John Jeavons is the Executive Director of the globally active non-profit Ecology Action, located in Willits, CA, and is a leader in the field of Biointensive agriculture. He developed the small-scale, high-yielding, resource-conserving GROW BIOINTENSIVE® Sustainable Mini-Farming method—an approach that allows small farmers to increase yields, build fertile soil up to 60x faster than nature, and use 67%-88% less water per pound of food, compared with conventional practices. This comprehensive cropping system enables people everywhere to grow a complete, balanced diet, significant income, and sustainable soil fertility using very little land. As a result of Ecology Action’s demonstration, teaching and research activities in biologically intensive farming over the last 43 years, John’s methods are now being used in 143 countries in virtually all climates and soils where food is grown.
John believes that each person has the capacity to make a profound difference in the sustainability of our agriculture and through it, our world; and that if we each learn to take care of our part of the Earth – our garden – then we can change our situation from one of scarcity to abundance: of enough for everyone
Former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Bob Bergland said of his work: “There are probably a billion people in the world who are malnourished. The Jeavons approach could enable that segment of the population to feed itself adequately for the first time ever. That would be a remarkable development in this world, and would do more to solve the problems of poverty, misery and hunger than anything else we’ve done.”
A political science graduate of Yale University, Jeavons worked for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Stanford University before launching his career in small-scale agriculture education. He is the author of the best-selling sustainable farming handbook How to Grow More Vegetables and Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grains, and Other Crops Than You Ever Thought Possible With Less Water On Less Land Than You Can Imagine, now in its 9th edition in eight languages, plus Braille, with over 600,000 copies in print worldwide. He has authored, co-authored or edited over 40 publications on Biointensive agriculture, including a five-part, peer-reviewed article that appeared in The Journal of Sustainable Agriculture.
John has been honored to receive the Boise Peace Quilt Award (1988), the Giraffe Award for Public Service (1989), the Santa Fe Living Treasure Award (1989) and the Steward of Sustainable Agriculture Award (2000). He has also been nominated for the Noetic Sciences Altruism Award (1992), the World Food Prize (1993 and 1995) and the Pew Scholars Award in Conservation and the Environment (1995). In 1988, “Circle of Plenty,” a PBS-TV documentary about Jeavons and his work aired nationally. He is also one of those featured in the PBS-TV documentary “The Living Land” (1999) and in the documentary film “Fall and Winter” (2013).
Major publications have featured his work, including the New York Times, Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune and the Christian Science Monitor.
He has given numerous presentations and workshops in the U.S., and has taught in Kenya, Mexico, South Africa and Canada. This year he will teach at the 1st World Meeting on “Family Organic Agriculture with the Biointensive Method” in the Dominican Republic, with representatives from 50 countries present.
Key to Ecology Action’s success in spreading sustainable Biointensive agriculture to so many places around the world has been, and will continue to be, catalyzation of small training centers that keep things local, personal, and economically and environmentally relevant to the people learning the method. Encouraging the creation of as many of these “local on a global scale” training centers as possible is John Jeavons’ focus for the future.

Peter Rosset is professor of agroecology at the ECOSUR Advanced Studies Institute in Chiapas, Mexico (www.ecosur.mx), and is in the process of retirement from the staff team of La Via Campesina International (www.viacampesina.org). He is co-author of the book “Agroecology: Science and Politics” (www.fernwoodpublishing.ca/book/agroecology).

Youth activist Rachel Parent, is a change maker with a unique capacity to mobilize, inspire and educate people. Her passions include Food and climate, social justice, animal rights, responsible consumption, and environmental protection. In 2012, Rachel founded Kids Right to Know, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to educating youth, about the connection between food production and climate change, with a focus and transparency in the labelling of Genetically Modified Food in Canada and the USA.

Despite a busy Toronto student schedule, she has given dozens of television, radio, magazine and online interviews, participated in countless event appearances, including a well-publicized debate about GMO labelling with celebrity host Kevin O’Leary on CBC Television, and two TEDx talks presentations. She has been internationally recognized as an Environmental Speaker and awarded for her work, including the Rob Stewart Youth Eco-Hero Award, the John Filion Award for Community Involvement, Elle Quebec Magazine Woman of the Year, Post City Magazine Toronto most inspiring Women of 2017, Toronto NOW Magazine's Eco-Heroes, along with a long list of other prestigious recognitions and awards. Rachel is presently dedicated to the development of a Monarch Butterfly conservation program and she is the Director of Gen-Earth Events, an environmental platform dedicated to education through film and activism, with the goal of motivating youth to learn Organic Regenerative Climate solutions to help make the world a better place for humans, animals and our planet.

Alana Lea is laureate of the French Ministry of Environment’s “100 Projects for the Climate,” in recognition of iGiveTrees, the agroforestry project she initiated in rural Brazil in 2009. Since then, she has participated in international climate change conferences and agroforestry events, cross-pollinating resources with Brazilian and French organizations who share her focus on organic, regenerative planting methods.

Since 2016 Alana has created environmental art banners that have been displayed at COP22, 23 and 24 as well as the Global Climate Action Summit and the 4th World Congress on Agroforestry. In 2019 she delivered a TEDx talk at the American University of Paris on “Solutions Activism.”

She’s a member of the Drawdown coalition, the 4p1000 Consortium and is on the Board of Advisors for Kiss the Ground, each focused upon soil carbon sequestration.

www.alanalea.com
www.igivetrees.com

Don Tipping has been farming and offering hands on, practical workshops at Seven Seeds Farm since 1997. Seven Seeds is a small, organic family farm in the Siskiyou Mountains of SW Oregon, on a forested mountainside with rushing spring fed creeks and nestled among old growth forest wilderness.
We produce fruits, vegetables, seeds, herbs, while raising sheep, ducks, chickens and people! The farm has been designed to function as a self-contained, life regenerating organism with waste products being recycled and feeding other elements of the system. Lauded as one of the best examples of a small productive Biodynamic and Permaculture farms in the northwest by many, Seven Seeds helps to mentor new farmers through internships and workshops. In 2009 we began Siskiyou Seeds, a bioregional organic seed company that grows and stewards a collection of over 600 open pollinated flower, vegetable and herb seeds and is constantly breeding new varieties that we distribute nationally.

Don is active in the Seed Stewardship movement and educates regionally on seed saving through the Biannual Seed Academy, the Student Organic Seed Symposium, Seed Schools and numerous conferences. He sits on the board of the Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance and contributes to the Open Source Seed Initiative.

While raising a family and managing a diverse seed farm and distribution business occupy much of his time, Don is keenly aware of the eroding Agrarian landscape and believes in rekindling a thriving culture of cottage industries that inspire Earth Care, People Care and Fair Share and is wholeheartedly devoted to seeing this emergent regenerative economy and culture increase and thrive.

Kendra Klein, PhD is senior staff scientist at Friends of the Earth where she leads work on food and farming solutions. She is a writer, researcher, and advocate with over seventeen years of experience in environmental sustainability, food, agriculture, and environmental health. Prior to joining FOE, she was a lecturer at UC Berkeley and San Francisco State University, coordinated farm-to-institution work at the California Healthy Food in Health Care campaign and worked at Breast Cancer Action on chemical policy reform and corporate accountability related to pink ribbon fundraising. Kendra has apprenticed on organic farms in California and Hawaii. She is a 2011 Switzer Environmental Fellow and has written for The Guardian, The Nation, Gastronomica, Civil Eats, Food Tank, and Ecowatch. She holds a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies from Miami University of Ohio and a PhD in Environmental Science, Policy & Management from UC Berkeley.

Matthew Trumm is a Permaculture educator, designer, and consultant from Oroville California. Since Matthew started to study Permaculture in 2011 he has pioneered countless Permaculture projects in Butte County, which all dwell in the ever expanding nest called Treetop Permaculture, specializing in Education, demonstration, and consultation of Permaculture design. Matthew started his journey in the mountains while living off grid on his families 12 acre homestead and farm. There Matthew began learning about forestry, wild mushroom foraging, organic veggie production, created a grant funded school garden and garden program, and later worked and trained with Dr Elaine Ingham as the Assistant Farm Manager for her Life in the soil demonstration and research farm where he became an expert in thermal compost creation and application and helped design the site with Penny Livingston-Clark. Taking what he learned, in 2016 Matthew made a drastic change and moved off the mountain to downtown Oroville where he purchased a home on a 1/3 acre lot and created ``Homestead on High Street``, a urban Permaculture Education and Demonstration center. In just 3 years by developing the site, Matthew has spawned 5 successful permaculture based businesses and several community models that are now a cornerstone in sustainability for the region. Matthew's enterprises include, the education center, offering workshops and Permaculture Design Certification Courses, a composting program that up cycles food waste from all the local restaurants, a plant nursery, a property consultancy, a school garden program, a co-op csa box program (co-op-a-box), as well as offering many other seasonal products from the demonstration site. Now, after the devastating Camp Fire, Matthew was able to take his local network and Permaculture knowledge to found The Camp Fire Restoration Project, a non profit foundation to help educate and assist fire survivors and community members in Permaculture based solutions for restoring their land and lives after the fire, offering an alternative sustainable design model for rebuilding in a way that is in balance with nature. Through Matthews connection to filmmaker, John D. Liu, founder of Ecosystem Restoration Camps, The Camp Fire Restoration Project is now the home for ``Camp Paradise``, the first Ecosystem Restoration Camp in the US with a unique mobile disaster response model for large scale restoration. For more information go to www.campfirerestorationproject.org and www.treetoppermaculture.com

John W. Roulac is the founder of Nutiva, the world’s leading organic superfoods brand of hemp, coconut, chia and red palm. Founded in 1999 and dedicated to nourishing people and planet, Nutiva has been named one of Inc. magazine’s fastest-growing companies in America for seven years in a row.

A longtime advocate for healthy people and ecosystems, with expertise ranging from home composting and natural healing to forestry and hemp agriculture, John has authored four books on environmental topics, with combined sales of more than one million copies. He helped jumpstart the modern home-composting movement in the early 1990s and successfully sued the US DEA to keep hemp foods legal in 2001. He has founded four nonprofit ecological groups, including GMOInside.org. John speaks on environmental issues at various conferences, including but not limited to Soil Not Oil, EcoFarm, Provender Alliance andBioneers.

Born in Oakland, California, Ildiko has been a lifelong environmentalist. She focused most of her energy on advocacy for action on climate change and has founded and led many projects and organizations including student groups and 350 San Francisco, founded in 2012. When she started gardening in her San Francisco backyard and discovered local wildlife, her life changed. Asking herself the question, “how can I foster the birds, bees, butterflies, and surprisingly diverse wildlife I see,” the answer came in planting locally adapted California native plants. She quickly became a native plant and habitat restoration enthusiast.

She received a Bachelor’s of Science degree from UC Berkeley in Conservation and Resource Studies, with the thesis titled “Connecting People, Connecting Wildlife: A Bicycle Wildlife Corridor on Arguello Boulevard in San Francisco.” Ildiko was a collector and propagator specialist at Larner Seeds, has been a California native habitat landscaper, a coordinator for Nature in the City’s Backyard Native Nursery Network and San Bruno Mountain Watch’s Mission Blue Nursery Manager. She joined Literacy for Environmental Justice as the Native Plant Nursery Manager in 2017.

Ildiko is the founder of Wildfires to Wildflowers: Restoring California Lands for Climate Stability, a campaign to achieve carbon negativity in California through massive investment in habitat restoration. Visit wildfirestowildlfowers.org for more information.

Ildiko is also a modern dancer and aerialist.

Presentation title, ``Hope Below Our Feet: Restoring Grasslands to Reverse Global Warming.``

Seth Itzkan is an internationally recognized leader in the movement to advance soil restoration as a climate solution. He is co-founder and co-director, along with his colleague Karl Thidemann, of Soil4Climate Inc., a nonprofit, educational organization advancing the science, policy and practices of enhancing carbon stocks in soil through regenerative agriculture and grazing. Seth is a TEDx speaker and author or co-author on numerous publications, including popular articles, technical white papers and policy briefs. The Soil4Climate Facebook group is a nexus of discussion and activism with approximately 12,000 members from 100 nations, including a veritable Who's Who of leading voices in the field.

Mackenzie Feldman: Mackenzie graduated from UC Berkeley in Spring 2018 with a degree in Society and Environment and a minor in Food Systems. She is the co-founder of Herbicide-Free Cal, and was the UC Global Food Initiative Student Ambassador for UC Berkeley. Mackenzie and her mom are currently writing a plant-based cookbook that they hope to be finished with by the end of the year.

Debbie is an attorney who practiced business law in San Francisco for 5 years. Since leaving the practice of law to pursue environmental work, Debbie has served in a variety of advocacy, communications and leadership positions including as producer for EcoTalk Radio which aired nationally on Air America Radio, and as a communications consultant for innovative nonprofits and businesses. Debbie also co-founded and led two environmental health nonprofits, and remains an advisor to both organizations. In her role at Moms Advocating Sustainability, Debbie led policy initiatives and organized coalitions, with an emphasis on shifting agricultural policies towards ecologically-oriented practices, to reduce the amounts of pesticides sprayed by state and local agencies. Debbie was lead organizer and negotiator with County Government Officials in a 2009 successful campaign to revise Marin County’s regulations to substantially reduce the use of pesticides on County property. She also organized a statewide coalition that successfully ended decades of pesticide spraying by California's agriculture department, in an unprecedented legal decision (presently on appeal). Prior to joining Conscious Kitchen's team as Program Director, she was co-founder and served as Executive Director of GMOScience, a science-based educational and information platform that addresses the costs, risks and benefits of genetically engineered food. Debbie was selected in 2011 as a “Marin Hero for Children,” by Marin Advocates for Children.

International Director
Organic Consumers Association
6771 South Silver Hill Drive
Finland, Minnesota 55603
Tel: 218-226-4164 (Office) email: ronnie@organicconsumers.org URL: www.organicconsumers.org

Ronnie Cummins is co-founder and International Director of the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) and its international affiliates Via Organica www.viaorganica.org(Mexico) and Regeneration International www.RegenerationInternational.org

(OCA) is a non-profit, U.S. based network of two million consumers, dedicated to safeguarding organic standards and promoting a healthy, just, and regenerative system of food, farming, and land use. The OCA’s primary strategy is to work on national and global campaigns promoting health, justice, and climate stability that integrate public education, marketplace pressure, media work, litigation, and grassroots lobbying.

Cummins has been active as a writer and activist since the 1960s, with extensive experience in public education,

grassroots mobilization, and marketplace pressure campaigns. Over the past three decades he has served as director of US and international campaigns dealing with agriculture issues including organic standards, food safety, genetic engineering, factory farming, and global warming. In 2009 Cummins co-founded Via Organica, a network of organic consumers and farmers based in Mexico City and San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato. In 2015 Cummins co-founded Regeneration International, a global network dedicated to mitigating and reversing climate change through regenerative food, farming and land use. Cummins is a frequent lecturer, both in the US and abroad as well as a regular contributor to online publications such as Organic Bytes, Common Dreams, Mercola.com, Truthout, Alternet, Counterpunch, and Eco-Watch. Cummins is the author of a series of children’s books called Children of the World, as well as the book Genetically Engineered Food: A Self-Defense Guide for Consumers (Marlowe & Company 2004). His new book, Grassroots Rising: Regenerative Agriculture, Climate Crisis, and the Green New Deal will be published by Chelsea Green in January 2020. Cummins lives with his wife and 21-year-old son in Minnesota and in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

Estève Giraud is a 2d year PhD student at the School of Sustainability, Arizona State University. Her dissertation research focuses on urban agriculture grassroots initiatives for self-sufficiency and their transformative potentials to promote values of social and environmental care. She conducted part of her field research in summer 2018 in La Havana, Cuba. She holds a master in economics from University Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, Spain, and a master in business administration from Toulouse Business School, France. She is passionate about food studies and permaculture, and has participated in local agriculture initiatives in her home country, France, and in Egypt, India, Australia and Spain.

Mark Squire came to Marin in the late 60s as an idealistic 17-year-old food activist. His conviction that we needed to change our agriculture away from pesticide dependence and our diets back to a more natural one lead him to Good Earth Natural Foods where he has worked continually for the last 42 years.
When Good Earth began in 1969 the concept of a Natural Food store was a new one and the number of organic farms in California could be counted on one hand. Good Earth became a leader in developing this new organic market.
As studies are now showing that Organic food production is quantitatively better for our health, Good Earth’s early food idealism is daily being proven to be a very practical solution to the health crisis our communities face. Since Agriculture is one of the top polluting industries on the planet, and organic agriculture has proved that we can “just say no to pesticides”, organics is one of the great environmental success stories of our time as well. Good Earth’s early commitment to making that vision real led Mark to start working with the early pioneers of organic farming during the 80s. Together they created California Certified Organic Farmers, which developed the first standards for organic farming, standards that still form the foundation of our USDA National organic program. During the 90s Mark served on the board of directors of OCIA, which at that time was the largest organic certifier worldwide and which developed organic standards for organic processing, which was a necessary next step to create the many organic choices available today.
Always vigilant to keep sustainability real and to protect local food systems, Good Earth was the hub of Marin's 2004 voter initiative, which banned the cultivation of Genetically Modified Crops in Marin and passed with 61% of the vote.
Mark and his Good Earth partner Al Baylacq created Good Earth’s organic School lunch program which is one of the first in the country and to date has served over 850 thousand Organic Lunches to Marin kids.
Mark’s latest work is with the Non-GMO Project, a non-profit creating a product seal so that consumers can avoid GMOs in their food. Good Earth was one of three founding stores that recognized the need for a system to recognize and encourage food producers that took the extra steps needed to insure that their products were as free as possible of GMO contamination. Watch for the Non-GMO Project seal on products and know that it is protected by a the non-profit and that Mark is on their board of directors.

Matt Powers, teaches permaculture and regenerative gardening and farming to families, youth, schools, and adults all over the world through his online courses, videos, and books, which are now being used on all continents (except for Antartica.) Translations of his books are already available in Spanish, Polish, and Arabic with French and Italian coming soon. As an experienced educator with a masters degree in Education, Matt went from teaching high school students to teaching high school teachers and administrators to teaching districts and appearing at universities and conferences all over America and online, teaching permaculture and sustainable, regenerative skills and thinking. Matt provides daily inspirational and regenerative content online and is one of the most-followed permaculture teachers online with over 30,000 Twitter followers and tens of thousands of followers in his many Facebook groups and pages ranging in topics from permaculture education to entrepreneurship to gardening to fungi & more.

Elizabeth Azzuz, Board Secretary of the Cultural Fire Management Council, Humboldt County, CA Teaches in the TREX -- Training Experience -- program where hands-on prescribed burn techniques and respect for indigenous knowledge are provided to community members interested in pursuing the practice.

David Helvarg is Executive Director of Blue Frontier and the author of six books: Blue Frontier, The War Against the Greens, 50 Ways to Save the Ocean, Rescue Warriors, Saved by the Sea and The Golden Shore. He is organizer of ‘Blue Vision’ Summits for ocean activists, Peter Benchley Ocean Awards (with Wendy Benchley), and chaired the first global March for the Ocean in 2018.

Helvarg worked as a war correspondent in Northern Ireland and Central America, covered a range of issues from military science to the AIDS epidemic, and reported from every continent including Antarctica. An award-winning journalist, he produced more than 40 broadcast documentaries for PBS, The Discovery Channel, and others. His print work has appeared in The New York Times, LA Times, Smithsonian, National Geographic, Popular Science, Sierra, etc. He’s done radio work for Marketplace, AP radio, and Pacifica and led workshops for journalists in Poland, Turkey, Tunisia, Slovakia and Washington DC. He is also a licensed Private Investigator, body-surfer and scuba diver.

Dafna Tachover, Esq. (New York, Israel) MBA

Dafna Tachover is an attorney in both New York and Israel, has an MBA and is the founder of ``We Are The Evidence``, an advocacy organization for the protection of the rights of the many people who have been injured by wireless technology radiation. She has a technology background including in wireless networks and infrastructures from her service in the Israeli Defense Forces as a Telecommunication and Computers Officer and the commander of the computer center of the IDF's Operations Center and of its Headquarters. She has also worked for an international investment company and for a private equity fund. In 2009, Dafna developed Microwave, a condition that is caused by exposure to wireless technology radiation. Since then, she has dedicated herself to educating the public and public officials regarding the adverse effects of wireless technology radiation and the widespread sickness that exists from it. as well as on its adverse effects on animals, plants and the environment including on the increase in global energy consumption. In 2012 Dafna initiated and led a Supreme Court case in Israel to replace the use of Wi-Fi in schools and install wired internet networks instead—a case that led to the first and strictest limitations on Wi-Fi use in schools worldwide. She has been working at the Federal and State levels, has taken part in numerous public speaking engagements and has been involved in legal actions. She has been consulting in various related lawsuits and represented 94 international organizations in an amicus brief in a US case. In the past three years she has been focusing her on stopping the deployment of 5G. Dafna has been one of the leading experts and advocates on this topic globally, featured and interviewed by TIME, CNN, New York Magazine, Newsweek, The Epoch Times and other media and appeared in documentaries about the topic, including in the award-winning documentary ``Generation Zapped``.

Anna Hope, member: Forest Reciprocity Group
Anna Hope has defended ancient redwoods from being cut down, planted fruit trees with children at their schools all over California, converted diesel buses to run on vegetable oil, made herbal medicine, organized community events, been involved in building natural homes, advocated to maintain owner builder ordinances, and helped educate her local building department about natural building.

Dane Downing, member: Forest Reciprocity Group, Round Valley Water District Manager
An active member of his community, Dane focuses his efforts on improving the health and well being of his local watershed and all those who reside therein. As District Manager of the town’s sewer district, he oversees the functions of his town’s wastewater treatment plant—the only one in California that utilizes wetlands and ozone to process effluent. He volunteers on the local water district as well as with regional watershed non-profit groups aimed and monitoring water quantity and quality. Nearly 20 years ago Dane began seeking solutions to catastrophic forest fuel loads. With his interest in carpentry, he researched, developed a feasibility study, and eventually created a business plan in small log utilization and other forest health solutions.

Kyra Rice, Board Member: Cloud Forest Institute, member: Forest Reciprocity Group
Kyra holds a degree in visual arts from California College of Arts and Crafts and a graduate certificate in education. She designed a garden nutrition program in Oakland, CA, where public elementary students had a direct learning seed-to-table curriculum and grew all organic vegetables for 600 students each week for a free school lunch salad bar. Kyra spent 5 years in salmon habitat restoration with Turtle Island Restoration Network - SPAWN, and with Friends of Sausal Creek in revitalizing paved & piped waterways in Oakland. Kyra was the 2016 - 17 manager of the educational organic production garden, Noyo Food Forest in Fort Bragg, and holds a certificate in Grow BioIntensive carbon sequestering mini-farming methods. She is on the Board of Directors of Cloud Forest Institute, and helped establish the Mendocino County Climate Action Advisory Committee that works directly with the county Board of Supervisors.

Nils-Michael Langenborg has over 30 years of sales, marketing and finance experience with some of the best companies in America and is currently President and CEO of Whole Health Marketing, a consultancy for triple-bottom line brands focused on people, planet and prosperity. He is an entrepreneurial mentor for CleanTech Open, Stanford, UC Berkeley, Duke University and the author of The Regenerative View of Capital. He received a greenMBA from Dominican University of California.

Jeff will talk about Humanure composting and how we can bring it to a community level. The main text will be Joe Jenkins ``Humanure Handbook.`` Sewer and plow and turn agriculture are stone age concepts that we are evolving out of. The age of Fire, Stone, Bronze, Iron, Oil now Soil. After years of working in a coal forge, Jeff had a simple epiphany, that our ancestors really struggled to do something easier and have more abundance. Perpetuating water sewer is the most difficult task we can ask of our descendants. However, composting is easy and it is abundant. Composting will create jobs for folks, not infrastructure and the oil that builds it. Composting will build a strong agricultural economy at the community level.
Jeff is a baby boomer raised near St Louis and ended up in the Appalachians where he planted trees for the forest service, shoed horses, carpentered, farmed. Worked alongside the health dept. designing proposed traditional septic fields for a small development. Jeff relocated to South Carolina in 2004 where he started composting humanure. Jeff immediately started thinking of ways to take it to a community level. Called the ``poop visionary`` by the Durango Herald in Colorado, he has built public collection toilets, spoken at the Southwest Permaculture Convergence and most recently at the Montessori Hands for Peace International Conference and is working now with South Carolina DHEC to approve a Humanure collection process. Jeff and his wife Sandie keep bees, chickens, raise worms and practice no dig gardening.

Adriana is the Owner of Tomatero Farms in Watsonville, California. She and her partner Chris began the farm in 2004 on four acres. With an original focus on growing tomatoes, they named the farm “Tomatero,” meaning “tomato picker” in Spanish. Within a year of opening they were certified organic by California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF). They now grow many different types of vegetables and raise hens for laying eggs. They focus on soil fertility, using beneficial plants, insects, and native hedgerows. Adriana was elected president of the local chapter of the CCOF in 2010 and was the first farmer to partner with Conscious Kitchen.

Mike Colllins has worked with the soil for 37 years. He grew up in a family of entrepreneurs, grape growers and wine makers in the Napa Valley and went on to study Olericulture (science of vegetable growing) at UC Davis. It was through this formal education as well as his extensive international agriculture experience where Mike first developed his interest in sustainable agriculture, heirloom varietals and permaculture, after which he founded Bloomfield Organics. His award-winning farm cultivated 215 different crops ranging from spinach to strawberries to many unique crops such as Spigarello and Verdolaga. Bloomfield was one of the first organic farms in California, and the first supplier to Amy's Kitchen. Later they also supplied world-famous chef Alice Waters with vegetables for Chez Panisse. The fermentation process he developed over 15 years turned out to be a superior fertilizer for all of his crops, and is now at the core of Everflux Technologies' process. Connect with him on Linkedin.

Thirteen year old Dakota Peebler, an independent learner in the San Francisco Bay Area, set out to start a global movement with her family in May 2016. They formed nonprofit Heirs To Our Oceans (H2OO), which is committed to empowering, educating and connecting all youth around protection of ocean and waterways for Dakota’s generation and future generations. Since 10 years old, Dakota has been dedicated to researching and protecting sea otters as keystone and sentinel species. She feels strongly that Marine Protected Areas must take into account land-sea pollution as our important marine life as well as human life and livelihood are threatened. Dakota and her fellow Heir Aislinn Clark, also 13 years old, are on a mission: to get onto the mainstream’s radar that the overuse of fertilizers coupled with warming waters is resulting in harmful algal blooms leading to red tide, deadly blue-green algae and hypoxia killing important aquatic life and poisoning drinking water. They are meeting with Federal and State lawmakers, the CA Ocean Protection Council, and speaking out as much as possible to inform people of the harm that chemical fertilizer use does to our planet’s waters. According to Congressperson Jackie Speier, Dakota, with her youth voice, is “sounding the alarm” as to an issue that should be taken seriously by lawmakers in the State as well as nationally before dead zones become the norm on our country’s coasts. Dakota has learned from and is mentored by such experts as Dr. Shawn Larson, Dr. Melissa Miller, Dr. Samantha “Mandy” Joye, sea otter biologist Gena Bentall and more. Dakota has spoken on high-level panels including at the Marine Conservation Institute’s GLORES event at the Romberg Center in Tiburon, CA, in April 2017, and on an MPA panel in Washington DC at Blue Vision Summit 6 in May 2017. Dakota has spoken at many conferences and events, such as World Ocean Festival in New York kicking off the United Nation’s first Ocean Conference June 2017, Algalita’s Plastic Ocean Pollution Solutions Int’l Youth Summit, the 6th Int’l Marine Debris Conference, at the Int’l Sea Otter Conference at the Seattle Aquarium in both 2017 and 2019 and more. Dakota has presented to students of all ages locally, nationally and internationally, regularly for the last 3 years on this issue. To raise awareness through art she has performed red tide to audiences through spoken word including at Coal & Ice, a climate change focused art exhibition in San Francisco during the Global Climate Action Summit in September 2018. At H2OO Summit for Empowerment Action and Learning (SEAL) 2017 and 2018, both in Palau, Dakota lead the land-sea pollution team in making 5 minute documentaries. Her team’s film won #2 out of 130 applicants at the San Francisco Int’l Ocean Film Festival in 2018. Dakota has participated in many other media events – television, radio, podcasts and films. She is unstoppable in getting her voice heard for her generation.

Eric Lassotovitch, co-founder: Polecraft Solutions, members: Forest Reciprocity Group
Eric Lassotovitch is a licensed building contractor in Northern California. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from California College Arts and Crafts, Oakland, CA. Applying his arts education, Eric innovates efficient pole frame crafting solutions, and draws plans for clients. Energy efficiency, affordability, healthy homes, and appropriate usage of local materials are among his top design considerations. Eric is co-founder, with Colin Gillespie, of Polecraft Solutions. Learn more at polecraftsolutions.com.

“A creative leader and entrepreneur with 25 years of apparel industry experience. Isaac is known for propelling cutting-edge product and market innovation in the realms of sustainability and circular resource efficiency.

Nichelson has built and led several brands and manufacturers to industry-wide notoriety, and has focused on propelling cutting-edge sustainability through his work in fashion for more than 20 years.

In 2007, California Apparel News dubbed Nichelson “Eco-Johnny Appleseed” due to his growing reputation for being a very passionate and committed early-stage promoter of sustainable textiles and fashion.

Isaac possesses a comprehensive fashion industry knowledge base. Extending from the origins of fiber, to yarn and textile formation, product M&D--- all the way through the branding, marketing, global distribution and leadership of fashion and textile companies.

A visionary creative leader, connector, and communicator, Isaac collaborates regularly with product/sustainability leadership and C-suite operators of most of the worlds major apparel brands, as well as working closely with the leadership of many global NGO’s.

In 2017, Isaac had the honor to be listed as an expert contributor to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's Circular Fiber Initiative Report, and is regarded as a thought leader in the realm of circularity/sustainability.”

Emily has been involved in agriculture in the San Joaquin and Sacramento Valley, the Bay Area, and Spain, and is ardent about promoting regenerative farming practices and strengthening local food systems through applied research. She provides programmatic support for CAFF’s Climate Smart Farming projects to help build small farms’ capacity toward climate resilience and ecologically sustainable production. Emily holds a graduate degree in Organic Agriculture from the University of Barcelona and completed her undergrad in Sustainable Agriculture at CSU Stanislaus.

Colin Gillespie has worked in the construction trades for over 10 years dedicating himself to Natural Building, Permaculture Design, Eco-forestry, and Sociology. He combines the benefits of modern and ancient building techniques into Elegant round-pole timber frames, that couple well with straw-bale, cob and similar clay plastered wall types. Collin is co-founder, with Eric Lassotovitch, of Polcraft Solutions.

Larry Ray, fire response and prevention expert from Northern Californ

Sara manages CAFF’s Climate Smart Farming program, which works with farmers, researchers and other agencies to investigate and promote climate smart practices and farming systems throughout California. For years, Sara has worked to promote sustainable agriculture both in the classroom and in the field, and has a passion for connecting the two. She has graduate degrees from University of California, Davis, in Soils and Biochemistry and International Agricultural Development, and has a background in international development work. Sara grew up on a small walnut ranch on the central coast of California.

Jibril Kyser was born and raised in South Sacramento California. While growing up in America’s Farm to Fork Capitol, Jibril tapped into a vibrant community of Black, Indigenous, and Refugee urban farmers and community organizers who inspired his reverence for land, food, and water. The knowledge he gained through his community work inspired him to study agroecology as a Conservation and Resource Studies major at UC Berkeley. Since then, jibril co-founded of Black Earth Farms, a socialist collective of Afro and Indigenous landless farmers in the East Bay stewarding land and growing food for the people who need it most. Black Earth Farms runs a 15 family CSA program and partners with People's Breakfast Oakland to bring food to Oakland's rapidly increasing houseless population. jibril is currently a Grass Roots Science Fellow at the Pesticide Action Network, where he is conducting pesticide air monitoring trials and investigating the environmental effects that pesticides have on soil health.

Douglas Bevington, Ph.D., Forest Program Director for Environment Now. Recently with the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation where he authored the influential study ``A New Direction for California Wildfire Policy -- Working from the Home Outward,`` pdf linked below. Dr. Bevington has the ear of California Governor Gavin Newsom to take fire policy out of the hands of fire fighters and timber industry interests alone, and put it in the hands of California community citizens who don't want their neighborhoods and regions to burn out of control.

Monica has a Master’s in Education and has enjoyed working with students at elementary, middle, and high school levels. In addition to classroom teaching, she has worked in residential environmental education, taught sexual health and served as an instructor for the Prison University Project at San Quentin. She currently volunteers her time as a crisis support counselor, and her activism is focused on the interconnectedness of social justice issues.

Darree Sicher founded 'United Sludge Free Alliance' to provide information about the health and safety risks for America's farmland, food, water and communities from solid and liquid municipal sewage sludge wastes marketed as a soil amendment and fertilizer. Ms. Sicher's outreach programs include conference presentations, television and radio appearances and published articles. Motivated by a national need for a clean, accessible food and water supply, the right to sustainable family and farm lifestyles resistant to toxic waste dumping and the necessity to recognize the science and experiences needed to challenge industry and bureaucratic marketing of toxic false fertilizer/compost/soil amendment, Ms. Sicher offers educational information to motivate citizens and bureaucrats alike.

After learning about the marketing of sewage sludge as a 'fertilizer' to farmers, growers, home gardeners and landscapers, Ms. Sicher founded 'United Sludge Free Alliance' as a volunteer, non-profit grass-roots organization. Utilizing her B.S. in Common Sense and years of community organizing, Ms. Sicher finds that the most important goal is “Value to the People”, embracing the belief that citizens have a right and value as Citizen Activists and Scientists, to create a better world through personal knowledge and engagement. Ms. Sicher guides citizens toward understanding the link between municipal sewage sludge wastes and the heavy metal, pharmaceutical and chemical contamination - including “forever chemicals’ like PFAS - and the contamination of our waterways, our farmlands and soil health, our environment and our physical bodies. Highlighting real science, real life experiences and investigating alternative uses, United Sludge Free Alliance provides internet information, behind-the-scenes coaching and networking for farmers, citizens and community groups nationally.

The leading consumer advocate promoting healthier non-GMO choices, Jeffrey Smith was named the 2017 “Person of the Year” by Masters of Health Magazine. For more than two decades, his research has exposed how biotech companies mislead policy makers and the public, and put the health of society and environment at risk.
Mr. Smith’s feature-length documentary Genetic Roulette — The Gamble of Our Lives was awarded the 2012 Movie of the Year (Solari Report) and the Transformational Film of the Year (AwareGuide). Seen by millions world-wide, the film links genetically engineered food to toxic and allergic reactions, infertility, digestive disorders, and numerous other problems that have been on the rise in the US population since genetically modified organisms (GMOs) were introduced.
In 2018, he and Amy Hart released Secret Ingredients, a documentary that highlights numerous individuals and families that healed from serious conditions after switching to an organic diet.
Mr. Smith’s books include: Seeds of Deception, the world’s bestseller on GMOs; and Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods. They expertly demonstrate why the safety assessments by the FDA and regulators worldwide are based on outdated science and false assumptions, and why genetically engineered foods must urgently become our top food safety priority.
Mr. Smith has lectured in 45 countries, counseled leaders from every continent, and has been quoted by thousands of news outlets including: The New York Times, Washington Post, The Times (London), Associated Press, Reuters, LA Times, and Time Magazine. He regularly appears on influential radio and television programs, including the BBC, NPR, Fox News, Democracy Now, The Doctors, and the Dr. Oz Show.
He is the founding executive director of The Institute for Responsible Technology (IRT), a leading source of GMO health risk information for consumers, policy makers, and healthcare professionals. IRT’s educational programs are driving the tipping point of consumer rejection against GMOs, which is already starting to push genetically engineered ingredients out of the market in the US.
Mr. Smith resides in California, as well as Iowa— surrounded by genetically modified soybeans and corn.