Innovative Farmers of Ohio

innovative farmers of Ohio








Officers

   
   
Dan Trudel owns a u-pick raspberry operation in Knox County with his wife Ann. He acknowledges his wife for her creatie/imaginative work with the berries and they both have seized the opportunity to explore on-farm value added enterprises. He has alsoworked and continues as a consultant for site selection and positioning of businesses such as restaurants and farmers markets.
   
Sister Rita Wienken operates a large garden, flock of layiing hens, berry patch, and green houses for the St. Francis Mother House in Tiffin, Seneca Co. She also organizes 50 CSA’s (Community Sustained Agriculture) In her spare time she supervises an on-farm market. She co-founded the Earth Literacy Center located on the St. Francis campus which serves as an educational opportunity for young children in agriculture.
   
Mary Holmes, current President of IFO,  co-founded the North Union Farmers Market in Cleveland in 1995. In 2005 she wrote a report for the Farmland Center entitled, “Entrepreneurial Farming: Part of the Plan for Economic Prosperity in Northeast Ohio,” which profiled over 40 farmers in the region who were making a living farming and selling direct. She is a Presidential Fellow at Case Western Reserve University where she teaches a seminar on food, farming, and economic prosperity. She also publishes a blog at: www.bountyofthewesternreserve.com/wordpress
   
Abbe Turner lives with her husband and three children in Portage Co. where she tends and milks a small herd of goats. She has begun making cheese in an off-farm facility in Kent, Ohio, and selling her products. Her training is in fund raising and she has recently left her full time post with the Northeast Ohio Universities Colleges of Medicines and Pharmacy to run her creamery full-time.
   
   
   
Dwight Mitchell is an agriculture engineer with degrees in business education and environmental studies. He presently teaches at Athens Alternative Education Program in Albany, Ohio. He also raises a small herd of beef cattle on his farm in Athens Co. His present interest is in seeing that farmers utilize on-farm energy sources to empower their profits as well as harmonize with the land.
   
Traci Aquara, IFO’s Board Secretary, is employed as Program Administrator for the Heart of Ohio RC&D Council. As such, she brings her past experience in PR, Marketing and Event Planning which she also shares with IFO. When she is not working on non-profit projects, she works as a vocalist and teacher. She sometimes sings to her children, husband, goats, dog, cats, chickens and one jowly pig on her small hobby farm in Delaware County.

 

   Lynne Genter has had a lifelong love of good food starting from a childhood where she helped her mother prepare and preserve local farm food for a family of thirteen. Today, she is the wife of a farmer, a registered nurse, local food advocate, and community activist.  She founded the Clintonville Farmers Market in 2003 and served as its board president for seven years and volunteer market manager for four years. She and her husband are partners with Val Jorgensen on her 67 acre organic farm.  In addition to her full time work as Director of Nursing, Lynne is a member of Slow Food Columbus and the Ohio Ecological Food and Farming Association.

  Amy Viny is a free-lance food writer and blogger. Over the years she has co-owned both  retailing and manufacturing businesses. She has served in many organizations as both a board member and community volunteer in the areas of elder care, public education, and youth athletics. She and her husband of 22 years, Neil,  have three college age sons. Amy is a passionate home cook with a deep appreciation for the culinary and economic benefits a strong local food system can bring to our community.
   Joseph Logan is currently Director Agricultural Programs for the Ohio Environmental Council (OEC.)   Before coming to the OEC, Joe served as the Director of Governmental Affairs for the Ohio Farmers Union (OFU), after having served 3 terms as the President of the Ohio Farmers Union. As OFU President, he sat on the Board of Directors of the National Farmers Union (NFU), where he served as the Chairman of the Budget and Audit Committee and Vice Chair of the Legislative Committee He represents the OFU and the OEC on the Ohio Food Policy Council, the Board of the Ohio Conference on Fair Trade, and on the Coalition for a Prosperous America.  Joe previously served as the President of the National Association of Farmer Elected Committees (NAFEC) representing the interests of the locally elected Committees in the Farm Service Agency offices Nationwide  He had served for three years on the Board of Directors of Dairy Farmers of America (DFA), The Nation’s Largest Dairy Cooperative, and for several terms on its predecessor, Milk marketing Inc. (MMI).

Joe is a 5th generation family farmer, from Northeastern Ohio and father of 3 grown children.  He has operated a dairy farm for 25 years and still actively farms in partnership with his brother. Joe is also a Stinner Award winner and was involved in the founding of Innovative Farmers of Ohio.