Jennifer Clifford
Secretary
Farmer, Carlton Farms, Pennsylvania
Jennie Clifford operates Carlton Farms, her family’s certified Biodynamic and organic farm in northeastern Pennsylvania where she’s been making biodynamic preparations and practicing biodynamics since the 1990s. The farm has been in the family since the late 1800s. She has consulted for agriculture-related operations and has worked for Demeter and a number of organic certification agencies as an evaluator and certification reviewer since 2003.
Beth Hoinacki
President
Farmer, Goodfoot Farm, Oregon
Beth Hoinacki lives and farms with her family at Goodfoot Farm, a small, diversified market farm in the coastal foothills of Oregon’s Willamette Valley. The farm is also home to chickens, geese, sheep, horses, the occasional couple of pigs, cats and dogs, and a multitude of wildlife. A deep appreciation for the natural environment was likely instilled in her during her early years, growing up in rural southern Illinois where she worked for a neighbor picking and selling flowers for market, worked alongside her parents maintaining county cemeteries no longer in active use, and spent time wandering in the woods and fields and reading books.
Over the years and in many places, she has been a horseback riding instructor, a food server, a maid, a whitewater raft guide, a ski technician, and a scientist. Now she farms full time and wholeheartedly. Beth received her BA in Biology with a minor in Religion from Earlham College and her PhD in Botany and Plant Pathology from Oregon State University. She worked as an inspector and reviewer for Demeter from 2008–2016.
Marjory House
Diversity Officer
Farmer and Consultant, Oregon
Marjory House has been gardening and farming in the Willamette Valley of Oregon for over twenty years. She received a degree in ethnobotany from the University of Idaho, a certificate in herbology and nutrition from the Center for Herbal studies, and a permaculture certificate from Cascadia Permaculture institute. She currently owns and operates a seven-acre farm with over 450 apple trees, and over an acre of vegetables grown for restaurants and farmers’ markets. She has maintained a fruit tree pruning business since 2001 and a biodynamic consulting business since 2011. She has been practicing biodynamics since 1999 and has been a member of the Oregon Biodynamic group since 2006. She is the current preparation keeper for the Oregon Biodynamic group. You can contact her at gobiodynamic@gmail.com.
Steffen Schneider
Treasurer
Co-Founder, Institute for Mindful Agriculture, and Director Emeritus of Farm Operations, Hawthorne Valley Farm, New York
Steffen finished his agricultural university studies in Giessen, Germany, in 1982. He has been a biodynamic practitioner since 1983, first in Wisconsin, and since 1989 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.
Steffen 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. Before joining the Demeter Board, and now the Alliance Board, Steffen served on the Board of the Biodynamic Association of North America for 10 years.
He lives with his partner Rachel in Columbia County, New York, and is grateful to be able to spend more time with his two sons and three granddaughters.
Zach Wolf
Vice President
Farm Manager, Caney Fork Farms, Tennessee
Zach Wolf oversees the farming operations at Caney Fork Farms (CFF) in Carthage, Tennessee. CFF hosts an annual conference (The Climate Underground) and an extensive research program, all while raising cattle, sheep, pigs, chestnuts, vegetables, grain, and hay across 800 certified organic and transitional organic acres.
Zach began farming as a teenager at Whippoorwill Farm in New England. After a degree in Biology from Columbia University and research engagements at Aton Forest Ecological Research Station and The Earth Institute, he went on to manage the field operations and direct the Growing Farmers Initiative at Stone Barns Center. He has facilitated the Farm Beginnings Program at Hawthorne Valley Farm, served as the Director of Farm Operations at Glynwood, and most recently as a Research Fellow at The Nature Institute. He currently serves as a board member and on the standards committee of Demeter, USA.
You can usually find him out and about the farm, playing in the soil with his border collie, Joni.