Our Team
FarmStart is made up of a team of dedicated and passionate people. We love our work and were drawn to it because we want to see farmers succeed in Canada.
Our Team:
Christie Young – Executive Director
Christie Young
Christie is the Founder and Executive Director of FarmStart. She has extensive experience in program initiation and development, fund raising and coalition building. She also has experience and wide networks in both agriculture and the community food security sector. Christie has worked with farmers and farm leaders on and off farms in several countries. She worked for several years with FoodShare in Toronto, organizing the Field to Table Festival. She was a founding Board member of Local Food Plus.
Christie continues to be inspired by all the passionate, hard working and dedicated new farmers who are making delicious change in their lives and our communities. And she is thrilled that FarmStart can be part of building a healthy sustainable agriculture for future generations.
Christie balances her time at FarmStart with time with her two amazing, exhausting and loving little boys.
Sri Sethuratnam – FarmStart-Up Programs Manager
Sri Sethuratnam
Sri has a master’s degree in Capacity Development and Extension from the University of Guelph. He has worked in agriculture for twenty years, as a farmer, as an agricultural engineer engaged in soil conservation, and now as a Project Manager for FarmStart.
Sri immigrated to Canada in 2004. Prior to his work with FarmStart, Sri spent a year conducting research on migration and natural resource management dynamics in his native Southern India. He is a passionate student of traditional management practices in agriculture, and a proponent of integrating traditional approaches into modern farming methods. Sri is of the opinion that traditional and indigenous methods may hold the answers to issues like environmental sustainability and climate change.
Melissa Watkins – Farm Succession Program Manager
Melissa Watkins
Raised on a small farm in Nova Scotia, Melissa’s interest in food production began early when she came to realize that her barnyard friends eventually made their way to their dinner table.
She studied for one year at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College before moving to Ontario to complete degrees in Natural Resource Management (B.Sc.) and Land Resource Science (M.Sc.) at the Ontario Agricultural College at the University of Guelph.
Melissa has over ten years experience working with land trusts in Ontario, including seven years on the board of the Ontario Land Trust Alliance. Melissa was part of the group that formed the Ontario Farmland Trust in 2004 and was its Executive Director until 2008.
Ali English – FarmLINK Ontario Coordinator
Ali English
Ali is FarmStart’s FarmLINK Coordinator and also works on developing training programs and resources for new farmers.
After completing a master’s degree in Agroecology from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ali spent three years running a market garden CSA with two friends. Having been a new farmer faced with the challenges of accessing relevant training and secure farmland, Ali feels very fortunate to be working on these issues with FarmStart. Her years of apprenticing and farming in southern Ontario have left her with a strong connection to the local farming community.
Gayl Creutzberg – Training and Resources Coordinator
Gayl Creutzberg
Gayl Creutzberg is passionate about local food, sustainable agriculture and culinary tourism. She is motivated by being innovative and thinking creatively. Bringing various perspectives together from a large network of farmers and farm organizations, she develops new ideas and programs. She wants to hear about your training needs and how FarmStart can help you get started into farming.
In 2000, Gayl realized her dream when she began sheep farming organically in Grey-Bruce. She marketed organic lamb wholesale and retail, and through farmers markets and folk festivals. In 2006, she owned and operated a local food shop and deli. She continues to be involved with Grey and Bruce Counties’ initiatives to increase farm gate sales by developing a viable model for local food distribution. Gayl has a B.Sc. in Environmental Science from McGill University and welcomes your inquiries in French.
Saulis Tribinevicius – McVean Farm Manager
Saulis Tribinevicius
Growing up on a mixed subsistence and beef farm on Manitoulin Island, I spent my summers haying and fencing. Looking back at my experience being raised on a farm I see how it has greatly benefited my perceptions and life skills.
I have continued working in one form or another of agriculture for most of my life. After a stint of commercial beekeeping in Northern Alberta I came to see the social and environmental problems of current agricultural practices. Like many rural people I ended up moving to the city, but I still felt a need to stay connected with farming. I was lucky enough to find the opportunity to work on an organic vegetable CSA north of Hamilton where I was introduced to the importance of marketing as well as the growing of food to survive in the agricultural climate. I hope that I can bring my experiences to bear fruit as the McVean Farm Manager and for a prosperous and abundant season.
Kelsey Rideout – Outreach & Resource Development Intern
Kelsey Rideout
Kelsey Rideout is currently working as FarmStart’s outreach and resource development intern. Kelsey is presently completing an undergraduate degree in International Development at the University of Guelph. She is an advocate for transforming the notion of ‘development’ away from being a ‘third-world’ problem, towards one that recognizes the economic, social and environmental challenges that threaten ecological sustainability and the well-being of individuals in all areas of the world. With this in mind, she looks forward to speaking with small-scale farmers and gaining an understanding of the problems and opportunities they are currently encountering in local settings.
Monika Korzun – New Farmer Coordinator
Monika Korzun
Monika was born in a small town in north-eastern Poland. She spent many holidays and summers helping her family on their small farm. Monika combined her farming experiences in Poland with her academic pursuits in Canada. She received her Masters (M.A.) in International Development Studies from York University in 2009. Drawing upon literature of the EU and agricultural programs in Poland as well interviews with local farmers in the region of Suwalki, Poland, her Master’s thesis critically examines the ways in which EU’s agricultural policies and programs are altering the everyday lives of farmers in Poland. She began her Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Rural Studies at the University of Guelph in the fall of 2009.
Monika believes that a thriving rural community and a prosperous farming sector, including small scale farmers, are essential for achieving strong sustainability in today’s society. She is thrilled to be working with FarmStart, as it allows her to apply her academic knowledge to helping new farmers in Ontario.
Cherie Bauman – Administrative Assistant
Cherie Bauman
Having supported CSA programs for over a decade, Cherie has become an enthusiastic advocate of local sustainable agriculture and finds it to be a great pleasure to provide her support to new farmers through her role as Administrative Assistant.
Fresh local grown food has become such an integral part of Cherie’s family that she, her husband and their two young daughters are now all enthusiastic growers, and have been planting, tending & harvesting their own food for the last two years at Ignatius Farm Community Garden Plots.
Keturah Knapp – Event Manager
Keturah Knapp
When her Holistic Nutrition courses in Vancouver covered Sustainability and Agriculture, Keturah knew immediately that her life must change. “I vowed right there and then that supporting Sustainable Agriculture would always be a part of my life,” she recalls. As soon as she graduated from her program, Keturah sought out a position as Certification Administrator for an organic certifying body in order to learn the ropes of this new field. Her determination to support agricultural sustainability only increased as she met amazing local farmers and others with equal passion for the welfare of the land.
Following her recent move to Ontario, Keturah was thrilled to be given the opportunity to be FarmStart’s Event Manager. Keturah brings experience in organic administration, small business management, non-profit project coordination and a B.Sc. in Biology from Trinity Western University.
