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Hannah Breckbill Hannah has been working on farms for a decade in Minnesota and Iowa. In 2017 she started a worker-owned cooperative farm, Humble Hands Harvest, in Decorah, Iowa. Hannah has worked as a farmer advocate with the Land Stewardship Project and Practical Farmers of Iowa. She completed the Farmland Access Navigator training in the winter of 2019-2020 and since then has been working with beginning farmers on land access, with a lot of interest in group and community ownership models. Hannah was recognized in 2021 as a Changemaker by MOSES. |
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Amber Mohr Amber and her family started Fork Tail Farm seven years ago in Avoca, IA where they produce pasture-raised meat and poultry. A beginning farmer herself, Amber has relied on the wisdom of experienced farmers to help her navigate decisions. She completed the Farmland Access Navigator training in the winter of 2019-2020 and has been working on farmland access since then. Amber also advocates for farmers as Executive Director of Avoca Main Street Inc., a local community economic development organization. |
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Martha McFarland Martha McFarland joined PFI staff in 2022 as the senior farmland viability coordinator. In this role, she supports land seekers and landowners with land access and farm transition assistance and resources. Martha has been a farmer member of PFI since 2014. Martha also runs Hawkeye Buffalo & Cattle Ranch near Fredericksburg, Iowa, where she manages grazing on woods and pasture, raises oats and hay and works with a tenant who raises corn and soybeans. Her experience with her farm’s transition and her love of the Iowa landscape inspired her to help the next generation of farmers and landowners. Prior to running the ranch, Martha spent 10 years working in education and mentoring beginning teachers. She holds a Master of Education from Colorado State University. Martha also loves yoga, writing, early morning coffee on the back porch and traveling to the cities to explore new restaurants. |
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Joe Klingelhutz Joe Klingelhutz became a Farmland Access Navigator in the Fall of 2022. He lives in Iowa City, IA where he works and is involved in farming vegetables, honey bees, perennials, and chickens. He runs his own independent beekeeping operation and has worked for several other farms including Rainbow Roots Farm, Buffalo Ridge Orchard, Ebert Honey, Wild Woods Farm, and Grimm Family Farms. Joe has 4 years of experience working with Iowa landowners and land seekers through his role as the Farm Specialist for the Sustainable Iowa Land Trust. As a beginning farmer and with his experience in increasing farmland access in Iowa he is excited to work as a Navigator helping other farmers find land to meet their goals. |
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Laura Cullip Laura Cullip is a Land Access Navigator and Farm Business Management Specialist for Renewing the Countryside. She is a long-time organic vegetable farmer with her partner, Adam, and has used a wide variety of FSA loans to finance their farm purchase and the purchase of farm equipment and infrastructure. Laura has expertise with farm financials, different loan options for farmland purchase (including FSA, RFA, and agricultural lenders), and beginning farmer resources and support. She is also a MN Department of Agriculture Farm Advocate that works with emerging farmers. Laura lives with her family in Hutchinson, MN. |
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Katie Kubovcik Katie has been working as a farmer educator in the Twin Cities since 2010, providing services to farmers in the areas of business planning and farm management, land access, transitioning to organic farming, accessing USDA programs and selling to wholesale markets. Katie started her career as the training program coordinator/manager at Big River Farms, a program of The Food Group, and continues to support farmers through Big River Farms as well as Renewing the Countryside when she started as a Land Access Navigator in 2020 and an FSA/NRCS Connector in 2021. With her family, Katie operates Prairie Smoke Gardens in St. Paul.
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Moses Momanyi Moses Momanyi co-owns the 20-acre organic certified Dawn2Dusk Farm in Cambridge Minnesota. Currently he sells vegetables at Mill City and Kingfield farmers markets in Minneapolis. President of Kilimo Minnesota, a nonprofit farmer incubator & African Growers and Producers Alliance. |
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Brett Olson Brett is a co-founder of Renewing the Countryside and works as a Farmland Access Navigator, food business advisor, and on community and local foods system development. With a background as an art director and designer, Brett serves as RTC's Creative Director. As one of the founders, Brett has been involved in much of the development, planning and organizing of Renewing the Countryside since its beginning. Brett and his family live on a historic dairy farm and stone stagecoach stop in Zumbro Falls, Minnesota. |
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KO (Chuekao Thao) My full name is Chuekao Thao but normally I go by KO. I have lived in Madison for almost my entire life, starting my elementary education at Lakeview Elementary and finishing up with a BA from UW-Madison. While young, I was very active in sports like soccer, volleyball, and weightlifting. I’ve been married for over 30 years and raised 4 children all enrolled in college. While attending UW-Madison in the early 90s, about eight or nine of us early Hmong students found our first mutual assistant student association at UW-Madison (HASA). Since I graduated, I’ve taken various job from working as Teaching Assistant for Madison Metro School District to starting various self-employed businesses. Southern Wisconsin Hmong Association (SWHA) was one major association I joined in the Hmong community during the late 90s. I served in various capacities from being a board member to being treasurer of the association. Currently I’m an avid gardener with the Troy Garden and enjoy taken hiking trips with family and fellow trackers. |
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Kelsey Vance Kelsey Vance is a Farmland Access Navigator with Renewing the Countryside. She has over ten years of dairy farming experience and is currently focused on custom grazing dairy heifers, as well as her own sheep, goats, and small herd of cows. Having gone through a family farm transfer herself, Kelsey understands both the challenges and the rewards of finding the right fit for land and people. She is passionate about helping farmers and landowners connect in ways that support long-term stewardship and strong rural communities. Her goal is to make the path to farming feel a little more possible and a lot less overwhelming.
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Nou Thao Nou grew up on the eastside of Madison. She has volunteered with Troy Community Garden for many years before joining Rooted. Food is woven into the fabric of who she is. You can find her eating and surrounded by food all day long. She has worked to help address food insecurity in the community. She is an educator, an advocate, and community organizer. Nou is passionate in connecting communities through food and storytelling. |
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Bonnie Warndahl Bonnie Warndahl is a Farmland Access & Transfer Specialist at Renewing the Countryside and a certified Farm Succession Coordinator. She has supported farmers in Wisconsin and Minnesota since 2021, working both to help emerging farmers secure land tenure and exiting farmers/landowners to transition their land to the next generation of farmers. Bonnie started farming in 2015 and has owned and managed a cut flower farm and agritourism business in the beautiful rolling hills of the Red Cedar River Valley in Colfax, Wisconsin. |