Cecilia  Amadou, MPH, https://livewideopen.com/stories/movingtomoorheadforfamily

Cecilia loves her family; she says it’s the most important thing in her life and she readily shares family stories. As the new Northwest Regional Director of the University of Minnesota Extension, she has much responsibility for staff and programs that help our communities. Yet, she notes, her ultimate responsibility is with family. Cecilia lived in Ghana, Africa, until she was 10 years old. There were five in the family, which she jokingly says helps one “see how to navigate the world.” That little girl moved and grew up in Plainfield, Illinois, where she found education to be the key to her future. She had visions of being a doctor, so her undergraduate studies were in chemistry and biology. “But by my fourth year, I discovered I liked prevention more than treating people when they were sick,” she said.  So off she went to Springfield, Illinois, earning her Master’s degree in public health.

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“I’m one of the founding members of the Indigenous Association,” says Brandon Baity, Ojibway. Interim Executive Director. “Our goal is to unite, connect and strengthen the Indigenous community in the Fargo-Moorhead area..” Brandon lives in Moorhead with his wife Tanya and their three children.

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Lemoine Lapointe is a member of the Sicangu Lakota, the Titunwan division of the Oceti Sakowin (Seven Council Fires). The living legacy of his indigenous people enlivens his more than 35 years of engagement–centered facilitation and experiential leadership of youth at risk and adults in multicultural settings, from geographically isolated tribal communities to ethnically diverse inner-city neighborhoods..

 

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Carlos Mariani, Minnesota Equity Partnership, Executive Director, was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 1990 and retired in 2020, representing St. Paul district 65B. He has focused his efforts on issues affecting urban and minority communities including education, public transit, and housing and economic development and has authored several race equity bills that were signed into law: MN Prosperity (DREAM) Act for undocumented students, the Learning English for Academic Proficiency and Success Act (LEAPS) promoting linguistic capacity of emerging multi-linguals  including those whose first language is not English, and the Achievement and Integration in MN Act (AIM) re-establishing Minnesota’s school racial integration revenue program to combine academic outcomes with racial integration efforts. He was a Bush Fellow in 2013.

 

Dipayan Sarkar, PhD, Research Physiologist, US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS) · Fargo, North Dakota, Skills: Enzymology · Metabolites · Analytical Biochemistry · Postharvest Biology · Plant Physiology

Specific innovations and technology platforms focus on 1) plant abiotic stress tolerance for climate resilience; 2) human health relevant nutritional qualities, and

3) post-harvest preservation qualities of food plants and plant-based foods for countering food wastes.  This novel approach harnesses dual function benefits of plant phenolics for sustainable food and nutritional security solutions and for addressing climate change-linked agricultural production challenges.​​

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​Founders

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Verna Kragnes, Project Director is engaged in innovative local food system & rural development through a new nonprofit, PRAIRIE (Prairie Rose Agricultural Institute for Research, Innovation & Education), & lead farmer establishing Prairie Rose Farm, LLC a social enterprise for demonstration, training, & research in best practices for regenerative agriculture, including carbon sequestration to address the joint crises of local food & climate change. She is developing Farmland Conservation Partners, LLP to assist in the generational transfer of farmland, making land available to farmers with limited access. Verna has served on multiple non-profit boards, including the St. Croix River Association, Philadelphia Community Farm, Standing Cedars Community Land Conservancy, Wisconsin Farmland Conservancy, & Healthy Childhood Partners, addressing farmland conservation, agriculture, & Waldorf education. She continues consulting relationships with non-profit farm enterprises in Colorado & Nebraska.

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Rick Hall, with BA & MS in Experiential Education, Rick’s experience includes place, project-based, & experiential education, care of children & adults with special needs, & protection, ecological restoration, multicultural community engagement, community-supported agriculture, adult & youth leadership, service-learning, & professional development with school districts & community-based non-profits. He is fluent in Spanish, served in the Peace Corps, with the American Friends Service Committee, & Partners in the Americas. Rick helped to co-found the ongoing Puerto Rican Workshop (Taller Puertorriqueño) an arts & culture organization with the first Spanish language bookstore in Pennsylvania, He supported community gardens in the largely Puerto Rican & Black Norris Square Neighborhood in Philly. He co-founded Standing Cedars Community Land Conservancy & Philadelphia Community Farm in Osceola, Wisconsin & raised >$2 Million to preserve & restore 1500 acres along the St. Croix National Scenic River & improve water & local food supplies. Rick worked with UW-Madison Earth Partnership to involve students & teachers in restoring pollinator habitat to schoolyards & community spaces & co-founded Indigenous Arts & Sciences Earth Partnerships with tribal communities in Wisconsin & now in MN & ND. & Latino Earth Partnership, with Hispanic communities in Wisconsin, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, & Nicaragua. He co-authored a successful BFRDP grant that laid the groundwork for the New Roots Farm Incubator Co-op & has provided volunteer TA for New American farmers since 2017. He is assisting the development of PRAIRIE & a new Latino center, CASA –Cultura, Amigos, Salud y Ambiente that will offer cultural, agricultural, social & health outreach to Latino communities & farmers in West Central Minnesota.

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​​​​​Advisors

 

Dr. Appachanda Thimmaiah, is an expert in climate-smart agriculture promoting low-carbon green approaches for rural development. He has developed low-cost farming solutions utilizing natural resources which are benefiting thousands of farmers. Globally he has played a leading role in the development of strategies, programs and policies addressing the issues of food security, rural poverty reduction, sustainable development, and Gross National Happiness (GNH). He has advised international organizations, governments and NGO’s in India, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Italy, Holland, and Costa Rica. In Bhutan he developed the National Organic Standards of Bhutan, zero-cost certification systems, training manuals, strategies and other documents to empower poor farmers and facilitate the nation to be 100% organic and carbon neutral. Board Director of Demeter Association Inc. of US.

 

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Rodrigo Cala LEDC AGRICULTURAL TRAINER  grew up in a farm family near Mexico City which grew broccoli and cauliflower. The family operated a vending booth at the Centro de Abastos in Mexico City, a huge wholesale market. He moved from Mexico to Minnesota in 1996. After graduating from the Minnesota Food Association three-year training program for immigrant farmers near Marine on St. Croix, MN, Rodrigo and his brother purchased their own farm. At LEDC, Rodrigo is responsible for developing and delivering an agricultural training program for beginning Latino farmers. He provides the technical steps in raising a broad variety of vegetables to guide beginning farmers as they launch farm incubator cooperatives, on-site consulting to each group in the initial year of production & ongoing support in succeeding years.

In Moorhead and Pelican Rapids Rodrigo met with aspiring immigrant farmers, including the New Roots farmers,  and local community members to discuss possibilities for more training & financial resources.

 

Rachel & Steffen Schneider, co-founders of Mindful Agriculture Institute at the Chester Agricultural Center,. Serving as farmers/educators based at Hawthorne Valley Farm in Harlemville, NY, they initiated the Hudson Valley Farm Beginnings Program which brought this unique, farmer led, community networking whole farm planning program to the east coast. Over the last 6 years, the HVFB Program has graduated 135 participants, 89 of which are farming and 44 of whom are on their own farms.

Biodynamic Agriculture

 

Noreen Thomas, Doubting Thomas Farm, educator, producer, and former Bush Fellow believes that knowledge shared with others can collectively aid in resolving our world's hunger problems. Noreen and her husband, Lee, have been certified-organic producers since 1997, farming 1,200 acres of grains, feed and beans for domestic as well as foreign markets. Noreen, has a B.S. in Food and Nutrition from NDSU. With the Junior Master Gardener program, she worked with youth and adults to plan, plant, tend and harvest organic vegetables for local buyers. Noreen developed learning tools for New Americans and underserved populations, including visual learners and those with physical and learning disabilities. She is an advocate for agriculture, youth, rural life and a healthier world for all people. Noreen has joined forces with her daughter-in-law, Melany in raising and malting oats and barley, highly sought by local craft brewers.