The instructors at the Organic Farmer Training Program are committed to preparing graduates who will be ready to enter or re-enter their careers and lives with a well rounded and practical perspective on organic farming and the production and management skills needed to grow food for a wide range of food related endeavors following completion of the program. To this end, students are engaged in both classroom style learning, discussions, and demonstrations as well as a more hands on “apprentice” style learning. They work in the hoop houses, greenhouses and fields alongside their instructors and farmers with the expectation that as their competency increases, they will take on more and more responsibility of the farm operations. Students will also have assignments and opportunities to be presenters and teachers.
Additionally, MSU Organic Farmer Training Program takes great pride in the high level of instruction students receive. Pulling from a variety of backgrounds and experience, the OFTP team is composed of knowledgeable and passionate instructors, all of whom have made a personal commitment to organic farming and sustainable living.
Primary program instruction is carried out by individuals detailed below, additional lectures, workshops and demonstrations are given by a wide range of knowledgeable people including other MSU faculty and staff with particular subject area expertise as well as farmers, practitioners, educators, and those working in community and non-profit sectors on local and organic food issues. Some but not all of those additional presenters are listed.
Program Coordinator and Lead Instructor - Jeremy Moghtader
Jeremy has been managing the SOF and its 48 week CSA since August of 2004 and teaching in the training program since 2007 when it first began. He along with Corie Pierce (now teaching at Sterling College in VT) and others at the SOF designed the curriculum and program for the Organic Farmer Training Program. Prior to joining the SOF, Jeremy was a graduate student at the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment where his researched focused on Agroecology.
He has studied and worked at the Evergreen State College Organic Farm in Olympia Washington, and worked at several organic farms including the Mountain School educational farm in Vermont. Jeremy is also very involved in food and farm system education and activism. He serves on the founding board of directors for the Agrarian Adventure, a non-profit organization dedicated to connecting K-12 students to the source of their food through experiential food and agriculture education. He also serves on the leadership team of the Food System Economic Partnership of SE Michigan where he chaired the Farm to School Committee for 3 years, working to increase consumption of healthy locally produced food in school meals.
SOF Production Manager - Tomm Becker
Tomm has been SOF Production Manager since spring of 2007 where he handles the day to day operations of the farm and manages the undergraduate farm crew and volunteers. He oversees crop production, equipment and maintenance of farm infrastructure; keeping the farm running while facilitating student learning of the farms production methods, tools, and techniques. Prior to becoming the SOF production Manager Tomm was one of the early student organic farmers, working at the farm for 3 years while an undergraduate at MSU earning his BA in English. Tomm has also farmed for several seasons at Owosso Organics in Owosso, Michigan.
Farm Stand Manager and OFTP Assistant Instructor - Rachel Beyer
In January of 2009, Rachel gratefully transplanted to this Michigan farming family from the rolling woods of Southern Indiana. She came to the SOF and the Organic Farming Certificate Program direct from completing her BA in Sociology and International Studies at Indiana University, where she ached for exposure to practical, hands-on learning. Her vision of sustainable food production as a tool for positive social and environmental change comes from many experiences: growing up in a rural community, work running the Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program in her home town, months interning for a school feeding program in West Africa, and sitting down every night with her family to eat dinner. She LOVES good food, driving the tractor, dancing outside, and all the hard working folks at the SOF. In 2010, Rachel is honored to get to spend a second year here as Farm Stand Manager and OFTP assistant instructor.
CSA Manager and OFTP Assistant Instructor - Rebecca Bloomfield
Rebecca was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. While volunteering on an organic farm in Sicily after university, she was inspired to pursue work that involved making connections between what we eat and where it comes from. She participated in Adamah—an organic farming, sustainable living, and Jewish learning fellowship in the Connecticut Berkshires. After this, she moved to Berkeley, California, to teach gardening for two years at The Edible Schoolyard. With a desire to learn more about how to produce organic food on a larger-than-garden scale, she enrolled in the Organic Farming Certificate Program at the SOF, where she learned just how much more there is to learn. Rebecca is currently the CSA Manager and an assistant instructor for the Organic Farmer Training Program. She loves to grow, harvest, cook, and eat delicious produce with intention and with community.
Propagation Manager, Recruitment Coordinator and OFTP Assistant Instructor – Denae Friedheim
Although she hails originally from the Lone-Star State, Denae Friedheim has made Michigan her official home. She first came to the Great Lakes region to study at Saint Mary’s College in South Bend, IN where she majored in Biology and Sociology. Following graduation, she moved to Chicago to work in public health research. It was there that she discovered her interest in farming, albeit from a systems perspective. She headed to Michigan in 2008 intending to study public health but was quickly derailed by the SOF. After volunteering for a few months she took the plunge and completed the Organic Farming Certificate Program in 2009. She enjoys all things bikes, beer, burritos, books and baby plants. It’s fitting, then, that she’s the Propagation Manager at the SOF. She’s also an Assistant Instructor for the program and is involved in recruiting new OFTP students.
Additional Presenters
John Biernbaum – MSU Horticulture Faculty & SOF Steering Team Member
Adam Montri – SOF Outreach Coordinator & SOF Steering Team Member
Laurie Thorp – RISE Coordinator & SOF Steering Team Member
Mike Hamm – CS Mott Endowed Chair for Sustainable Agriculture
Susan Smalley – CS Mott Group for Sustainable Food Systems
Colleen Matts - CS Mott Group for Sustainable Food Systems
