We're excited to announce that our statewide team is growing, with three new additions to the CAFF & Farmers Guild Team, each of them eager to get started supporting sustainable agriculture and our family farm community here in California.
Josefina Lara Chavez, Farm to Market Specialist
Josefina was raised in the Salad Bowl of the United States, the Salinas Valley. She has a graduate degree in Public Administration and has a background in international development, nonprofit management, education, and agriculture. Through her work and volunteerism, she has served communities locally and internationally with social justice, equity, and loves being at the root of it all. She is passionate about creating stronger connections between people, and is currently working on getting her own farm off the ground. As our new Farm-to-Market Specialist, she'll work with local farmers, buyers and food hubs/distributors to increase access to and demand for local product. She'll help farmers build their capacity to enter institutional and direct markets, providing ongoing training and technical assistance to both farmers and food service operators on supply chain logistics, regulations, and best practices for Farm-to-Market sales.
Josefina was raised in the Salad Bowl of the United States, the Salinas Valley. She has a graduate degree in Public Administration and has a background in international development, nonprofit management, education, and agriculture. Through her work and volunteerism, she has served communities locally and internationally with social justice, equity, and loves being at the root of it all. She is passionate about creating stronger connections between people, and is currently working on getting her own farm off the ground. As our new Farm-to-Market Specialist, she'll work with local farmers, buyers and food hubs/distributors to increase access to and demand for local product. She'll help farmers build their capacity to enter institutional and direct markets, providing ongoing training and technical assistance to both farmers and food service operators on supply chain logistics, regulations, and best practices for Farm-to-Market sales.
Samir K. Doshi, Network Manager, San Mateo Food System Alliance
Samir K. Doshi, Ph.D. has worked in food systems and food justice in California as a farmer and an activist on and off for over 15 years. He was a former Senior Scientist in the Obama Administration leading teams on the Ebola Response in West Africa, as well as building community feedback systems so that programming could be more responsive and agile to needs on the ground. Samir has held teaching and research appointments at the University of Cambridge, UC-Berkeley, IIT-Bombay as a Fulbright Scholar, the Stockholm Resilience Centre, and the University of Vermont. As the new Network Manager of the San Mateo Food System Alliance, which is overseen by CAFF & The Farmers Guild, he will coordinate stakeholder input process as well as implementation of the Alliance’s Strategic Plan as they strive to increase their collective capacity to address a food system that spans an urban/rural divide, is marked by social and economic inequity, and presents challenges to food producers, distributors, and consumers alike.
Samir K. Doshi, Ph.D. has worked in food systems and food justice in California as a farmer and an activist on and off for over 15 years. He was a former Senior Scientist in the Obama Administration leading teams on the Ebola Response in West Africa, as well as building community feedback systems so that programming could be more responsive and agile to needs on the ground. Samir has held teaching and research appointments at the University of Cambridge, UC-Berkeley, IIT-Bombay as a Fulbright Scholar, the Stockholm Resilience Centre, and the University of Vermont. As the new Network Manager of the San Mateo Food System Alliance, which is overseen by CAFF & The Farmers Guild, he will coordinate stakeholder input process as well as implementation of the Alliance’s Strategic Plan as they strive to increase their collective capacity to address a food system that spans an urban/rural divide, is marked by social and economic inequity, and presents challenges to food producers, distributors, and consumers alike.
Héctor Calderón, Central Coast Farm Organizer
Hector Calderon is a graduate of the UC Santa Cruz Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems Apprenticeship and has agricultural experience working on produce, livestock and coffee farms throughout California and Hawaii, as well as through the Peace Corps, working with indigenous Kichwa communities in the high Andes of Ecuador as a small business advisor for farmers as well as an ESL teacher, a service he still provides to farmworkers here in California. As the Central Coast Farmer Organizer, Hector will oversee our farmer-to-farmer program in the region, organizing the local farm community around educational field days while providing boots-on-the-ground for our organization’s many services, outreach and advocacy efforts. With a focus on the spanish-speaking and Latino/a farm community along the Central Coast of California, Hector is here to help!
Hector Calderon is a graduate of the UC Santa Cruz Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems Apprenticeship and has agricultural experience working on produce, livestock and coffee farms throughout California and Hawaii, as well as through the Peace Corps, working with indigenous Kichwa communities in the high Andes of Ecuador as a small business advisor for farmers as well as an ESL teacher, a service he still provides to farmworkers here in California. As the Central Coast Farmer Organizer, Hector will oversee our farmer-to-farmer program in the region, organizing the local farm community around educational field days while providing boots-on-the-ground for our organization’s many services, outreach and advocacy efforts. With a focus on the spanish-speaking and Latino/a farm community along the Central Coast of California, Hector is here to help!
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