Karen Thomas

Proposal Coordinator & Grant Writer

ASI Main Office

(530) 752-2191

Karen Thomas is the proposal coordinator/grant writer for the Agricultural Sustainability Institute (ASI) at the University of California, Davis. She has primary responsibility for coordinating the development and submission of multidisciplinary and collaborative grant proposals that match ASI's research and education objectives. She tracks ongoing grant funding opportunities, monitors and supports grant reporting requirements, assists the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Advancement Office in developing ASI's fundraising proposals to philanthropic organizations, and communicates ASI's progress to program sponsors and the public. Thomas completed a doctoral degree in comparative public policy at McMaster University and, before joining ASI, worked as a Senior Advisor for the Ontario Ministry of the Environment in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Tom Tomich

Director

SAREP & ASI

(530) 752-4563

Tom Tomich joined the University of California Davis faculty in January 2007. He is founding director of the UC Davis Agricultural Sustainability Institute, inaugural holder of W.K. Kellogg Endowed Chair in Sustainable Food Systems at UC Davis, and a professor in both the departments of human and community development, and environmental science and policy. He also serves as director of the UC statewide Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (SAREP). Tomich was principal economist for the World Agroforestry Centre from 1994-2006. During that time, he worked with the ASB Partnership for the Tropical Forest Margins, first in Southeast Asia and then as ASB global coordinator, based in Nairobi, Kenya, leading long-term collaborative partnerships at sites in the Amazon, Congo Basin, and Southeast Asia aimed at raising productivity and income of rural households without increasing deforestation or undermining essential environmental services. Before that, Tomich spent 10 years as a policy advisor and institute associate with the Harvard Institute for International Development and served as a lecturer in economics and in public policy at Harvard University.

Martin Burger

Research Manager

SAFS

(530) 754-6497

Martin Burger, an agroecologist with a background in soil science and plant physiology, has been named research manager of the UC Davis Sustainable Agriculture Farming Systems (SAFS) project, an ASI affiliate. The SAFS project has looked at reduced tillage, the use of cover crops, drip irrigation and other sustainable farming practices for almost 20 years. Its main project site is UC Davis' Russell Ranch Sustainable Agriculture Facility, which is also home to the campus Long-Term Research in Agricultural Systems experiment. Burger, who was a post doctoral researcher at UC Davis, is working with more than 20 SAFS principal investigators and UC Cooperative Extension farm advisors, more than a dozen farmers, and other researchers, graduate and undergraduate students.

Robert Bugg

Cover Crops/Restoration Ecology

SAREP

(530) 754-8549

Robert L. Bugg received a Ph.D. in entomology from the University of California, Davis. Since that time, he has conducted research on biological control of insect pests, cover crops, and restoration ecology. His work has been published in numerous scholarly journals, including Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment; American Journal of Alternative Agriculture; Biological Agriculture and Horticulture; Biological Control; Hilgardia; Environmental Entomology; HortScience; and Journal of Economic Entomology. He currently serves on the Editorial Advisory Board for the international journal Biological Agriculture and Horticulture. Along with Richard Reed of Community Alliance with Family Farmers Foundation, he was co-originator of Biologically Integrated Orchard Systems for almonds and for walnuts, and served on the respective management teams. He continues to play a supporting role for both projects. Bugg was point person in UC SAREP's implementation of Assembly Bill 3383, and provides technical support for the two Biologically Integrated Farming Systems (BIFS) projects. He has a special interest in helping growers develop biologically integrated farming systems and in assisting graduate students in conducting research on sustainable agriculture.

Gail Feenstra

Food Systems Analyst

SAREP

(530) 752-8408

Gail Feenstra is the Food Systems Analyst at the University of California Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (SAREP) and the UC Davis Agricultural Sustainability Institute (ASI), based in Davis, California. SAREP's Food Systems Program encourages sustainable community development and local food systems that link farmers, consumers and communities. Feenstra's research and education efforts include: direct marketing, farm-to-school and farm-to-institution evaluation, regional food system distribution models, food systems indicators, urban agriculture, food security, food policy, food system assessments and most recently, carbon footprint analysis in the food system. She is an associate editor of Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems (formerly, American Journal of Alternative Agriculture) and past president of the Agriculture, Food and Human Values Society. Feenstra has a doctorate in nutrition education from Teachers College, Columbia University with an emphasis in public health. Her career has been dedicated to integrating human, environmental and community health through sustainable food systems.

Lyra Halprin

Senior Public Information Representative

SAREP

(530) 752-8664

Lyra Halprin is the senior public information representative at the University of California, Davis' Agricultural Sustainability Institute (ASI) and the statewide Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program, an ASI affiliate. She is responsible for news and information outreach about ASI and its affiliates in news releases, two newsletters, the program Web site, other electronic information systems and publications. The newsletters are Sustainable Agriculture, and Russell Ranch/SAFS Project. Halprin also organizes the annual Russell Ranch sustainable farming system project's annual field day. A graduate of UC Davis, Halprin has a Masters of Journalism degree from UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism. She is an alumna of the California Agricultural Leadership Program.

Bev Ransom

Program Manager

(530) 754-8546

Bev Ransom is the program manager at the University of California, Davis' Agricultural Sustainability Institute (ASI) and the statewide Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (SAREP), an ASI affiliate. She has primary responsibility for the overall program management of ASI, including direction of ongoing stakeholder engagement with ASI's strategic planning; the design, commission, and management of ASI program evaluation and impact assessment; oversight of financial planning and budget management; supervision of core support staff; and, facilitation of team-building, collaborations, and partnerships with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders. Ransom is a graduate of UC Davis.

Raoul Adamchak

Market Garden Coordinator

Student Farm

Raoul Adamchak is the Market Garden Coordinator at the UC Davis Student Farm. The Market Garden provides experiential learning opportunities to students interested in organic agriculture. Adamchak's educational activities include programs in organic vegetable crop production, operating a CSA (community supported agriculture project), participating in farmers markets, organic green house production, vegetable variety trials, on-campus sales, equipment operation, and student-directed internships. Adamchak worked for many years as a partner in Full Belly Farm and as an inspector of organic farms, and has served as the president of the board of California Certified Organic Farmers. He has an MS in International Agricultural Development from UC Davis. His career has been dedicated to the expansion and development of organic farming.

Mark Van Horn

Director

Student Farm

Mark Van Horn is director of the UC Davis Student Farm, which is a part of the campus' Agricultural Sustainability Institute (ASI), and is a lecturer in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences. Since 1977, the 20-acre Student Farm has offered diverse programs that focus on sustainable agriculture principles and practices, emphasize in-field, experiential learning, and facilitate student initiative, creativity and exploration. Van Horn's teaching activities have included courses on sustainable agriculture, agricultural ecosystems and organic farming, seminars on alternatives in agriculture, and mentoring several interns and graduate student researchers each year. His publications focus on various aspects of sustainable and organic farming and sustainable agriculture education. In 2006, Van Horn and two colleagues hosted the first national conference on post-secondary sustainable agriculture education; he is a founding member of the Sustainable Agriculture Education Association and is a member of its steering committee. Van Horn has Master of Science degrees in plant breeding (University of Minnesota) and pest management (UC Davis) and several years of experience farming in California and the Midwest.