Elizabeth

Farmer, Derrydale Farm

Meg Moynihan was born and raised in Milwaukee, WI and Nashville, TN, and earned her B.A. from Brown University. She was captivated by agriculture while working with the Peace Corps in Thailand where she served as a community development extension specialist. After returning to the U.S., she earned an M.S. in Agronomy at University of Minnesota. Meg has led the Minnesota Department of Agriculture’s Organic Program since 2002. She has been active in the National Association of State Organic Programs and serves on the board of directors for the Organic Field School in Farmington, MN.

She’s now a dab hand at milking cows, driving tractors, fixing fence, repairing water lines, oh – and organic paperwork for Derrydale Farm, which she and her husband run in Le Sueur County, Minnesota. Derrydale Farm is a certified organic dairy. They milk about 60 crossbred cows and direct market beef.

Meg also formerly served as OFRF board president.

Director of Operations and Farming, Pie Ranch

Leonard Diggs is the Director of Operations and Farming Education at Pie Ranch in Central California. Leonard has managed sustainable and organic farms in northern California for over 30 years, including a 365 acre college farm with annual and perennial crops, a winery, livestock and a mixed species forest. He has also instructed a wide range of agricultural classes and served on numerous agricultural boards and committees in an effort to share his experiences with current and future generations of gardeners and farmers.

Dairy Farmer, Settlage & Settlage Farms

Jordan Settlage is an Organic Valley dairy farmer based in St. Marys, Ohio. Farming alongside his father, he manages around 500 acres of certified organic land and milks approximately 300 cows. Though he didn’t grow up on a dairy farm, Jordan has been involved in dairy since childhood and became certified organic in 2016. With a strong emphasis on grazing, he is passionate about regenerative agriculture and is dedicated to improving the overall agricultural system. Jordan lives with his wife and their three children, prioritizing family life alongside his work on the farm.

Director of Organic Integrity and Compliance, Taylor Farms Retail

John McKeon is the Director of Organic Integrity and Compliance at Taylor Farms Retail overseeing organic compliance and regenerative organic practices. John also supports field food safety research, agronomic and biodiversity programs and trails, and Quality Systems management.  He has worked at Taylor Farms & Earthbound Farm for years 15 years working in organic field and facility food safety, international organic supply chain compliance and organic agricultural operations. Prior to working there, John spent 10 years working at CCOF, from an intern to certification director, then inspector. John studied horticulture, sustainable agriculture and environmental studies at Cabrillo College and University of California Santa Cruz. He lives with his family on the central coast of California.

Executive Director, Organic Association of Kentucky

Brooke Gentile joined the Organic Association of Kentucky in the summer of 2017 as the Executive Director and manages the KY Farm Share Coalition. She is a Kentucky native and has worked with sustainable agriculture projects in New York City, Northern California, Bloomington, Indiana, and most recently the College of Agriculture, Food and the Environment at University of Kentucky. Brooke cares deeply about building a regional food system that supports our farmers, is regenerative for our lands and is healthy and accessible for consumers. She enjoys outdoor adventures with family and friends, gardening and photography.

Farmer, Vilicus Farms

Anna Jones-Crabtree and her husband Doug own and manage Vilicus Farms, a first generation, organic, 12,500 acre dryland crop farm in Northern Hill County, Montana growing a diverse array of organic heirloom and specialty grain, pulse, oilseed and broadleaf crops under five and seven-year rotations. In fifteen seasons, Vilicus Farms grew from 1,280 acres using USDA’s beginning farmer programs, employing extensive conservation practices, and fostering unique risk sharing relationships with food companies, land investment firms and individuals that care about having an intact planet. Over 26% of their land is in non- crop conservation and 300 acres seeded to native pollinator habitat. Annually they seed over 3,000 acres of cover crops, and use integrated grazing. Vilicus Farms became Bee Better certified and Real Organic Project Certified in 2019. They will be Regenerative Organic certification in 2024 and are transitioning towards Demeter Biodynamic certification. They have hosted 14 apprentices, many interns and more farm campers than can be counted. They launched a value added enterprise to sell identity preserved rye direct to distillers in 2021.

Anna also serves as the Executive Director for Vilicus Institute, a land-based learning laboratory with the mission of supporting social and economic conditions conducive to life for organic farmers on the Northern Great Plains.

Anna holds a Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering with a minor in Sustainable Systems from Georgia Institute of Technology. She currently serves on the Xerces Society Bee Better Advisory Board, and Chair of the Iroquois Valley Farmland REIT’s Board of Directors. Anna served on the USDA Secretary’s Advisory Council on Beginning Farmers & Ranchers and is a Donella Meadows Leadership Fellow. Given the realities of agriculture, she still holds an off-farm position as the Regional Director of Data, Information and Geospatial Resource for the Northern Region of the US Forest Service.

Founder and Executive Chair, Straus Family Creamery

Albert Straus is the Founder and Executive Chair of Straus Family Creamery – the first 100% certified organic creamery in the United States. He founded the Creamery in 1994, while his farm, the Straus Dairy Farm, became the first certified organic dairy west of the Mississippi River.

Albert has been a leader in sustainable organic farming practices for many decades. He is committed to creating a carbon-neutral organic dairy farming model on the Straus Dairy Farm. This internationally recognized model extends to Straus Family Creamery’s 12 other supplying dairy farms, which are on the path to being carbon neutral by 2030.

Climate-positive farming innovations at Albert’s farm include a methane digester, which converts cow waste into renewable energy for on-farm vehicles, including the first full-scale electric feed truck; a carbon farming program designed to measure and optimize carbon capture; and a first-of-its-kind trial at his farm in 2021, testing red seaweed to dramatically reduce enteric methane emissions.