The National Advisory Team is made up of experts in land access and land justice in the United States. Members will oversee and evaluate our progress toward objectives and benchmarks and hold the research and extension teams feet to the flame of ensuring that the research has practical and innovative applications. With any questions about the National Advisory Team, please contact Corey Thomas of American Farmland Trust.
Antonio Roman-Alcalá is an educator, researcher, writer, and organizer based in Oakland, California who has worked for just and sustainable food systems for the past 18 years. Antonio co-founded San Francisco’s Alemany Farm, the San Francisco Urban Agriculture Alliance, and the California Food Policy Council, and his 2010 documentary film, In Search of Good Food, can be viewed free online. He holds degrees from UC Berkeley and the International Institute of Social Studies, The Hague. Antonio is an Assistant Professor at Cal State University East Bay, a musician and father, and currently organizes food scholars through the international Agroecology Research-Action Collective (ARC) and tenants through the Bay Area’s Tenant and Neighborhood Councils (TANC). He is also in search of new land to farm – a tough prospect in the urbanized and gentrified San Francisco Bay Area!
Marcus Bernard is currently an Associate Professor of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology at Kentucky State University and an Interdisciplinary Research Leader Fellow (alum) with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. His research focuses on resilience and food security through a community-based participatory research lens and seeks to understand how marginalized groups build community through relationships and resistance. Bernard’s dedication to rural development originated from his own rural roots in North Carolina on his family’s small produce operation. Academically, Bernard has built on his relationships with community organizations, small businesses, and farm families to research economic development, public health, and opportunities for youth in agriculture throughout the Black Belt Region.
Kate Delavan leads the Office of Farmland Preservation at the Washington State Conservation Commission. Kate brings a broad understanding of food systems and conservation to her work, with diverse experience including conservation transactions and policy, conservation funding, land-use planning, farmers markets, and food assistance programs. Kate holds a BS in Global Business from the University of Redlands and a MPA from the University of Washington.
Jessica Groskopf is the Regional Extension Economist at the University of Nebraska Panhandle Research and Extension Center and the Director of the Nebraska Women in Agriculture Program. She joined Nebraska Extension in 2012. A native of Colorado, she received her B.S. in Agricultural Business from Colorado State University and M.S. in Agricultural Economics from Kansas State University. She loves to work with fellow farmers and farm families to address the challenges of growing food.
David Howard co-leads the strategy and implementation of the National Young Farmer’s Coalition policy campaigns, ensuring they are pursuing bold change that is grounded in up-to-date policy analysis and in alignment with NYFC vision, mission, and values. In the ten years prior to joining Young Farmers, David served in various roles for former Iowa Senator Tom Harkin and as a presidential appointee at the U.S. Department of Agriculture during the Obama administration. David grew up in Portland, Oregon and the small town of Marble Rock, Iowa. He holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Northern Iowa.
Shoshanah Inwood is a rural sociologist and an associate professor in SENR. She holds degrees in rural sociology, environmental science and biology. Her career has focused on the intersection of agriculture, environment, and society in the context of community and economic development. Shoshanah has maintained a dual focus studying both the role of communities in food system development and the socio-cultural household level processes that underlay the American food and agriculture system. Her research and outreach program centers on three themes: 1) Community based economic development through food and agriculture 2) Social and community factors affecting farm growth and development, and; 3) The persistence of agriculture at the rural-urban interface.
Jan Joannides is the Executive Director and co-founder of Renewing the Countryside. For the past twenty years, she has been an advocate and organizer for rural communities and citizens working to stimulate economic growth and enhance their communities through sustainable uses of their landscapes and resources. Jan holds a master's degree in natural resources from the University of Minnesota. She lives with her family along the Zumbro River in southeast Minnesota.
Stu Lourey serves as Government Relations Director for Minnesota Farmers Union (MFU), where he helps MFU’s family farmer members develop grassroots policy priorities and then drive on those priorities on the state and national level. He grew up on a small farm in east central Minnesota where his family grew organic apples and sold grass-fed beef direct to consumer. Prior to joining MFU, Stu served as a legislative aide to Senator Tina Smith in her Washington D.C. office, where he focused on rural healthcare, education policy, and work with Minnesota’s 11 tribal nations. Before that, he worked in Northeast MN for Senator Al Franken. He graduated from Carleton College in Northfield, MN with a degree in Sociology and Anthropology.
Brad Lubben has nearly 30 years of experience in teaching, research, and extension, focusing on agricultural policy and agricultural economics and working in Illinois, Kansas, and Nebraska. Brad's expertise includes federal farm policy, agricultural policy development, and agricultural risk management education. Brad grew up on a grain and livestock farm near Burr, southeast of Lincoln and holds B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a Ph.D. from Kansas State University.
Katie Nelson is Director of Legislative Affairs at the Indiana State Department of Agriculture (ISDA). Katie has worked for ISDA since 2017 and serves as a liaison between agricultural businesses, state agencies and local units of government. Katie serves as the Executive Director of the Indiana Land Resources Council and earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia. She grew up on a fifth generation cattle and row crop farm in central Missouri and now resides in Franklin, Indiana with her family.