FarmStart

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 – Director

Christie Young

Christie is the founder and director of FarmStart. She has extensive experience in program initiation and development, fund raising and coalition building. She also has a great deal of 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. She currently sits on the Local Flavour Plus Board of Directors and is completing her Masters in Geography at the University of Guelph.

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.

Jeff Boesch – McVean Farm Manager

Jeff Boesch

Jeff grew up on a farm in eastern Ontario, spending summers working for both his family and surrounding dairy farms. After spending some time at school in northern Ontario, Jeff got back to farming as an organic market gardener. For the last 6 years, Jeff has been making a living growing organic vegetables for farmer’s markets, Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs), and wholesale markets. Through two year of apprenticing on organic farms in the Guelph area, and an additional two years starting and running a business with two partners, Jeff has learned a lot about creating and managing a farm business.

Jeff is dedicated to working towards creating a new, truly sustainable agricultural system in Ontario and is very happy to be working with FarmStart towards this end.

Keturah Knapp – Administrative 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 Administrative Manager. Keturah brings experience in organic administration, small business management, non-profit project coordination and a B.Sc. in Biology from Trinity Western University.