Expert Resource Directory

and water policy, including development of local, state and national policy. In this capacity, she has worked on several projects, providing policy analysis of the Great Lakes Whole Farm Planning Network; coordinating the Midwest Consortium on Groundwater and Farm Chemicals, a collaborative to promote sustainable farming practices; and managing projects on farmland preservation and agriculture market diversification. Additionally, Kemp serves as co-chair of the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture, and is active in the Midwest Sustainable Agriculture Working Group. She is on the steering committee for the Clean Water Network's Feedlot Workgroup. She served for six years, including three as chair, on the board of the Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture, a joint venture between the University of Minnesota's College of Agriculture and the Sustainers Coalition. She previously was an advisory member of the Sustainable Agriculture Task Force of the President's Council on Sustainable Development, a member of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Citizens Board and the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources. In conjunction with her professional endeavors, Kemp was a speaker at the Minnesota Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts Conference, and has received various awards including the Emma B. Howe Foundation award, presented by Minnesota Rural Futures in 2003; the 1998 Steward of the Land award, presented by the Midwest Sustainable Agriculture Working Group; and the Outstanding Citizen Environmental Leader of the Year award given by the Clean Water Action of Minnesota. She was a member of the 2002-2004 class of Food and Society Fellows.

the annual national grassroots campaign to fund federal programs supported by the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. Over many years, she has collaborated to create and sustain funding for a number of state initiatives supporting environmentally sound, profitable, and socially responsible agriculture.  In addition to policy work, she conducts workshops nationwide on grant writing and using federal programs to support sustainable agriculture. Ms. Krome served Wisconsin Rural Development Center for nine years before joining MFAI in 1995. She serves on the Board of Directors of the National Center for Appropriate Technology and sits on the Wisconsin Board of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. Ms. Krome writes a bi-weekly editorial column for The Capital Times in Madison, where she lives with her husband and two children.

Agriculture and Trade Policy while providing guidance and coordination to the IATP Food and Community Fellows program. The program promotes communications and policy advocacy efforts that further healthy and sustainable food systems. Mark has worked on a variety of food systems issues, including promoting agricultural policies that are more effective for human health, farmer income and the environment; developing regional food systems; diversifying Midwest agriculture; and advocating for farm-based renewable energy production. He helped to found the Sow the Seeds Fund, a collaborative effort that raised nearly $400,000 for farmers devastated by the 2007 Midwest floods. Mark has a B.A. in physics and an M.S. in environmental engineering. Prior to joining IATP, Mark worked as an environmental engineer and high school science teacher. In 2008, he took a leave from IATP and spent six months as a volunteer in southern Honduras.

outreach program that links farmers and consumers together in a local food system, at the University of Missouri (MU). She is also the associate director of MU's Community Food Systems and Sustainable Agriculture Program located in the Department of Rural Sociology at MU. Mary has helped numerous agriculture groups with marketing strategies and cooperative development, including Ozark Mountain Pork, LLC., a natural pork cooperative. She also collaborated with Kansas and Missouri dairy producers interested in alternative markets for milk. Mary served as president of the Community Food Security Coalition from 2001-2003. In 2002, she was appointed by the City of Columbia to the Sustainable Food and Communities Board of Directors. Mary is the recipient of the 2001 Cooperative Service Award presented by the National Farmers Union. She was a member of the 2003-2005 class of Food and Society Fellows.

writer and speaker. She has written her trademarked weekly "Food Sleuth" column for the Columbia Daily Tribune since 1989, and it now appears in a variety of publications nationwide. The "Food Sleuth" mission is to "digest" nutrition research, expose diet fraud and help consumers think beyond their plates. Melinda's launch into media work began when she learned that most consumers receive their nutrition and health information through the media. She developed (and for 15 years directed) the Nutrition Communications Center at the University of Missouri, where she wrote a nationally distributed newsletter, conducted hundreds of media interviews annually, and instructed dietetic and science journalism students. After leaving the University in 2002, Melinda received a certificate in adult weight management through the American Dietetic Association, and began a career as a nutrition and health communications consultant. She works on a variety of projects for the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, as well as for Robert Wood Johnson's Active Living and Healthy Eating by Design grants. She also works on media literacy projects with the Center for Character and Citizenship at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. In 2005, she began production of "Food Sleuth TV," a 30-minute, monthly program that includes documentaries and interviews on consumer food and health issues. Topics range from biotechnology to water safety to endocrine-disrupting plastics. Her program is broadcast on public access television channels in St. Louis and Columbia, Missouri. Melinda is a member of the American Dietetic Association's Hunger and Environmental Nutrition Practice Group, the Society for Nutrition Education, and the Missouri Association for Social Welfare's Hunger Task Force. She is also a new member of the Association for Health Care Journalists, and an affiliate member of the University of Missouri's Center for Health Policy. She was a member of the 2004-2006 class of Food and Society Fellows.

State University and head of the C.S. Mott Group for Sustainable Food Systems at MSU. Mike is affiliated with the Departments of Community, Agriculture, Recreation and Resource Studies; Crop and Soil Sciences; and Food Science and Human Nutrition. His appointment encompasses teaching, the Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension. The work of the C.S. Mott Group for Sustainable Food Systems at MSU is focused on small and medium scale family farm viability, equal access by all members of a community to a healthy diet, and dispersing animals in the countryside. Prior to moving to MSU he was Dean of Academic and Student Programs for Cook College, Rutgers University. As a faculty member at Rutgers University he was co-founder and director of the New Jersey Urban Ecology Program, an effort that brings together individuals from diverse backgrounds to address sustainable food systems in New Jersey. He was also faciitator for the New Jersey Cooperative Gleaning Network since 1998 and the founding director of the Cook Student Organic Farm from 1993 to 1998. He was board member and board president of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New Jersey. He does research in the areas of community food security, community and sustainable food systems.

food systems and the author of Fair Food: Growing a Healthy, Sustainable Food System for All. His experience in the philanthropic sector includes more than 15 years as program director for Food Systems at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. He also played an essential role in the establishment of the Michigan Food Policy Council and has made significant contributions to the funding of healthy food and farming via his leadership of the Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders group. Prior to starting the Fair Food Network, Dr. Hesterman was the inaugural president of Fair Food Foundation, leading their sustainable food systems programs. Prior to his work in philanthropy and the nonprofit sector, he researched and taught forage and cropping systems management, sustainable agriculture, and leadership development in the crop and soil sciences department at Michigan State University in East Lansing.A former fellow in the Kellogg National Fellowship Program (KNFP) and the National Center for Food and Agriculture Policy in Washington, D.C., he has published more than 400 reports and articles on subjects ranging from cover crops and crop rotation to the impact of philanthropic investments on food systems practice and policy. Dr. Hesterman earned his bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of California, Davis, in plant science/vegetable crops and agronomy, respectively. He received his doctorate in agronomy and business administration from the University of Minnesota, St. Paul.