Uncategorized

Outreach & Engagement Intern, Summer 2024

email: outreach[at]ofrf.org

Tamara Masoud (she/her/hers) joins the OFRF team as the 2024 Outreach & Engagement Intern. With a BA in the History of Public Policy and Law at the University of California, Santa Barbara, she utilizes those research skills in her advocacy for food sustainability. She is passionate about ensuring food security and her devotion has been apparent in her past experiences. At UCSB she worked as a Resident Assistant for the Housing and Residential Services and hosted over 20 programs that focused on empowering communities and food sustainability. Notable programs such as Cookies & Calfresh, Green Wave Festival, and Farm Forward educated communities about food sustainability, SNAC resources, EBT qualifications, and farming techniques. Additionally, her experience as a CalFresh Advocate and Peer Mentor at the UCSB Basic Needs and SNAC Center trained her on governmental resources regarding food and financial aid. Through her previous positions, she has collaborated with local farmers and assisted over 600 members with EBT to allow better access to food resources and organic produce. Her dedication to making organic produce more accessible to disenfranchised communities drives her work and she hopes to continue to explore and network within the organic industry.

Research & Education Intern, Summer 2024

email: research[at]ofrf.org

Dakota Moore (he/him) brings a diverse blend of academic training and practical experience to his role as the new Research and Education Intern at OFRF. He completed his B.S. in Agriculture and Environmental systems at North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, where he gained a solid foundation in agricultural science and sustainability. Dakota also has extensive hands-on farming experience. He was raised on the historic Moore Family Farm in Warsaw, North Carolina, which has been around since 1833, and grew up immersed in the values of sustainable and regenerative agriculture. Dakota has dedicated his career to understanding and promoting sustainable farming, and he is excited to bring that passion and experience to OFRF and help advance organic farming systems.

Policy & Advocacy Intern

email: advocacy[at]ofrf.org

Julia Nelson (she/her/hers) joins the OFRF team as the Summer 2024 Policy & Advocacy Intern. Julia is a current MS student at the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science & Policy, studying Agriculture, Food, and the Environment. She got her BA from Colby College, where she studied Environmental Policy and Anthropology. She previously worked to expand local food systems in Maine, first as the Operations Manager for a foodtech startup that provides an online platform for wholesale buyers to purchase directly from local farmers. Following that experience, she served as the Gleaning & Local Procurement Coordinator for an anti-hunger organization, facilitating the rescue and purchase, as well as the processing and distribution, of (literal) tons of local produce for food access programming. After completing her graduate studies, she hopes to work on food & agriculture policy and is specifically interested in regional food supply chains, values-based procurement, and the intersections between nutrition and sustainability. Outside of work and school, she enjoys spending weekends running, skiing, and surfing around New England, as well as cooking delicious dinners with friends and family.

Development & Policy Intern

email: amanda[at]ofrf.org

Amanda Abraham (she/her/hers) joins the OFRF team as the Spring 2024 Partnerships and Policy Intern. She is an undergraduate student studying Sustainability Science at Arizona State University. She has an immense passion for uplifting the well-being of people and the planet, which she achieves through her compassion for others, willingness to learn, and overwhelming curiosity about how the world works.

Amanda also loves to cook. She adores the relationships she has fostered through learning to cook from others, and sharing her own creations. It is this love for food that has led her to the organic agriculture space, as she is eager to inspire others to learn more about where their food comes from and express her gratitude for the people who cultivate healthy and nutritious foods. Amanda aspires to evolve into a leader who encourages equality, promotes farmer and consumer well-being, and educates others about the importance of sustainable food practices.

Outside of her role as a full time student, Amanda enjoys every opportunity she can to be outside whether that is meditating, swimming, or watching the sunrise and sunset. In her free time, she loves to read books and spend time in the company of family and friends.

Policy & Communications Intern

email: policy[at]ofrf.org

Annika La Fave (she/her/hers) joins the OFRF team as the Fall 2023 policy & communications intern. Annika is a graduate student at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, focusing on public health communications & food systems policy.

Annika began farming in 2010 while completing her B.A. in Education at Hampshire College in Amherst, MA. She has since had a varied career in sustainable agriculture raising livestock, vegetables, and cut-flowers, teaching organic farming and small business management at Clackamas Community College, founding her own small vegetable farm business promoting food equity in partnership with Oregon Health & Science University, and, most recently, managing Baltimore County’s Agricultural Center.

Annika is passionate about land stewardship and the pursuit of occupational tenability for small and beginning farmers. She aspires to help create a more equitable food system for producers and consumers. She spends most of her spare time walking and running with her two energetic greyhounds.

Research & Education Intern

email: research[at]ofrf.org

Marina Vergara (she/her/hers) joins the OFRF team as the Fall 2023 Research and Education intern. Marina is a graduate student at the University of California, Davis studying International Agricultural Development. Her interests lie in exploring participatory agricultural extension and ways to better support marginalized farmers. Her research examines a participatory silvopastoral extension program in Panama, and the ways in which this model facilitates an informal knowledge exchange amongst model farmers and farmers newly entering the program.

Marina discovered her passion for food and agriculture in college after being drawn to the interdisciplinary nature of food systems. After graduating from Cornell University in 2018 with a BS in Environmental and Sustainability Sciences, Marina moved to Panama to serve with the U.S. Peace Corps as an Agriculture Extension Agent, working with small-scale, organic cacao farmers in product development, marketing, and sales. Marina then served with AmeriCorps VISTA in South Texas, where she focused on coalition building for increasing food security and youth curriculum development for food justice and sovereignty in the Rio Grande Valley.

Marina is passionate about supporting marginalized farmers, through collaboration in projects and increasing equity in access to extension support and materials. In her free time, you can find Marina outside hiking, biking, or lounging with her dog Claudia, at the local coffee shop with a good book, or trying something new and tasty to eat.

Policy Intern

email: policy[at]ofrf.org

Adam Bagul joins the OFRF team as a policy intern for the Summer 2023 quarter. He holds a B.A. in History of Public Policy and Law with a concentration in United States history from the University of California Santa Barbara. Before attending UC Santa Barbara, Adam enlisted in the United States Marine Corps as a rifleman and continues to serve in the Marine Corps Reserves. Throughout his undergraduate studies, as well as through his involvement in different student government organizations, Adam developed policy analysis and legislative writing skills that he is excited to contribute to the efforts of OFRF.

In his free time, Adam enjoys an active lifestyle by hiking, spending time at the gym, and running around the monuments of Washington, D.C.