OSU Small Farms Conference – February 18th
Nick Andrews, OSU Organic Vegetable Extension – Nick is an associate professor of practice in the Center for Small Farms & Community Food Systems. He focuses on organic vegetable production, cover crops, nutrient management and pest management.
Melina Barker, Oregon Farm to School & School Garden Network – Melina Barker is Director of the Oregon Farm to School and School Garden Network. She was previously involved as the Program Director for Rogue Valley Farm to School in Southern Oregon for 12 years.
Ed Easterling, Crestmont Farm Family- Ed is the owner and manager of a forestry, cow-calf, and silvopasture grazing operation on the west side of Corvallis. Crestmont’s 1,600 acres integrate agricultural production and habitat enhancement in ways that benefit both objectives. Silvopasture grazing on marginally productive forest areas enables two complementary farming practices. The stands produce timber, and they extend the cattle grazing season when nearby pastures brown up during the summer.
Jared Gardner, Nehalem River Ranch adaptations- Jared is a first-generation rancher who owns and operates Nehalem River Ranch (NNR), a 100 acre grassfed beef, pastured pork, and honey farm located in Tillamook County on the north coast of Oregon that sells directly to restaurants and customers. Over the past four years NRR has accessed National Resource Conservation Service, Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board funding, and matching local watershed funds to add over 6000 trees and over 3000 pollinator shrubs and trees to diversify the mile and a half of riverfront and the many more miles of edges, buffers, and lanes plus a large silvopasture area to enhance soil health and summer grazing. NRR also supports new and beginning agriculturalists including a flower farm, pastured eggs, goats, and compost all within a holistic interconnected framework
Joussy Hidrobo-Chavez- is a Graduate Research Assistant in the Horticulture Department at OSU, currently pursuing her PhD in the Honey Bee Lab under the guidance of Dr. Sagili. During her master’s program (2021-2024), she focused on organic strawberry production and pollination, where she gained extensive experience in season extension and management of strawberries grown under tunnels.
Kara Huntermoon, Heart-Culture Farm Community- Kara has lived at Heart-Culture Farm Community in Fern Ridge for the past two decades. She teaches Permaculture, including leading an education-focused WWOOFing program on the 33-acre farm where at least seven types of agroforestry are practiced. She is also a member of the Agrarian Sharing Network, a group of volunteers working to increase agrobiodiversity and genetic resilience in both annual and perennial crop plants. Kara’s mission is to empower people to use their own hands-on capacity to increase ecological resources for resilience and survival.
Ben Larson, My Brothers’ Farm- Ben is an owner of My Brothers’ Farm, a diversified orchard, ranch, and riparian forest involved with agricultural research for the past decade. His primary passion is building, maintaining, and enhancing the agroecological systems in place at the farm while providing education about sustainable land stewardship to his local community. The orchards are certified organic and rely on minimal input and intervention farming, which provide habitat for countless flora, fauna, and fungi. In addition, the farm utilizes silvopasture, buffer strips, intercropping, multi-story canopy with diverse species selection, non-timber forest products, and native plant establishment and enhancement. While not managing the farm, Ben spends his time as educator at the local high school and organizing the hazelnut industry statewide to shift towards organic management practices.
Brigid Meints- Brigid is an Assistant Professor, Senior Research whose research focuses on organic barley and dry bean breeding at Oregon State University. She also spends part of her time with the OSU Center for Small Farms and Community Foods Systems as an Organic Grains & Pulses Extension specialist. She grew up in Corvallis, OR and developed a love for plants at a young age. She earned a BA from Scripps College in Anthropology and Gender & Women’s Studies, but found her way back to plants after graduation when she began working for the barley breeding program at OSU. She earned her MS from OSU in Crop Science with a focus in Plant Breeding & Genetics and completed her PhD in Crop Science at Washington State University.
Teagan Moran- with OSU Extension Small Farms Program. Teagan works directly with farmers and ranchers in Linn, Lane and Benton Counties. Supporting beginner farmers and ranchers is at the heart of her work and she personally understands the joys and challenges as she explores for herself and with her family what it means to farm in Oregon. She has a farming background in diverse vegetable production and small scale livestock. You can listen to a podcast she hosts and learn from other Oregon farmers by checking out ‘For the Love of Farming’ https://beav.es/GGL.
Alice Morrison, Friends of Family Farmers – Alice Morrison is the Organizational Director for Friends of Family Farmers. She has worked in food production through organic vegetable farms and farmers markets for a number of years. She currently serves on the board of the Oregon Farmers Market Association alongside her work with Friends of Family Farmers.
Lucas Nebert is a sustainable agriculture researcher who specializes in soil health (M.S. Wageningen University, Netherlands) and plant and soil microbial ecology (Ph.D. University of Oregon Environmental Studies), and he has been working with the Oregon State University Dry Farming Project since 2018. Lucas has led dry farming research projects involving microbial inoculants, participatory variety trials, crop breeding, and agrovoltaics. HIs dry farming outreach efforts include the Dry Farming Accelerator Program and working as a board member for the Corvallis-based Dry Farming Institute nonprofit. He is passionate about dry farming with staple crops, and his primary focus is on breeding culinary field corn varieties to thrive in the Pacific Northwest under dry farmed conditions.
Andrea Retano: Ph.D student, Oregon State University
Matt Unger– is a retired berry farmer. He raised strawberries for 43 years after graduating from OSU. Matt originally sold his fruit to processors, and later transitioned to selling all his strawberries retail at farmers markets and wholesale, as well as grocery stores and farm stands. Matt was on the Strawberry Commission and was a chairman for many years. During this time he worked with researchers from OSU, WSU and USDA. He is currently breeding strawberries to come up with a super Hood variety.
