Expert Resource Directory

Minnesota. He is an award winning author of books about policy and market power issues affecting the food system. His articles have appeared in major newspapers across the country, in leading industry publications, and in professional journals. His writing draws upon a 25 year academic career involving both advising ongoing businesses and teaching economic principles at the college level. He now maintains an active practice in consulting, writing, and public speaking. His new book with Stewart Acuff Getting America Back to Work is available at on-line retailers and bookstores. He was a member of the 2001-2003 class of Food and Society Policy Fellows.

Resources, and holds an Endowed Chair in Food, Society and Sustainability at Michigan State University. Dr. Foster joined the faculty of Michigan State University in January, 2010 after 15 years as Vice President for Programs at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in Battle Creek, Michigan. Dr. Foster’s interests lie in helping to bring integrative sustainability solutions to long-term problems impacting the social, economic, and environmental systems affecting Michigan communities. Dr. Foster focuses on the contribution collaborative models around food, water, and alternative energy systems have on future development scenarios for the future of Michigan and the nation. Dr. Foster received his Bachelor of Science (1972), Master of Science (1974) and Ph.D. (1978) in Agricultural Education from Iowa State University in Ames.

vegetables, cut flowers and herbs, which are sold through a 75-member Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, three local farmers markets and to wholesale accounts. Her farm was one of the first CSAs in Florida. Rosalie has traveled her state to learn about the challenges of developing a thriving CSA movement in Florida. She developed two farmers markets in the Gainesville area with three other growers. She currently assists in managing one of the markets. Rosalie is co-founder and president of the Community Green Markets of North Florida, Inc., and has developed two farmers markets in her home state. Rosalie is a member of the National Organic Standards Board. She also co-directs the Center for Organic Agriculture at the University of Florida. She was a member of the 2003-2005 class of Food and Society Policy Fellows.

directs PFI's research program (cooperators' program) and policy work. She also serves as an agronomist on the staff transferring ideas for solutions to integrated crop and livestock concerns from farmers' stories, results from on-farm research and demonstration projects and her own knowledge as a trained agronomist. Sarah co-majored in Biology and Geography at Augustana College in the Quad Cities graduating in 2001 with a BA degree. Following graduation Sarah joined the Peace Corps as an Ag-business and Ag Extension volunteer. She lived in the southern highlands of Ecuador in South America for 2 1/2 years. Sarah returned to the Midwest in 2004 and began her Masters Program co-majoring in Sustainable Agriculture and Crop Production/Physiology in Iowa State's Agronomy Department. She graduated in the spring of 2008 with an MS degree. Sarah and her partner Oscar have three children between them, Rebecca, Oscar and Sadie. They enjoy cooking, traveling and exploring the Iowa countryside. Sarah travels to Ecuador when possible to visit farmers and friends.

Dakota State University. Dobbs retired from SDSU in 2007, after 29 years of service in research, teaching, extension, and international programs roles. Dr. Dobbs’ research during the last 20 years of his career at SDSU focused primarily on the economic and policy conditions necessary to foster sustainable farming and food systems. He has devoted a great deal of attention to agri-environmental policies in the U.S. and the European Union. Dobbs was a Visiting Scholar at the Henry A. Wallace Institute for Alternative Agriculture in 1993, where he conducted research on policy options for the 1996 U.S. farm bill. In 2000, he was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Essex, in England, conducting research on agri-environmental policies in the United Kingdom. Since then, he has also studied agri-environmental policies in France, where he has twice been a short-term Visiting Professor at the Ecole Nationale Superieure Agronomique de Toulouse. His work has focused on how the multifunctionality agri-environmental policy approaches being used in the European Union might be applied in the U.S. One of the U.S. agri-environmental programs Dobbs conducted research on at SDSU was the Conservation Security Program, which was changed to the Conservation Stewardship Program in the 2008 farm bill. Dr. Dobbs grew up on a diversified crop and livestock farm in eastern South Dakota. His Ph.D. in agricultural economics is from the University of Maryland. His dissertation was based on 1967-68 field research in India on the Green Revolution. Dobbs began his professional career as an Assistant Professor of agricultural economics at the University of Wyoming, and then he joined the Foreign Service as a U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) economist in Islamabad, Pakistan and Washington, D.C. After four years with USAID, Dobbs joined the economics faculty at SDSU in 1978. Dobbs has authored public policy columns for Huffington Post, Daily Kos, Grist, and Treehugger. At present, he writes an ‘Economic Policy Perspective’ column for The Dakota Day. He was a member of the 2007-2008 class of Food and Society Policy Fellows.

fields, fighting discrimination and exploitation, building the power of farmworker communities, and advocating for farmworkers’ rights. He is proud of who he is, and is proud of his people. Tirso also helped to organize the Farmworker Association of Central Florida. Since FACF's inception, Tirso has been General Coordinator. The FACF, which expanded statewide in 1992, now has four offices throughout Florida, a staff of 25, and a membership of more than 4,000 Latino, Haitian, and black families. The Association provides educational programs, legal assistance, a worker-owned credit union, and a food cooperative.

Systems Funders (SAFSF), a project of Community Partners. SAFSF is a national group that works to foster communication, shared learning and information exchange about issues connected to sustainable agriculture and food systems among funders. Previously, Virginia held the position of Senior Analyst and Regional Director Assistant for Asia and Africa in the system-wide office for the University of California’s, Education Abroad Program, coordinating university-level student exchanges. From 1995 – 2000, Virginia worked for the Salzburg Seminar in Salzburg, Austria where she was a program director and coordinated the Seminar’s outreach to Latin America. While at the Seminar, she directed programs for emerging world leaders on a wide array of issues including food security, sustainable agriculture, international non-governmental organizations, and leadership. Fluent in Spanish, Virginia has a Masters in International Administration from the School for International Training and a B.A. with honors in Spanish from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

in rangeland ecology and management from Texas A&M University. He co-founded and helps to run the Cross Timbers Food Cooperative, and raises grass-fed beef cattle with his family on their farm southwest of Ardmore. He was a member of the 2003-2005 class of Food and Society Policy Fellows.

farm. Her work in sustainable agriculture has engaged her with numerous non-profits over the years, including Ecotrust, the Agriculture and Land-based Training Association (ALBA), the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture (CUESA), and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. She is a regular contributor to Edible Portland and her work has also appeared in USA Today, Oregon Coast Magazine, The Oregonian, the Draft Horse Journal, In Good Tilth, and Stanford Magazine. She also spent three years co-managing Sauvie Island Organics, a diversified fresh market farm where she oversaw production and apprentice training for a community supported agriculture program. Zoe did her undergraduate work at Stanford University where she studied ecological anthropology with a focus on sustainable agriculture. She recently completed her Masters degree with a focus on rural development, food systems and community change. She was a member of the 2008-2009 class of Food and Society Fellows.