Meet The Center's Board of Directors & Staff Board of Directors:  Tom Stearns, President
High Mowing Organic Seeds
Founded in 1996, by Tom Stearns, High Mowing is an organic, mail-order seed company focusing on serving vegetable farmers and gardeners. Tom began the company when he was 19 and has a degree in Sustainable Agriculture. The seeds that the company sells are grown both on their farm in Wolcott as well as by a network of seed farmers nationally and overseas. www.highmowingseeds.com Andy Kehler, VP
Jasper Hill Farm
Andy Kehler and his brother Mateo and their families have milked cows and made award-winning artisan cheese since 2002. They have also built a business model and infrastructure to age and market the cheese from other Vermont producers. Their goals are both focused and broad: to produce cheeses of the highest quality from their own milk; to demonstrate that it is still possible to prosper on a rocky hillside farm; to create a vehicle for the renewal of the local dairy economy in the form of a business model that can be replicated on other dairy farms. www.jasperhillfarm.com Andrew Meyer, Secretary
Vermont Soy/Vermont Natural Coatings
The Vermont Soy Company had its first incarnation in 1996, when Todd Pinkham began making tempeh. In 2007, Andrew Meyer and Todd began making products again and have now brought VT Soy to a whole new level, with state-of-the-art  equipment and facilities and the ability to market more products to more places.
In 2006, Andrew began Vermont Natural Coatings. The company’s patented natural wood finish formula is an important advance over existing water-based finishes in application, quality, and environmental safety. The formulations use whey protein as the bonding agent. Whey is a renewable resource and a natural by-product of the dairy industry. This use of a natural product in the professional finishes translates to low VOCs (volatile organic compounds) – and better in-door air quality. Their market is green builders and LEED contractors as well as individual homeowners. Andrew’s family has an organic dairy farm in Hardwick and after being raised in VT he worked in D.C. as the agricultural advisor to Senator Jeffords for 7 years.
www.vermontsoy.com & www.vermontnaturalcoatings.com Pete Johnson, Treasurer
Pete’s Greens
Pete stated Pete’s Greens in 1995 growing primarily salad greens. He started gardening at a very early age and had his own thriving pumpkin business at the age of twelve. He now grows specialty vegetables of many types with an emphasis on baby greens, heirloom tomatoes, and root crops. Pete and his team sell to stores and restaurants throughout Vermont, as well as Boston and New York City. Recently he has focused on local sales direct to customers. In addition, Pete buys products from other farmers and producers and markets them through his “Localvore” Community Supported Agriculture shares. www.petesgreens.com Tom Gilbert
Highfields Institute
Highfields began in 1999 and has been guided by Tom Gilbert since 2000. The organizations’ focus is on working to  develop regenerative food systems through preservation and improvement of Vermont’s agricultural soils, watersheds, and agricultural economies through on-farm composting, organic materials recycling and soil health programs. They have offices in downtown Hardwick and a composting research and demonstration site outside of town. Highfields has many projects focused on soil and water health in addition to compost research and training. Highfields is a grant funded organization but also receives income from consulting services and selling compost. www.highfieldsinstitute.org Warren Rankin
Top Rankin Organic Dairy Farm
Neil Urie
Bonnieview Farm
On a 470-acre hilltop farm, Neil Urie makes sheep’s-milk cheese: subtly tangy natural-rind Ben Nevis, named for the highest mountain in Scotland, and Mossend Blue (named after Moss End, his family’s ancestral farm in Scotland), and more. He has won numerous awards for his cheese. Annie Gaillard
Buffalo Mountain Coop
Annie Gaillard lives in Walden, Vermont in a passive solar, off the
grid house that she designed. Partner Louie Pulver and Annie started
Surfing Veggie Farm in 1985 where they grow organic vegetables with a
focus on root crops for storage, plant starts and a small egg
operation. She also works at the Buffalo Mountain Food Cooperative
where she has been actively involved since it started in 1975 and
officially on staff since 1985. Annie and Louie are the blessed
parents of Heather who was born in 1984. Her interests include
permaculture and gardening at home, building community, working with
horses, hiking, canoeing, and cross country skiing. www.buffalomountaincoop.org Linda Ramsdell
Galaxy Bookstore
Claire's Restaurant
Linda Ramsdell began her business life in Hardwick by opening The
Galaxy Bookshop in 1988. In 2003, she opened a satellite of Galaxy,
Stardust Books in Craftsbury. Stardust employs area youth as
booksellers. With three partners, Linda opened Claire's Restaurant &
Bar in Hardwick in May 2008, pioneering a community supported
restaurant model. Linda is a 1980 graduate of Craftsbury Academy and
graduated from Brown University in 1987. She is a past president of
the New England Independent Booksellers Association and was a board
member of the American Booksellers Association. www.galaxybookshop.com | www.clairesvt.com Staff Monty Fischer, Executive Director
Monty was a senior staff member at the National Wildlife Federation where he served as Director of the Northeast Natural Resources Center located in Montpelier, and in a variety of roles including Senior Vice-President for Conservation Programs. Previously, he held the position of Executive Director of the Vermont Natural Resources Council and Legislative Director for Vermont’s member of the U.S. House of Representatives. For many years he owned a commercial eel fishing business on Lake Champlain and co-operated a maple sugaring business in Vermont’s Mad River Valley. He is an active community leader, having served as Vermont chair of the Lake Champlain Committee, as co-founding chair of both the Lake Champlain Islands Trust and the Champlain Maritime Society. He serves on the Vermont Governor’s Council of Environmental Advisors, recently completing more than a decade as chair. For a number of years he was on the faculty of the University of Vermont. He holds a Masters Degree from the Institute of Environmental and Natural Resources at the University of New Hampshire. He and his family have a camp in Greensboro. Elena Gustavson, Education and Community Outreach Elena Gustavson joined the Center for an Agricultural Economy in June 2009. Elena has an extensive background in small business and food that took her from northern California to the rural landscape of Vermont. In December 2004, she began working for Pete Johnson of Pete's Greens, creating, launching and managing the farm's year-round CSA, Good Eats as well as managing the business side of the farm. Elena then moved on to manage the "green" kitchen at Sterling College where she strived to introduce and manage an extensive local foods inventory that incorporated the school's garden and farm-raised meat as well as other farmers and producers within 20 miles of the college. Her greatest joy was the large student staff who imbued the kitchen with their energy and enthusiasm. She lives in Craftsbury, slowly restoring her 1854 farmhouse, and staying busy with various volunteer committments and three wonderful, energetic children.
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