Tilth Producers of Washington

Nominations are now open for the Tilth Producers Board. To learn more or download a nomination form, please visit our Nominations and Elections page.

Tilth Producers of Washington [email protected] Telephone: 206-632-7506	Mailing Address and Office Location: Good Shepherd Center 4649 Sunnyside Avenue N #305 Seattle WA 98103Google Map
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Staff

Angela Anegon: Education Coordinator

Michele Catalano: Executive Director

Mark Musick: Social Media Editor

Kate Nagle-Caraluzzo: Member Services Coordinator

Sarah Stoner: Journal Editor

Ariana Taylor-Stanley: Policy Coordinator

Lauren Vanderlugt: Accounting Assistant

Executive Committee

Becky Warner: President | City Grown Seattle; Becky Warner is a farmer and co-owner at City Grown Seattle, an urban market gardening business entering its fifth season. Becky comes from a software development background, but discovered a passion for growing vegetables. She followed these interests through two seasons of organic farming apprenticeships (Bainbridge Island and Carnation), then helped start City Grown as a way to experiment with market farming without buying land. The group uses backyards and other unused spaces in Seattle for vegetable growing. The owners of the yards share in the produce and the rest is sold at City Grown’s neighborhood farmstands, and through a small but growing CSA. City Grown is currently participating in a pilot project with the City of Seattle to use city-owned land to grow vegetables for sale. Becky is currently doing software work part-time while managing the City Grown operations in conjunction with four other part-time farmers. Becky is also active with the Washington Young Farmers Coalition.

Addie Candib: Co-Vice President | Second Spring Farm; Addie Candib is both a beginning farmer and a nonprofit professional. She co-owns a small homestead in Rochester’s Independence Valley and is passionate about addressing the issues facing new and beginning farmers, particularly land access. She brings to Tilth Producers her connections to the Washington Young Farmers Coalition, the farmland preservation movement and the South Sound farming community. In addition to serving on the board of her local Farmers Market, Addie works as the philanthropy and outreach coordinator at the Community Farm Land Trust (based in Olympia, WA). She is also working toward a Master in Public Administration with a focus on nonprofit management. Addie brings an informed perspective to fundraising, capacity building and strategic planning processes to Tilth Producers of Washington.

Diane Dempster: Co-Vice President | Charlies Produce; Diane Dempster has worked at Charlie’s Produce for over 25 years. She manages the Farmer’s Own program and is a procurement specialist for the organic division. Before that, she worked for Farmers Wholesale Cooperative, which was a grower co-op in Olympia and another grower co-op in Salem, OR. Diane also serves on the Regional Food Policy Council.

Cornelius Adewale: Treasurer | Washington State University; Cornelius Adewale is a native of Ilesa, an agricultural community in southwestern Nigeria. His farm experience began at the age of six with weeding and harvesting at a cocoa plantation with his grandfather. After the death of his grandfather, he started taking a leading role in the continual management of the farm. He is currently a PhD student in crop and soil science at WSU. Cornelius’s life and career interests relate to global food security, and paths to sustainable agriculture in general. He aspires to be part of teams that develop designs and models that will address some of the sustainability issues in the world’s agricultural and food production systems. With his accumulated experience in agriculture and business management Cornelius was elected into the board of Tilth Producers of Washington in 2012, and as treasurer in 2013.

Brenda Book: Secretary | WSDA Organic Food Program; Brenda Book has worked at the Washington State Department of Agriculture’s Organic Program since 2002 and currently oversees all aspects of the agency’s organic certification services and staff. A native of Central Iowa, Brenda grew up on her family’s third generation grain and livestock farm and has been involved in the organic industry since 1996 as a farmer, researcher, retail produce manager, farmers market manager and board member. In addition to managing the WSDA Organic Program, Brenda currently serves as president of the National Association of State Organic Programs (NASOP). Brenda holds a B.A. in sustainable agriculture from The Evergreen State College and studied botany at the University of Iowa.

Board Members at Large

Shawn Bell: Skagit Valley Food Co-op

Jeremy Cowan: WSU Spokane County Extension; Jeremy Cowan is the regional horticulture specialist at WSU’s Spokane County Extension office and serves as a bridge between growers and the university, organizing workshops, farm tours and co-leading the Cultivating Success courses. He also teaches WSU’s vegetable production class in Pullman and has a research program focused on biodegradable plastic mulches, high tunnels and intercropping. The Cowans are establishing a small farm on their 7-acre homestead outside of Spokane where they raise hogs, sheep, laying hens and vegetables. This year, they’re` adding a chicken breeding program and will begin selling vegetables through the Local Inland Northwest Cooperative (LINC). Jeremy has plenty of help on the farm: his wife Krista manages the day-to-day operations, while Isobel (5), Liam (2) and newborn Agnes keep them both on their toes, and Carson (13) and Austin (12) help out during the height of the growing season.

Jessica Gigot: Harmony Fields Produce; Jessica Gigot is a farmer, poet and teacher. After working on several farms in the northwest, Jessica completed graduate work in plant pathology and horticulture at WSU’s Mount Vernon Research and Extension Center. She fell in love with the diverse agricultural and artistic communities that coexist in the Skagit Valley and decided to stay. Jessica currently owns and operates Harmony Fields, a small, organic farm in Bow, WA that produces herbs, specialty produce and lamb. She offers art and health workshops through the farm’s Art in the Barn series and is part-time faculty at the Northwest Indian College, where she teaches courses in their native environmental science program with a focus on food sovereignty. In her free time Jessica enjoys visual art projects, hiking in the Chuckanut and Cascade Mountains and playing music with her husband in their old-time folk trio called the Dovetails.

Maurice Robinette: Lazy R Ranch; Maurice Robinette is the owner/operator of the Lazy R Ranch in Cheney, WA. The Lazy R is a fourth generation beef ranch using holistic management since 1995. Maurice’s wife Ellen recently retired from the University of Puget Sound (UPS), his oldest daughter Beth helps with the ranch and co-owns Local Inland Northwest Cooperative (LINC) foods and youngest daughter Jacqueline recently graduated from UPS and is traveling and looking for meaningful work.

Denise Swafford: Palmer Farms; Denise Swafford is a farmer in Enumclaw, WA and is currently serving her second year on the Tilth Producers of Washington Board of Directors. She has a background in commercial and residential finance specializing in agricultural properties and her husband is the senior manager of IT for Infospace as well as a network architect for Nuance. Denise is currently renovating her family’s historic 20 acre farm, which produces mixed vegetables, fruit and livestock — all while home-schooling their daughter. She is also a local Girl Scout troop leader and area service unit manager.

Beth Wheat: Sky Root Farm; Beth Wheat is a farmer on South Whidbey Island and a lecturer in the Environmental Studies Program at UW. She joined the Tilth Producers board in 2014. Beth runs a diversified vegetable operation on 20 acres of shared land with her farm partner, Arwen Norman.

Office Assistants

Edgar: Senior Safety Officer