InTents: The Farmers Market Conference 2022

Allinee “shiny” Flanary is a queer Black farmer living on unceded Chinook and Cowlitz territory (so-called Portland, Oregon). A self-described farmer, medicine maker, and decolonizer, Shiny wears a lot of hats. She runs her farm and herbal products business, Scrapberry Farm, and is amember of Raceme Farm Collective, where she works in partnership with other Black and Brown farmers building a co-investment farm business model. She supports BIPOC entrepreneurs as the Director of Markets at Black Food Sovereignty Coalition, and is the founder and manager of Come Thru Market, a Black and Indigenous incubator farmers market and farmer training program. Shiny grew up in Oakland, California and after a meandering 20-year journey as a telephone operator, tow truck dispatcher community worker and librarian/Teach in community colleges she is now a proud farmer, food justice worker and farmers market manager.

Becca Jablonski is an Associate Professor and Food Systems Extension Economist in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at Colorado State University (CSU). Dr. Jablonski’s research and extension program is comprised of two primary components, first, evaluating the farm and ranch profitability impacts of sales through non-commodity markets, e.g., local food markets, and farm to school programs. Second, assessing the community economic impacts of food system policies, investments, and programs, including strategies focused on strengthening rural-urban linkages. As part of her position she co-leads CSU’s Food Systems Initiative and the CSU Food Systems Extension team. Dr. Jablonski holds a PhD from Cornell University.

Ben Feldman is Executive Director of the Farmers Market Coalition. That non-profit organization is dedicated to working with farmers market operators to strengthen markets across the United States so they can serve as community assets while providing real income opportunities for farmers. Ben has a long history in non-profit leadership, within the food system and at FMC. Prior to his current role as Executive Director, he worked as the organization’s Policy Director. Ben’s career highlights include helping found the California Alliance of Farmers’ Markets, running the California Market Match Program, championing equitable food policy at the local, state and national level, and managing the first farmers market on a Kaiser Permanente campus. In his role as FMC’s Executive Director, Ben oversees external partnerships and sponsorship, questions from the media, board relations, and the coalition’s federal policy advocacy.

Brian Coppom joined the Boulder County Farmers Markets in October of 2013 as their executive director after unexpectedly getting a taste of the impact local agriculture can have in our lives. During his eight years at BCFM, Brian oversaw 9% year-over-year increases in attendance and farm sales, became the first nonprofit executive to be named Colorado CEO of the Year, and has had the pleasure of being a TEDx Boulder speaker advocating for connection to local food. HI has served as chairman of the City of Longmont Board of Environmental Affairs and as a member of the Boulder County Food System Advisory Council. Ready to take on a new challenge, Brian recently left BCFM to join the Colorado Department of Agriculture where he is developing a new loan program for Colorado farmers, ranchers, and processors.

Brijet Myers learned a lot in her 10+ years as a Farmers’ Market Operations Manager for San Diego Markets. Handling the nuts and bolts behind the scenes work she’s also keeping her feet on the street and under the tent each week at year-round markets in Southern California, including San Diego County’s largest, the Little Italy Mercato. She now manages special projects for SDM in addition to her positions as Farmers Market Pros Education Coordinator, and Tent Talk Co-host. Her focus on making the most of marketing opportunities for the weekly markets she helps operate has pushed her to develop easy systems for e-mail newsletter consistent content and wrangling information and review sites online for her markets. Brijet is passionate about giving local farms and small businesses a place to thrive and grow every week at her markets, and enjoys all the delicious perks of the job.

Brittany Steffey serves as the Food Access Program Director at Community Farm Alliance, expanding access to local food through statewide nutrition incentive programs and providing support to farmers and farmers markets across Kentucky. Brittany grew up in Berea, Kentucky and attended Berea College, where she studied religion and sustainability. Her commitments to food access and sustainable agriculture brought her to her current work with nutrition programs after two years as Assistant Manager of the Lexington Farmers Market and eight years working in nonprofits, education, and marketing. She currently lives in Lexington, Kentucky.

Christopher Quinlan served his passion for regional economic and food security as the manager of the Whistler Farmers’ Market for 8 years. His experience as a business owner taught Chris to resolve everyday challenges, including inheriting four 4-inch binders of paper applications when he assumed the leadership of the Whistler Market and proceed to double its size. Sure there had to be a better way, Chris developed online market management program Marketwurks.com. Over time, the customizable program evolved to allow market managers to generate the application forms required to better qualify applicants, utilize that information to create public profile and populate market maps, maintain control of their data, invoicing and reports, and market to customers, all inside the markets’ website. Chris is a familiar face at farmers market conferences and online, providing technological solutions and consulting to markets throughout Canada and the US.

Jennifer Weeber is the Northfork Local Food Coordinator with Community Farm Alliance where her work focuses on helping farmers to scale up, opening markets up to local food, and engaging the community, particularly households who are low-income, in accessing local food. Prior to her involvement in local food, she worked for over two decades on food security, homelessness, and housing issues in her community. She holds a Master of Social Work from the University of Kentucky and resides in Busy, Kentucky.

Molly is an Instagram growth expert and community builder that believes you don’t have to be chained to your phone to build a thriving business on Instagram. She teaches women how to use Instagram with clarity and confidence and helps them overcome the overwhelm. Founder of The Social Circle, a community that brings together education and support for woman-owned small businesses on Instagram, Molly empowers women to lean into the gifts that make them stand out in the noise of social media. Molly has worked as a freelance writer, a professional blogger and photographer, and has had her work published both in print and online. Her work as a social media strategist has brought her together with clients that have ranged from the web’s number #1 online global media company for parents with an online audience of more than 3.5 million followers to small local businesses trying to get off the ground. When Molly isn’t nerding out over hashtags and Reel ideas, she’s happily working away at her farmhouse on the hill with her husband and four girls, flock of sheep, and one-legged rescue pigeon.

Michael Hurwitz spent the last two fourteen years prior as the Director of GrowNYC’s Food Access and Agriculture Programs. He now serves as the Principal of Landing Lights Strategies, a consulting firm providing strategic support for nonprofit governance, with an emphasis on businesses and nonprofits engaged in food distribution, market creation, food access initiatives, and workforce development. Under Michael’s leadership, GrowNYC operated over eighty retail food sites throughout New York’s five boroughs – the largest being the world-renowned Union Square Greenmarket - and established the nation’s largest farmers market-based food access initiative. He created the FARMroots Technical Assistance Program for Greenmarket growers, and was integral in forming GrowNYC Wholesale. He is an Adjunct Professor at Hunter College, designing and delivering food policy curriculum for food professionals, and a food policy course for undergraduate and graduate students in Hunter’s Departments of Nutrition and Urban Policy and Planning.

Richard McCarthy is a community economic development specialist who sees food as a pivotal organizing tool. Devoted to the theory that behavior change comes first, his primary focus is the bridge between rural and urban settlements. Richard founded Market Umbrella and its flagship Crescent City Farmers Market in New Orleans in 1995 and was the founding president of Farmers Market Coalition. After helming the American arm of Slow Food for six years, he now serves on the governing board for Slow Food International, and as provisional president to the new World Farmers Market Coalition. Richard’s book, Kuni: A Japanese Vision and Practice for Urban-Rural Reconnection, co-written with Tsuyoshi Sekihara, will be published in October 2022. Find him at Think Like Pirates.

Sagdrina Jalal’s work thrives at the intersection of food, community, and innovation. Bringing diverse communities together to solve shared problems, she understands that authentic engagement requires reverence and commitment. A graduate of the University of Georgia, in 2013 she became the founding executive director of the Georgia Farmers Market Association (GFMA). Sagdrina has served as a board member for the national Farmers Market Coalition, and as an advisor for the Community Foundation of Atlanta and Tuskegee University’s Organic Farming Project. Currently, she’s working with a group of black growers and farmers market leaders in partnership with FMC to curate an anti-racist toolkit that will be made available to farmers market leaders across the country. As Senior Director of Community Engagement at the Center for Civic Innovation, Sagdrina is working with a powerful network around the issue of inequity in Atlanta's philanthropic space. Find her at SageD Consulting.

Tracy Frey has worked with the Williamsburg Farmers Market since 2011, and has been the market manager since 2013. In her role with the market, she assisted with the creation of both the Virginia Farmers Market Association and Virginia Fresh Match. She is passionate about food access and equity and acts as the Coastal Virginia regional lead for Virginia Fresh Match, which provides incentives for SNAP customers on purchases of fruits and vegetables. Enhancing the connection between farmers, bakers, watermen and the community at this producer-only market is an important goal for Tracy. She currently oversees three part-time staff members and a team of over 120 volunteers.