Cheryl, along with her husband Marc and daughter Normandie, operates Meeting Place Pastures in Cornwall, VT. They manage a custom cattle grazing and a sheep enterprise on approximately 900 acres of certified organic pasture land. Cheryl is also a grazing specialist with UVM Extension in Middlebury. She has been involved with NOFA-VT since 2004, and worked for Vermont Organic Farmers, LLC for 8 years. She and Marc met at the NOFA winter conference in 2008!

Abbie farms with her parents, Leon and Linda, at The Corse Farm Dairy, the family’s 6th generation, 150 year-old dairy in the hills of very southern VT. She is cheered on in her efforts by husband Dave (a local builder) and their two children, Eli and Niko. With a background in the Arts, a degree in Journalism/Global Studies, and a love of photography Abbie is committed to being an active, engaged member building a sustainable and organic VT food system. 

Maggie Donin is the Farmland Access Program Director at the Vermont Land Trust. Her work focuses on how to help new and existing farmers access affordable farmland that supports their business viability and supports a healthy and thriving environment. Before working at VLT, Maggie worked for six years at the Intervale Center providing business planning to beginning farmers. In her free time Maggie enjoys cooking for friends, practicing yoga, and being outside. 

Peter and his partner, Helen Whybrow, run Knoll Farm, a diversified organic berry and sheep farm, learning center and community gathering spot in the Mad River watershed where they’ve raised their daughters and hosted people and organizations for two decades.  Peter also helps communities in northern New England to resolve matters of consequence to their lives, most often about working across differences in culture, power and ideology.  Peter runs two large land justice collaborations between Tribes and conservationists in Oregon and Maine. 

Sophia is an attorney and assistant professor at Vermont Law School’s Center for Agriculture and Food Systems (CAFS), where she directs the Food and Agriculture Clinic, which provides law and policy services to food system organizations and stakeholders. Sophia also oversees the Vermont Legal Food Hub, a program that connects Vermont farmers and food businesses with free legal services. Sophia enjoys trying to grow vegetables and raise a few chickens in her Burlington backyard with her husband, son, and rascally dog.

Mike is a 3rd generation Vermont farmer with a passion to see the farms in Northern New England survive and flourish. He graduated from VTC with a degree in Agribusiness Management, worked early on in the dairy feed business, then joined the family dairy and took over the farm in 1997. In 2000, Mike joined Morrison’s Custom Feeds and still works with farms all over Northern New England, from balancing rations, to pasture walks and improved forage management practices. He lives in Danville with his wife Julie, and enjoys snowshoeing, hiking, biking and kayaking. 

Email: [email protected]

Extension: 7148

Megan is a farmer, communicator, and community organizer whose interests, knowledge and passion center the continued viability of small-scale farming, and the redistribution of land, wealth and power to achieve a just and sustainable food system. Megan grew up in New York City, graduated from Colby College in Maine, and has spent the past ten years on farms around New England. She moved to Vermont in 2014 and was immediately taken with the strong agricultural community, so she stuck around! Among other things Megan enjoys cooking, eating, traveling, swimming, growing plants, and spreading love.

Email: [email protected]

Extension: 7152

Erin joined NOFA-VT’s team in 2011, overseeing NOFA-VT's direct marketing and community food security programs. She is also a part of NOFA-VT's Farm to Institution programs team. She has been working and volunteering in a variety of capacities on food systems and sustainable agriculture issues in Vermont since 2005, including building and managing community gardens and managing a farmers market. In 2011, Erin completed her master’s degree in Community Development and Applied Economics at The University of Vermont, focusing on farm-to-school programs’ effects on children’s fruit and vegetable consumption. While not at work, Erin enjoys living and working on her family's homestead; preserving, cooking and eating yummy local foods; and being crafty.

Email: [email protected]

Extension: 7154

Bill recently joined the team at NOFA-VT after working in livestock and meat value-added production. His background includes working on pastured livestock farms, retail and custom butchery, and most recently, business planning assistance for Vermont food makers at the Mad River Food Hub. He is excited to join the team at NOFA and be a part of the great work being done to support farmers statewide. Bill lives in Granville with his wife and young son, and spends his time gardening, making cider, and rounding up wayward chickens.

Email: [email protected]

Extension: 7155

Nicole first came to Vermont in the summer of 1995 to work at the farm at the Mountain School in Vershire. After graduating from the University of Montana in 1997, Nicole returned to the Green Mountain State to receive her teaching certificate from the post baccalaureate program at the University of Vermont. During the summers she worked at Shelburne Farms and Shelburne Orchards, combining her interests in education and agriculture. A winding road brought Nicole from teaching 3rd grade in Guatemala to placing high school students on farms with Vermont Farm Youth Core to working for the certification program at NOFA Vermont. She started working at NOFA Vermont in May 2003, and has been here ever since.

Email: [email protected]

Extension: 7165

Andrew grew up in Pennsylvania attending a Waldorf school. After he finished high school, his family moved (back) to Vermont, where he studied Community & International Development at UVM. After a year with AmeriCorps VISTA doing poverty remediation work in Vermont and three years at an urban farm co-op in Portland, Oregon, Andrew attended Antioch University New England where he earned a degree focused on the food system and climate change. Most recently, Andrew spent three years as the Community Engagement Coordinator for the Maine Organic Farmers & Gardeners Association (MOFGA), where he managed the incredible volunteer community that helps put on the Common Ground Country Fair. Andrew loves to cook and do all things related to food, including growing and processing it. His values include localism, thriftiness, and sharing resources. He currently lives in Washington County.

Email: [email protected]

Extension: 7156

Bay joined the NOFA team in July of 2019 after a 25-year stint of owning and managing Doolittle Farm and a 6-year stint managing Green Mountain College Campus Farm. She grew up on a family farm, studied Nutrition at Broward College and Holistic Health at Johnson State College. Bay is the Material Review Specialist and Staff Inspector in the VOF office and is excited to be part of the NOFA-VT team. In her spare time, she enjoys her garden, helping her kids with their farm ventures, and entertaining her 5 grandchildren.

Email: [email protected]

Extension: 7163

Laura has worked for NOFA-VT's organic certification program in a variety of roles since May of 2010, taking a brief hiatus during 2016. In 2001, she earned her degree in Landscape Development and Ornamental Horticulture from Vermont Technical College. She lives in Williston where she loves to focus her energy on raising a family and studying traditional nutrition and wellness.

Email: [email protected]

Extension: 7157

After growing up in Vermont, Maddie lived out West for several years before returning to her home state in 2013 and joining the wonderful team here at NOFA-VT. She has worked in various capacities in outdoor education, agriculture, and food policy in Utah, Colorado, and here in Vermont. In 2014, Maddie worked with the VT Right to Know GMOs Coalition to help pass Vermont’s GMO labeling law. She is passionate about advocating for positive food and farm policy change and thrilled to be doing so here at NOFA-VT. Maddie has a BS in Environmental Studies from UVM and a Master of Environmental Law and Policy from Vermont Law School. She lives in Cambridge with her husband, children, and two dogs.

Email: [email protected]

Extension: 7159

After a couple of seasons farming in California and Massachusetts, Jen came to Vermont in 2007 and spent the next five years working on and managing farms in the Intervale, growing diversified vegetables, pigs, and broiler chickens. Jen also spent time at the Intervale Food Hub, coordinating the subscription program and managing membership. In 2014, Jen completed their masters’ degree in Community Development and Applied Economics at the University of Vermont with a focus on USDA conservation programs and agricultural best management practices. After a few years providing business planning and educational services to beginning farmers in southern Vermont (an area which they now love), Jen joined the NOFA team in 2016, excited to work statewide with farmers of all experience levels.

Email: [email protected]

Extension: 7164

Grace is passionate about making change through community building. She most recently served as Executive Director at Ohavi Zedek Synagogue + Community Center, where she founded an early education center and developed the community's focus on social justice organizing and community impact. Before coming to Vermont, she founded and directed Dig In Farm, a working farm and educational center for aspiring young women farmers, focused on the intersection of social and environmental justice in western Massachusetts. Grace previously worked on the education team of Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA). Early in her career Grace built a new holistic farm-to-table program at the Woolman Semester School in Nevada City, CA, and worked on large-scale organic vegetable farm. She received her degree from Yale University, where she also managed a student farm and fell in love with growing and sharing food. She lives in Burlington, VT with her husband and three children.

Email: [email protected]

Extension: 7150

Kyla graduated from UVM in 2008 with a B.S in Environmental Science, focusing on Conservation Biology. After graduating she apprenticed on an organic vegetable farm which sparked her passion for sustainable agriculture. Afterward, she worked for an organic dairy in Addison County and fell in love with cows and dairying. Kyla has spent the last 5 years in California working for a large organic dairy and smaller family-owned farms as a farmer, administrative assistant, and event planner.

Email: [email protected]

Extension: 7166

Helen leads our Food Access team, seeking to make local and organic food accessible to all Vermonters in both institutional and consumer settings. She serves as a Project Co-Director of Vermont FEED, a nationally recognized farm to school partnership program of NOFA-VT and Shelburne Farms. Helen also coordinates the Vermont Farm to School and Early Childhood Network. She works closely with school nutrition and institutional food service professionals, farmers, and other stakeholders across Vermont to support values-based local food purchasing in schools and institutions, and to forge strong connections between the cafeteria, the classroom, and the community. 

Prior to joining NOFA-VT, she served as the Executive Director at KidsGardening, working to advance the school and youth gardening movement across the country. She was also part of the founding team at Food Connects in Brattleboro, Vermont where she helped to establish and grow farm to school programs in southern Vermont with a strong focus on school nutrition programs and local purchasing. Helen is a graduate of St. Olaf College and holds an M.A. in Sustainable Development from SIT Graduate Institute. She can often be found daydreaming about her next overseas adventure and lives with her husband in the Old North End of Burlington, Vermont. 

Winston worked at Green Mountain Coffee Roasters / Keurig for 24 years, starting out as a part-time barista in the Factory Outlet in Waterbury, VT and ending as the Farmer Relations Manager, working with coffee farmers all over the world. He has a BA in French from Davidson College and ended up living two years in France—one as a student and one as a high school teacher. With his wife and two young kids, they have a small farm in Duxbury with a sprawling garden, sheep, apple trees, and blueberries.

Email: [email protected]ermontorganic.org

Extension: 7173

Alice graduated from Green Mountain College with a BA in environmental studies focusing on environmental education. She worked as staff at summer camps in northern Vermont during and after college. She spent time at Vermont Soap doing various jobs and projects, including submitting their organic certification application. Alice is on the organizing board for two Contra Dances in northern Vermont, and is learning how to teach and call dances.

Email: [email protected]

Extension: 7175

Gregg earned a BS in Biology from the University of New Hampshire and earned his teaching certificate after completion of a post baccalaureate program at Rhode Island College. He taught high school science in Rhode Island for eight years before moving to Vermont in 2003. Gregg completed an apprenticeship program at Cedar Circle Farm in East Thetford, and most recently was the farm manager at Merck Forest and Farmland Center in Rupert, VT.

Email: [email protected]

Extension: 7176

Kayla brings a background in child nutrition programs, education, and agriculture to her role as the Farm to School Coordinator at NOFA-VT and team member of Vermont FEED (a Farm to School Collaboration between NOFA-VT and Shelburne Farms.) Before moving back to Vermont in 2018, Kayla managed a school nutrition and farm to school program for a K-8 school in Hawaii where she helped to break down barriers to accessing nutritious and affordable food by providing families with resources such as federal funding for school meals, education and creating institutional collaboration with local growers. She has also taught various topics such as garden education, nutrition, and art and has worked on several organic farms over the years. In her current role, Kayla works with Farm to School Teams, supervisory unions, and local farmers to support local food purchasing in schools, and to strengthen connections between the 3Cs of Farm to School (the classroom, the cafeteria, and the community.)

Email: [email protected]

Becca has been at NOFA-VT since 2002 and has helped out with the Farm Share Program, membership, the Apprentice Directory, the annual Winter Conference, organic certification, and the Food Education Every Day (VT FEED) program. Becca has an MFA in studio art and has worked in both her own studio and in environmental education since 1990. She has three grown children and a wonderful husband who share her love for gardening and nature.