Seeking Balance Press Event Speakers

Linda Berlin
Faculty, University of Vermont Extension
Phone: 802-656-0669
Email: Linda.Berlin@uvm.edu
Web: http://www.sne.org/

Dr. Linda Berlin is an educator and researcher on the issues of food availability and cost as relates to health. A board member of the Society for Nutrition Education, Dr. Berlin is widely published in nutrition, dietetic, and agricultural journals. Berlin received her doctorate from Tufts University. She also holds a bachelor's from Evergreen State University and a master's from Cornell.

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Scott Faber
Farm Bill Campaign Director, Environmental Defense
Phone: 202.387.3500
Email: sfaber@environmentaldefense.org
Web: www.environmentaldefense.org

Scott Faber, Esq., is campaign director for Environmental Defense's Farm Bill efforts. At Environmental Defense, Faber manages the campaign's to bring about reform to American food and farm policies. Previously, Faber was senior director of public policy for American Rivers. He has authored numerous reports on the functions and values of floodplains. Faber is a current member of the Farm and Food Policy Project coordinating council and he sits on the Board of Directors of Protected Harvest. Faber received a bachelor's degree from Clark University and a law degree from Georgetown University.

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Ralph E. Grossi
President, American Farmland Trust
Phone: 202-331-7300 ext. 212
Email: Rgrossi@farmland.org
Web: www.farmland.org

Ralph Grossi has been president of American Farmland Trust for 25 years. During his tenure, the organization has become the leading national nonprofit focused on farmland protection. Grossi is also managing partner of Marindale Ranch, a family dairy and beef business partnership that has been in operation for four generations. Grossi was co-founder and chair of Marin Agricultural Trust. From 1979 to 1981, he served as president of Marin County Farm Bureau, and from 1980 until he became president of the organization, he served on American Farmland Trust's Board of Directors. Grossi currently serves on the board of Smart Growth America, the advisory board of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, the University of California's President's Advisory Commission on Agriculture and Natural Resources, and the National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education. Grossi received his bachelor's from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

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Allen Hance
Coordinator, Farm and Food Policy Project
Senior Policy Analyst, Northeast-Midwest Institute
Phone: 202.464.4015
Email: ahance@nemw.org
Web: www.farmandfoodporject.org, www.nemw.org

Allen Hance is senior policy analyst for the Northeast-Midwest Institute, a Washington-based, private, non-profit, and non-partisan research organization. Hance directs the Institute's Agriculture and Food Policy Program, which researches federal agriculture programs and related legislation, analyzes trends, and distributes information to educate and inform congressional staff, state legislators, policymakers, and other stakeholders on a variety of agriculture and nutrition policy issues. He is currently the project coordinator for the Farm and Food Policy Project, a national collaboration between anti-hunger, conservation, rural development, and family farm organizations united by the common vision of a more sustainable agriculture and food system for the United States.

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Ferd Hoefner
Policy Director, Sustainable Agriculture Coalition
Phone: 202.547.5754
Email: fhoefner@msawg.org
Web: www.msawg.org

Ferd Hoefner is policy director for the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, and has been the group's senior Washington-based representative since 1988. Hoefner has worked on nearly every federal agricultural budget and appropriations bill for several decades, as well as on each of the omnibus farm bills from 1977 to 2002. With Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, Hoefner has been closely associated with efforts to create federal programs such as the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program, Beginning Farmer Down Payment Loan Program, Continuous Conservation Reserve Program, Wetlands Reserve Program, Environmental Quality Incentives Program, Fund for Rural America, Organic Certification Cost-share, Value-added Producer Grants, Adjusted Gross Revenue insurance, family farm and rural policy programs within the Initiative for Future Agriculture and Food Systems, and the Conservation Security Program, among others. Hoefner recently served on the USDA Advisory Committee on Beginning Farmers and Ranchers and the Blue Ribbon Panel for the USDA Conservation Effects Assessment Project. Hoefner also is a member of the Coordinating Council for the Farm and Food Policy Project. He received his bachelor's degree from Oberlin College and has completed master's coursework at Wesley Seminary and American University.

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Savonala "Savi" Horne
Executive Director, Land Loss Prevention Project and Chair, Farm and Food Policy Diversity Initiative
Phone: 919.682.5969
Email: savi@landloss.org
Web: www.landloss.org

Savi Horne, Esq., directs the Land Loss Prevention Project, a nonprofit public interest law firm created by the North Carolina Association of Black Lawyers in response to the decline in family farmers and low-income and minority landowners. Horne develops regional and federal policy initiatives that encourage minority and limited-resource farmers to continue on the land. She also is the Chair of the Farm and Food Policy Project Diversity Initiative. Horne is a member of the administrative council of the Southern Sustainable Agriculture and Research Education program. She is on the boards of the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture and the Rural Coalition. Horne received her bachelor's degree from City College of New York and her law degree from Rutgers University.

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