Expert Resource Directory

Center. Prior to La Semilla, Aaron was the Projects Coordinator for the Colonias Development Council during which time he developed the Cultivando Tradición Community Garden Program to promote community gardens, greenhouses, and youth leadership projects in Anthony, Chaparral, and Vado, New Mexico. Aaron has conducted food-related research in Michoacán, Mexico and assisted with grant writing and linguistic research for the Mescalero Apache Tribe. He holds a B.A. in Anthropology, Sociology, and Latin American Studies from the University of Minnesota, Morris and a M.A. in Anthropology from New Mexico State University.

operates a certified organic vegan family farm in Espanola, NM. Bustos was honored by NMSU as the Leyendecker Agriculturist of Distinction in 2005, was named the New Mexico Farmer of the Year in 2006, and was named organic farmer for 2011 by the NMOCC. Bustos is the Program Director for the American Friends Service Committee-New Mexico, providing farmer to farmer training and working on issues of land and water rights.

Blue Shield of Texas. Prior to his current activities, Eduardo was Director of the Institute for Health Policy at the University of Texas School of Public Health. Eduardo served as the Texas Commissioner of Health from 2001 to 2006, initially as Commissioner of the Texas Department of Health (TDH) from November 2001 through August 2004 and then as Commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) from September 2004 to October 2006. He was also a member of the 2008-2009 class of IATP Food and Society Fellows.

most culturally rich pockets of the South -  from Tennessee to Texas, Florida to Louisiana – have inspired a soulful and wide-ranging body of work. In 2010, she released her acclaimed solo CD "Mile High Rodeo," brought her original burlesque-inspired musical, "Le Rêve des Marionettes," to the famous La MaMa Theatre in New York, and toured with Michelle Shocked. Johanna produced and directed Young Agrarians, a film documenting the next generation of farmers and ranchers that chosen as part of the fifth annual Media That Matters Film Festival. The film received the Nourishing Change Award from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. In 2006, the film was featured as part of Slow Food's Terra Madre World Meeting in Turin, Italy, and in 2007 was shown in Melbourne, Australia, as part of the Sustainable Living Festival. She was a member of the 2004-2006 class of Food and Society Fellows.

years of experience organizing for economic and social justice.  Over the years she has worked with and held leadership positions within such diverse organizations as the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and the Student/Farmworker Alliance, the Energy Action Coalition, the Brazilian MST (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Sem Terra, or Landless Worker’s Movement), and Student Environmental Action Coalition.  Kandace recognizes the important role that leadership development and education play in building social movements, and her varied organizing experiences lend her a number of transferable skills and much knowledge to bring to the table in her current position as Membership Programs Coordinator at Workers Defense Project.  Kandace holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Southern Illinois University and a master’s degree in education from the University of Texas at Austin, and she has co-published works featured in the recent AK Press release “Uses of a Whirlwind” and in “Be the Change: Teacher, Activist, Global Citizen.”  She is a member of the 2011-2013 class of IATP Food and Community Fellows.

Program (I CAN) for the past five years. I CAN employs paraprofessional educators in urban and rural counties to teach a series of hands-on nutrition classes to limited resource adults and youth. The program encourages and supports participants in their adoption of desirable behaviors in the areas of nutrition, food safety, food preparation and food resource management. In addition, Kari has developed a variety of innovative educational media, including videos, CD-ROMs and curricula. These materials are used around the country with class participants as well as in training nutrition educators. The majority of these materials are available in Spanish, and many are also available in Navajo. Prior to her employment with the NMSU Cooperative Extension Service, Kari worked in a variety of non-formal education settings in the U.S., Africa and Latin America. She was a member of the 2001-2003 class of Food and Society Policy Fellows.

System, a private non-profit agency that works on food and hunger issues in the Hartford, Connecticut area. During his tenure with HFS, Mark organized community self-help food projects that assisted the city’s lower income and elderly residents. Mark’s work with the Food System included the development of commercial food businesses, Connecticut’s Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program, farmers’ markets, a 25-acre community supported agriculture farm, a food bank, food and nutrition education programs, and a neighborhood supermarket. Mark is a co-founder of a number of food and agriculture policy groups including the City of Hartford Food Policy Commission, the Connecticut Food Policy Council, End Hunger Connecticut!, and the national Community Food Security Coalition. He was an organizer and chairman of the Working Lands Alliance, a statewide coalition working to preserve Connecticut’s farmland, and is a founder of the Connecticut Farmland Trust. Mark was a member of the United States Delegation to the 2000 World Conference on Food Security in Rome and is a 2001 recipient of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary's Plow Honor Award. Mark currently writes, speaks, and consults extensively on community food system topics including hunger and food insecurity, local and regional agriculture, community food assessment, and food policy. He also does policy communication and food policy council work for the Community Food Security Coalition. His essays and opinion pieces have appeared in the Hartford Courant, the Boston Globe, The Nation, In These Times, Sierra Magazine, Orion Magazine, Successful Farming and numerous organizational and professional newsletters and journals across the country. His first book “Closing the Food Gap: Resetting the Table in the Land of Plenty" was published by Beacon Press, will be released in January 2008. He now lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he serves on the New Mexico Food and Agriculture Policy Council and the Southwest Grass-fed Livestock Alliance. He was a member of the 2002-2004 class of Food and Society Fellows.

graduated from Mora High School and went on to attend the University of New Mexico where she studied engineering and community planning. She returned to Mora as an Americorp volunteer working with elders and youth in the community. Paula has been Executive Director of the New Mexico Acequia Association since 1998. During her time with NMAA, she has built a successful statewide organization which has defended the water rights of hundreds of acequias in the state. Paula works well with elected officials and agencies at the state and federal level.

to create a more equitable, healthy and sustainable food system in the Paso del Norte region of southern New Mexico and El Paso, Texas. She is currently working with teachers and school administrators to implement a Farm to School program to help youth learn about food production, preparation and nutrition, providing technical support for developing school gardens, and connecting local farmers with schools.

community organization dedicated to creating positive programs which are based in the O’odham Himdag – the Desert People’s Way. In 2002, Terrol and TOCA Co-Director Tristan Reader were recognized as one of the nation’s top leadership teams when they received the Ford Foundation’s Leadership for a Changing World Award. In 1997, Terrol was part of a core group that founded the Ha:sañ Preparatory and Leadership School. In October 1999, Terrol was named one of “America’s top ten young community leaders” by the Do Something organization in recognition of his contributions to the revitalization of a healthy and sustainable Tohono O’odham community.