Valerie VanOostrum - Secretary: B Commerce 1997 Saint Mary’s University. For the past 18 years working at Just Us! Coffee Roasters Co-op in Customer Service & Orders; President of the Just Us! Coffee Roasters Co-operative Board during a time a transition. I am interested in being involved in an organization committed to promoting and financially supporting agriculture and a … Read more.
Aaron Eisses - Director: I was raised on a dairy farm in Colchester County, Nova Scotia. Growing up on the farm I was taught the lessons of hard work, community, and pulling together to get through hard times, and an understanding of the climate and how changes are affecting the environment. I studied computer science at Dalhousie University. After … Read more
Leslie Brown - Director: Full Professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax (1983-present). PhD University of Minnesota, 1983; BA (Honours), University of New Brunswick, 1972. Over the past 15 years I have been involved in collaborative research, for the most part funded by SSHRC as part of their community-university partnership program of grants...Read more
Johanna Kwakernaak - Chair: I am interested in the work of FarmWorks based on my personal experience and a strong belief that agriculture as a historical foundation to our Nova Scotia economy can and should be integral to our economic future. FarmWorks provides an innovative model to grow all aspects of an agricultural economy, is uniquely Nova Scotian, a … Read more
Linda Best - Treasurer, Founding Director: Chair Friends of Agriculture in NS, Medical Microbiologist Linda Best grew up on a farm in the Annapolis Valley. Since graduating from Acadia University in 1966 she has been involved with the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital in Halifax as a Medical Microbiologist (1966 – 1995), Medical Researcher and author … Read more
Ann Anderson - Founding Director: Educator, Friends of Agriculture FarmWorks is for me one way of helping preserve what I have grown to love about Nova Scotia. I came to Wolfville, attracted by the warm, community minded people, plus access to the fruits and vegetables of the famed Annapolis Valley. Always concerned by nutrition and my personal and family’s health … Read more
Robert MacEachern - Director: Joe grew up in the Antigonish area and currently lives with his wife and children in Halifax where he is the Indigenous and Diversity Program Manager, Global Health Office, Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University. Previously he was the Non-Insured Health Benefits Navigator / Policy Support for the Atlantic Policy Congress of First Nations Chiefs, … Read more
Jenny Osburn - Director: Jenny found a passion for cooking very early in life. Learning at her mother’s side, she learned to appreciate the delicious flavours of fresh food prepared from scratch and came to head up the kitchen in one of Nova Scotia’s most beloved restaurants. For the past fifteen years, she’s been hard at work promoting Nova … Read more
Amin Tran - Independent Director: Amin was born in Ottawa, raised on the west coast, had his own business in the Prairies and now calls Nova Scotia home, where he lives in the Annapolis valley with his wife and son. Ironically, Amin found his passion for coaching small business and food while working in the corporate world where he has held … Read more
Peter Hicklenton - Director: Peter was first elected director of FarmWorks in April of 2014 having previously served as an advisor and supporter of the investment cooperative. He is a former research scientist and National Science Director with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, based at the Kentville Agricultural Centre (Kentville Research Centre). His research focused on greenhouse crops, and later … Read more