Jack Algiere is the founding farmer of Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture since 2003, currently Chief Agroecology Officer. He is a thought leader, trainer & advisor, partnership builder and innovator in support of transformational change in bioregional food systems. Jack represents Stone Barns Center at the local and global level through programmatic partnerships and initiatives, overseeing the Agroecology Advisory Program in support of a national network of emerging and transitioning regenerative projects.  

Jack and his wife Shannon have shared life and work for 30 years and have raised their two sons together on the farm.  Jack is also active as a board member for several mission-based organizations including Johnny’s Selected Seeds, Northeast Organic Farming Association, Lexicon of Food, Hudson Valley Bioregional Steering Committee, Synergos, and Pocantico Hills Board of Fire Commissioners.   

Michelle Hughes has more than 20 years of experience building programs to support more just and resilient food systems working at the intersection of agriculture, racial equity, economic justice, and community health. As a Director of Regional Food Programs at the Glynwood Center for Regional Food and Farming, her work focuses on building multidisciplinary coalitions that center regional farms as a cornerstone of solutions to food insecurity and food apartheid, while strengthening the health and vitality of both urban and rural communities.

Previously, Michelle was the Co-Director and Head Buyer at Rolling Grocer 19, a food justice initiative anchored by a full-line grocery store with a tiered pricing system that intentionally prioritizes access for households experiencing food insecurity. She also served as Director of Investments and Partnerships at the National Young Farmers Coalition, and for a decade directed GrowNYC’s New Farmer Development Project and FARMroots programs, where she supported 20 immigrant families in launching independent farm businesses that now steward more than 400 acres collectively.

Michelle holds a BS in Conservation Ecology and Agroecology from Rutgers University. In addition to her nonprofit leadership, she is also a practicing farmer and co-owner of Reclamation Herb Farm in Germantown, NY, where she and her husband produce medicinal herbs for the Hudson Valley community.

For almost 20 years, I've been a passionate food access advocate. In my role as Food Security Program Manager at Cornell Cooperative Extension Orange County, I build connections between local food producers and food access programs in the Hudson Valley.

One of my key initiatives is the GleanMobile, a highly successful program that recovers and distributes over 400,000 pounds of fresh, local fruits and vegetables annually. I've also fostered a food purchasing program that creates lasting relationships between agencies and farms, ensuring access to nutritious local produce for our communities. Working directly with food inspired me to take supporting roles with others working in the same field, such as Glynwood’s Food Sovereignty Fund and the Hudson Valley Food System Coalition. It also led to me taking larger roles in food system projects such as the Newburgh Food Project’s Community Food Assessment.

My dedication to this field has led to the implementation of creative solutions that address the challenges faced by farms, agencies, and communities in achieving food security. The impact of this work has been recognized locally by Mohonk Consultations and nationally by PBS.

Julianne Schrader Ortega is the Managing Director of the Hudson Valley Farm Hub. Julianne is focused on deepening and expanding the HV Farm Hub’s efforts to foster a resilient food system in the Hudson Valley. From Guatemalan forests to neighborhoods in New York and Philadelphia, Julianne has worked to transform land use and empower communities to move towards sustainable and just food systems.  

As Vice President and Chief of Healthy Neighborhoods at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS) since 2015, she led partnerships across 250 neighborhoods to use gardening to improve health and wellbeing by increasing food access, economic opportunities, social connections, and improving the livable environment. Prior to joining PHS, Julianne was the Director of the Citywide School Garden Initiative at GrowNYC.  In this capacity, she cultivated partnerships to connect New York City public schools with the funding, training, and materials needed to start and sustain learning garden programs. Julianne also worked for over a decade at the Rainforest Alliance, supporting efforts to drive market-based solutions for measurable benefits to forest conservation and for farmers and forest communities around the world. 

Steffen finished his agricultural university studies in Giessen, Germany in 1982. He has been a Biodynamic practitioner since 1983, first in Wisconsin, and from 1989 until 2020 at Hawthorne Valley Farm. He loves working with the livestock, especially the dairy cows and his passion for Biodynamics continues to grow. He is convinced that a spiritually grounded agriculture is a major lever for societal transformation. He has given workshops and lectured at numerous national and international conferences. Through the Institute for Mindful Agriculture, he is currently engaged in food justice projects in the Hudson Valley of New York and supports food systems change in collaboration with several agricultural ventures, locally and nationally. Presently he serves on the Board of Demeter USA as treasurer. He lives with his partner Rachel in Columbia County, NY and is grateful to be able to spend more time with his two sons and three granddaughters.

Linda Tarrant-Reid is an author, historian, freelance journalist, photographer and community advocate. She was appointed in 2024 to the 9-member NYS Community Commission for Reparations Remedies by President Pro Tempore and Majority Leader Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins. In 2022, Linda was appointed by Senate Majority Leader Stewart-Cousin and confirmed by the NYS Senate as Commissioner of the NYS Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation Commission for the Taconic Region. The Region includes state parks and historic sites in Westchester, Dutchess, Putnam and Columbia Counties.

Ms. Tarrant-Reid’s advocacy work with NYS has elevated her commitment to preserving the history of those who have been erased and those who are unheard. Although most of her career, Ms. Tarrant-Reid focused on literary pursuits, she has turned her attention to urban farming, food justice and food insecurity. Ms. Tarrant-Reid has been the garden administrator for grow! Lincoln Park Community Garden since 2011. The garden was created to memorialize the 50th anniversary of the struggle by the parents and students to desegregate Lincoln Elementary School in 1961. The 10,000sf urban farm is located on the former campus of the elementary school at Lincoln Park in the heart of the historic African American community in the Lincoln Avenue Corridor.

Ms. Tarrant-Reid’s current project is The Lincoln Park Conservancy, Inc. The Conservancy is a 501c3 with a mission to preserve, educate, and celebrate the rich history of the Black community in New Rochelle and address food insecurity in marginalized and disadvantaged communities. Linda is the Executive Director of the Conservancy and has established The Lincoln Park Conservancy History & Culture Center in a community benefit space located in the Arts’ District in downtown New Rochelle. Ms. Tarrant-Reid launched grow! Eat, a program that feeds the food insecure in New Rochelle, in 2023. She is currently expanding the growing space for the grow! Eat Program from 10,000sf to 22,000sf, with the addition of an 8,000sf rooftop farm atop an 11-story apartment building and a 4,000sf farm at the local Boys & Girls Club in New Rochelle, NY.

For more information about Linda Tarrant-Reid’s work, visit:

www.tlpcinc.org

www.facebook.com/growlincolnpark

Steph is dedicated to ensuring that every New Yorker can access healthy food through the worker-owned food distribution cooperative, Brooklyn Packers. His focus is on creating neighborhood owned food hubs that connect BIPOC farms and aggregators with communities in need. These hubs improve health and economic outcomes while promoting better nutrition. By envisioning worker-owned hubs encompassing wholesale, retail, and agriculture businesses, he works to create abundant job opportunities and ensures year-round access to fresh, local, affordable, and culturally relevant food for all New Yorkers. By addressing basic needs and fostering community connections, he believes these hubs can foster more resilient neighborhoods that thrive.

Kaija Xiao is a Taiwanese/Chinese American farmer and organizer. Kaija believes in non-hierarchical organizing, mutual aid and Cooperatives; and that our relationships to each other and to land form the basis for all systemic change, including revolution. She is a worker-owner of Gentle Time Farm, a trans and queer 3 acre no-till cooperatively owned diversified vegetable farm growing culturally relevant East Asian crops for Asian community and diaspora in New York. She is also a worker-owner of Choy Commons, a cooperative of Asian-led farm projects in the Northeast engaged in culturally rooted food sovereignty and mutual aid.