Now the President of the Board for NOFA/Mass, as well as the Co-President for the NOFA Interstate Council, Laura has served on the NOFA/Mass Board of Directors since 2011. In 2014, Laura joined the staff assisting farmers with their organic certification questions, and then joined the Soil Technical Assistance team in 2017 doing soil test analysis. Laura has two teenage daughters, runs Long Life Farm in Hopkinton, MA, along with her husband Donald Sutherland, and grows certified organic vegetables.  Learning from NOFA workshops has enabled her to grow nutrient dense food in a no-till regenerative system.

John has spent time in Colorado and Oregon, only to return to the place and people he loves; Massachusetts. Growing up in North Central Massachusetts, he has lived in Wampanoag land, now called Mattapoisett, since 1997. Recently, he has been falling into the worm hole of compost and soil microbiology and how it relates to plant health, which then relates to whole systems health. John’s interest in NOFA/Mass is to expand on these concepts to bring greater nutrition to our local food system, to build healthier communities, and heightened value for those that do the work of raising food and healthy landscapes.

Richard began organic gardening over 40 years ago, and became a serious, part-time farmer in 2004. He grows certified organic vegetables, small fruits, and Christmas trees at Hopestill Farm in Sherborn, MA. Richard joined NOFA not too long after beginning his farm, and joined the Board of Directors in 2017 to further the mission of connecting farmers, gardeners, activists, and others who care about healthy soil, robust food systems, and healing the planet. As chair the Finance Committee, he urges anyone to ask themselves how they can support NOFA, and tell us how NOFA can support what you do.

For the past 17 years, Jen has been actively involved as a vegetable grower and educator in the Berkshires. She and her husband are proud to own and operate Woven Roots Farm, a CSA and community wholesale operation that focuses on bio-intensive growing using no-till and regenerative farming practices. Jen has been a member of NOFA since she was in college and has always appreciated NOFA’s leading role in education and policy.  She is proud to be a representative of no-till agriculture for NOFA/Mass and to be a part of its influence in the regenerative agriculture movement.

Priscila is a social entrepreneur, activist, and inventor whose social enterprise, SproutChange, started as a hashtag to influence a grassroots advocacy movement in consumer education around alternative medicine, organic agriculture, sustainability, and social/food justice. Today SproutChange has gone from a grassroots movement to a budding start-up underwritten by UMass Memorial HealthAlliance-Clinton Hospital to work in the North Central Massachusetts region improving this population’s health outcomes. Priscila is also a member of the Worcester Food Policy Council and Massachusetts Women of Color Coalition. She is pursuing a dual MS + MBA degree from Bentley University.

Priscilla has been gardening since childhood and has a keen interest in the flowers of yesteryear. In 2001 she founded Pumpkin Brook Organic Gardening while also volunteering as a founding member of the NOFA Organic Land Care committee and co-authored Standards for Organic Land Care: Practice for Design and Maintenance of Ecological Landscapes. She’s been a member of NOFA/Mass since 1989. Now as a board member, she works with the Board Development and Strategic Planning committees.

Sara is the Director of the Farm & Food Initiative at Conservation Law Foundation, which works to build a more resilient and equitable food system in our region. CLF’s Legal Food Hub program provides free legal assistance to small farmers across New England. She is thrilled to support the important work of NOFA/Mass and the farming community it serves.

Meryl has been farming fruits and vegetables in Massachusetts for almost twenty years.  Her work has been focused on building and supporting small community farms with the goals of cultivating beautiful, nourishing produce, building strong relationships and creating joyful, welcoming and accessible communities.  Meryl currently farms at Just Roots in Greenfield, MA.

Richard began organic gardening over 40 years ago, and became a serious, part-time farmer in 2004. He grows certified organic vegetables, small fruits, and Christmas trees at Hopestill Farm in Sherborn, MA. Richard joined NOFA not too long after beginning his farm, and joined the Board of Directors in 2017 to further the mission of connecting farmers, gardeners, activists, and others who care about healthy soil, robust food systems, and healing the planet. As chair the Finance Committee, he urges anyone to ask themselves how they can support NOFA, and tell us how NOFA can support what you do.