chris fosters positive relationships between customers, producers, retailers, stakeholders and his market team through online tools, dynamic events and vibrant place-making.

CHRISTIAN RYAN-DOWNING is the Sustainability Coordinator at Western Kentucky University, where she works with students, faculty, and staff to integrate sustainability principles and practices into the University’s operations and culture. She is presently working on her doctorate in Educational Leadership and earned her Master of Science in Biology at WKU, conducting a sustainability assessment of the University as her thesis project. Christian earned her Bachelor of Science in Wildlife Conservation and Management at Missouri State University. Between undergraduate and graduate school, she worked as an Interpretive Park Ranger for the National Park Service. Christian is a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Accredited Professional and is certified as a non-formal Environmental Educator by the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

CHRISTINE CURRY traded her in-city digs for the chance to have her horses in her own backyard in the country an hour southwest of Atlanta. She was a resident of NYC, Chicago, Washington and Cleveland until she figured out that it was warmer in the South and enrolled in graduate school at the University of Georgia in Social Work. She works at several jobs that combine wonderfully to help create community in her small town of 1,200. She is the Executive Director of the Pike County Agribusiness Authority and the Zebulon Downtown Development Authority, the owner of an independent bookstore on the Courthouse Square, and a psychotherapist with offices in Atlanta and Zebulon. In her role as ED of the Ag Authority, she has helped start two farmers markets in Pike County—the open air Market on the Square and the on-line Wednesday Market, both of which focus on locally-grown fruits, vegetables, and value-added products.

Christy McKenzie is the owner of Pasture and Plenty, a food business with a specialty market and deli, demonstration kitchen, and a meal kit pick-up and delivery service, in Madison, Wisconsin.  P&P gives the community access to healthy, locally-sourced meals designed to meet the needs of busy schedules.  Christy and her team are dedicated to supporting the local food system, finding sustainable solutions for food sourcing, production and waste.  Christy has more than 15 years of professional experience in food, advertising, consumer marketing and research, sales and consumer promotions.  Her heart is in community food systems and economic development and she is thrilled to share the Lexicon with the community and food-shed of southwestern Wisconsin.

Dr. COLLEEN & PETER MORICH, Board Members of Slow Food Atlanta, are passionate about education in the food movement. They have traveled extensively for food & wine culture, with an emphasis on Italy over the last 15 years. Colleen, an award-winning Educator and Counselor in the Atlanta area, earned a doctorate in Educational Leadership and worked the last 25 years of her career as a Middle School Counselor. Peter recently completed the Master’s program in Food Culture and Communication, with a focus on Human Ecology and Sustainability at the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo, Italy. Passionate about traveling, tasting and learning, Peter is using his experience and knowledge of off the beaten path artisans to educate others on tours in Italy. Colleen and Peter recently returned from a magical year living in Bra, Italy, the home of Slow Food International, whose mantra is that all people should have good, clean and fair food. Peter’s year of study included instruction from 50 international visiting professors and six week-long field trips to Puglia, Abruzzo, Trentino and Piemonte in Italy, as well as Bosnia, Croatia and Scotland in the EU. Upon returning to the States from Bra, Italy; Colleen and Peter moved to Decatur, GA, in metropolitan Atlanta, to continue life in a small, walkable community with an emphasis on sustainability, the arts, food culture and urban agriculture. They were invited to join the Slow Food Atlanta Board and jumped at the chance of joining the Board and being Slow Food Atlanta’s Curators of the Lexicon of Sustainability. Colleen’s educational background blended with Peter’s interest and knowledge of food culture to make this position as Curators a perfect match.

Connie Oliver is a community educator, local gardener, speaker and organizer in her hometown of Waycross, Georgia. Connie enjoys sharing her passion for growing good local food as well as supporting and encouraging others to do the same.  After continuing to meet people in the “healthy” section of the grocery who were looking for better food and a better way of life, she formed Way Green which functions as a “Homestead Guild” of the Okefenokee Heritage Center.  Living in a food desert, Connie’s goal was to make good local food, as well as other locally produced products, available for sale and purchase.  With a small band of volunteers, a Local Fare Market was started in 2015 featuring locally made and produced products within a 100 mile radius of the town.  Through the efforts of Way Green many other local projects have been accomplished that include the repair and reuse of an abandoned greenhouse, the first Farm To School event in Ware County, a Farm To Fork event, summer camps, school gardens, healing gardens and classes in homestead related skills with an emphasis on self-reliance and sustainability.
As a member of Georgia Organics, Georgia Farmers Market Association, Georgia Farm Bureau and Georgia Grown, Connie continues to look for ways to draw attention to the immediate need for good local food in her overlooked region of Southeast Georgia.  Partnering with other like-minded organizations and individuals Connie believes this and other goals can and will be met.

Craig Ruggless is a trained chef and was raised in a family of farmers and gardeners. Because of this, it was inevitable he would someday be co-owner of a place like Winnetka Farms. Located in the west San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, Winnetka Farms is a sub-urban farm specializing in Italian heirloom vegetables and heritage breed small livestock; Otter black standard Rex Rabbits, black Muscovy ducks and Barnevelder chickens.

Dan Bensonoff is a father, farmer, forager, and fermentation freak. Before working with NOFA/Mass, he worked as a vegetable grower for 4 years and as an English teacher in the Cambridge public school system. His mission is to revitalize our connection and appreciation for ecology, the original world wide web. He currently works as policy director and education event coordinator with the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Massachusetts. Through education and advocacy NOFA/Mass promotes organic agriculture to expand the production and availability of nutritious food from living soil for the health of individuals, communities and the planet.

Daniel Dixon has two roles at the University of Maine. He is the campus Sustainability Coordinator and a Research Assistant Professor with the University’s Climate Change Institute. Dan came to Maine with a background in engineering and science and earned his MS and PhD at UMaine. In his role as Sustainability Coordinator, Dan provides strategic direction and leadership for sustainability initiatives. He is responsible for the overall management and operation of the University’s sustainability program. His responsibilities include promotion and coordination of new and ongoing sustainability activities as well as liaising with the campus, local, state, and regional communities about issues and advances in sustainability. In his spare time, Dan enjoys spending time with his family, hiking, exploring, watching movies, eating healthy and delicious locally-sourced foods, and building really big train tracks with his 3-year old.

DANIEL DOYLE has a background in both education and agriculture. After years teaching full-time, he left the classroom to co-found and manage one of Mississippi’s first CSA farms, YOKNA BOTTOMS, in Oxford, MS. Committed to sustainable, natural and ecologically responsible food production, Yokna Bottoms grew to serve over 200 families in the two years under his management. He later co-founded MISSISSIPPI ECOLOGICAL DESIGN, a permaculture design business, which developed school gardens and natural play-scapes in Lafayette County as well as several soil and water management projects in North Mississippi. During this time, he designed and directed the MISSISSIPPI MOBILE FARM ON WHEELS project. Doyle has done field work for the USDA Soil and Sedimentation Lab, worked as a fellow with the Earthwatch Institute and as a park ranger for the National Park Service. He most recently served as the Executive Director for the GAINING GROUND SUSTAINABILITY INSTITUTE OF MS and Editor of their annual journal of sustainable living The Southern Good Life. Doyle provides consultations on sustainability and sustainable agriculture, and works as an Environmental Scientist for Cardno ENTRIX, an international environmental consulting company specializing in water resource assessment, environmental liability and natural resource management. He is currently the Statewide Coordinator of the Mississippi Sustainable Agriculture Network (MSAN).