Events

Keynote Speaker 
Jesus Flores

Jesus is from Charcas, S.L.P. Mexico. He grew up in a farming family in Mexico, and he is the third of twelve: eight brothers and three sisters. Early in his life, Jesus learned the importance of healthy and locally grown foods and hard work. His father had a 2-acre garden where he grew many things, like beans, beets, squash, fava beans, cilantro, broccoli, jalapeño, chili de marrones, carrots, and cauliflower. His father began teaching Jesus and his brother about agriculture at an early age. Jesus brings a great love and knowledge of agriculture to the farm park. He is skilled in vegetable production, irrigation, soil health and caring for bees.

As the RGFP Manager, Jesus applies his extensive farming and agriculture knowledge as well as his other professional experience in business administration, community support, education, and advocacy. Jesus is very passionate about farming. He says, “Where there is a lot of water, there is a lot of life.” Jesus enjoys conversing with people, hearing their stories, teaching what he has learned along the way, and sharing experiences and risks.

Keynote Speaker  
Elizabeth “Liza” Marron

Liza Marron is the founding director of the San Luis Valley Local Foods Coalition in one of Colorado’s most important agricultural regions. The Coalition works to foster an equitable local food system that restores the health of the people, community, economy and ecosystem. She has been a community organizer with a focus on social justice, wellness and prevention for many years. Ms. Marron has a master’s degree in Community Counseling and a Bachelor’s degree in Spanish. Her skill set includes coalition building, grant writing, governance, visioning and strategic planning, non-profit management, finance, and economic development. She was part of a community cohort in 1999 that conducted assessments and founded the Saguache County Sustainable Economic Development (ScSEED). Marron has retired from the SLVLFC and now serves as a Saguache County Commissioner.

She has been a Rocky Mountain Farmers Union member since 2016 and serves as the Secretary of the San Luis Valley Chapter.

Marron lives in Saguache, Colorado with horses, dogs, cat and chickens, her garden and her bicycle.

Moderator 
Will Schanbacher, PhD

William Schanbacher, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at USF and co-founder of the USF Urban Food Sovereignty Group. He is the author of three books and a new book with Whitney Fung, Food Insecurity: A Reference Handbook (Bloomsbury Academic 2023), which addresses the history of food insecurity in the United States through the lens of food sovereignty and food justice. His research and teaching interests concentrate on religious and social ethics, globalization and poverty, and food justice.

Lisa Pineda

Lisa Pineda is the UF/IFAS Family Nutrition Program's Policy, Systems, and Environmental Changes Specialist. She comes from a long line of farmers, foragers and educators of diverse backgrounds including Indigenous, African, Spanish, and Middle Eastern roots. Lisa collaborates with multiple entities to align various curricula with innovative sustainability programs, as well as develops partnerships with commercial, municipal and non-profit entities who share common goals and objectives. Current collaborators include Sustainable Urban Agriculture Coalition (SUAC), Pinellas County Schools, Edible Peace Patch Project, Deuces Food Forest, Daystar Life Center, Eckerd College, University of South Florida, University of Florida, and City of St. Petersburg.  

Nicole Brand

Nicole Brand holds the first Director of Conservation and Greenspaces position for the State University System of Florida. She oversees the environmental and botanical spaces within the College of Arts and Sciences as a part of the Environmental Conservation Outreach, Research, and Education (ECORE) System. Previously, she served as a founding member of the St. Pete Youth Farm - a partnership between the Pinellas County School Board and the City of St. Petersburg. She secured initial funding for the project, and funding is now sustained as a line item in the City of St. Petersburg's budget. Prior to joining USF, she spent seven years with the Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation working on large landscape conservation as their first Director of Communications and their first Director of Outreach Programs. She holds an MS in Food Systems and Society from Oregon Health and Science University’s School of Medicine.

Mary Kennedy
Farm Ambassador

My name is Mary Kennedy and I am from Virginia. I am currently a senior Environmental Studies major at Eckerd College. I am a Farm Ambassador on the Eckerd College Community Farm, where I facilitate tours and experiential learning while also participating in weekly work on the farm.

Madison Prikryl
Farm Ambassador

My name is Madison PrikryI and I am a junior majoring in environmental studies and minoring in sustainability and coastal management at Eckerd College. As a Student Farm Ambassador at the Eckerd College Community Farm, my main focus is communicating the importance of the farm and its key values to the student body and surrounding community.

Chris Schweighofer
Student Farmer/Farm Chef/President of the Ethnobotany & Tea Club

I work on the Eckerd College Community Farm as a Student Farmer and the Farm Chef.  As Farm Chef, I work to introduce the ingredients we grow to our community members, demonstrating all the ways they can be used and enjoyed. I am also the president of the Ethnobotany & Tea Club, which maintains an ethnobotanical garden on the ECCF and where we grow tea, fruit, and plants of many kinds for the community to enjoy. 

David Himmelfarb
Eckerd College Community Farm, Faculty Director, Instructor, Environmental Studies

Dr. Dave Himmelfarb teaches courses on food, environmental sustainability, and social justice at Eckerd College and is the Faculty Director and co-founder of the Eckerd College Community Farm, where he coordinates educational programs and community outreach. Trained as an environmental anthropologist, Dave has conducted fieldwork on food security and rural livelihoods in Uganda and Vietnam.

Dharsh Saravana
Agrarian Club President

My name is Dharsh Saravana (they/them), and I study Environmental Science and Policy with minors in math and GIS at USF. I am the president of the Agrarian club, and I strive to elevate various cultural expressions through food sovereignty. Seed saving is important to my immigrant background, and I’m currently involved in establishing a seed library at the USF Tampa campus. My activism revolves around showing the USF and the Tampa Bay community that food sovereignty is for everyone through events like the Food Sovereign Farmers Market. I am eager to take my experiences from my activism and explore what food sovereignty looks like as a solution for economically disadvantaged urban populations.

Ameya Singh
Agrarian Club Vice President

My name is Ameya Singh and I'm a junior studying Environmental Science and Policy with a concentration in sustainability. I'm the Vice President of the Agrarian Club and am involved in starting a student-led Seed Library initiative at USF. My passion for sustainable agriculture, community resilience, and cultural recognition led to an interest in food sovereignty and seed-saving. Coming to the States, I noticed an immediate disconnect with our food systems. I also struggled to access ethnic crops and foods that suited my lifestyle. These projects and my work mean a lot to me as they aim to repair these issues. The goal is to restore diversity in many forms and give power back to our communities. In the future, I also plan on integrating these ideas into my career and further studies in Agroforestry.