Header Graphic
MOFFA Board Members

Katie Brandt’s two decades of farming experience inform her every day as she works with aspiring and beginning farmers. Her main project is teaching the MSU Organic Farmer Training Program, but she also leads Michigan’s USDA Transition to Organic Partnership Program and works to promote SARE grants and resources. Katie spent 5 years as a farmworker on small-scale, organic farms before co-founding Groundswell Community Farm in West Michigan, where she grew organic vegetables for several farmers’ markets and hundreds of CSA members over a dozen years. While farming, her research on organic controls for striped cucumber beetles earned her an MS in Biology from Grand Valley State University. She enjoys biking, playing with her 10-year-old son and time with her partner Jill. Katie is a new addition to the MOFFA board in April of 2023.

photo of Tony Browne Tony Browne is the co-owner and founder of Highwater Farms LLC. Highwater was officially founded in 2016 by Tony and his wife Sarah Browne. Tony grew up in Milford Michigan. His studies eventually brought him to Lansing where he founded Highwater Farms. In 2013 he began to focus on rare and historical flowers, produce, and fruits. After a family medical diagnosis in 2014, the dynamic of Highwater changed to include nutrition as one of its hallmarks. It was merely a happy coincidence that rare and unique was nearly ubiquitous with nutritious. Today the farm vends at several farmers markets in the Lansing area, runs both a flower and lettuce CSA, and attends weekly neighborhood markets in and around Lansing.  Tony was elected to the board in April, 2019.

photo of Merry ClarkMerry Clark is the daughter of Merrill Clark and John Clark, and was lucky enough to grow up on an organic farm in Michigan. She graduated from the University of Michigan in 1989, and then lived in California and Colorado. She has taught English and fitness, and has written 3 books. Reviewing what her mother wrote about organic agriculture has encouraged her to become more actively involved in Michigan’s local, organic food systems. She joined the board in July 2021.

photo of John EdgertonJohn Edgerton  joined Harvest of Joy Farm in west central Michigan in 2013. His forty years of growing experience includes market gardens, preservation gardens, and community gardens. He's passionate about preserving the diversity and deliciousness of our vegetable heritage and saving seeds from heirloom varieties that grow particularly well in Southwest Michigan.  His current interests include trials of small grains, including rice, which are adapted to Michigan growing conditions.  He was elected to the Board in November, 2017.

photo of John Hooper John Hooper  After graduation from Central Michigan U. with a B.S. in Ed. (Biology, Sociology), John had a brief stint as teacher for the Detroit Public Schools before spending the next few years traveling the globe. The next decade, spent primarily in Washington State, was committed to a partnership in Upper Valley Reforestation, a LLC devoted to work in the Cascade Range restoring plant and animal habitat after extensive logging operations; while simultaneously operating as an independent contractor in the orchards of the Wenatchee Valley. For 20 plus years John was Senior Manager of Living Foods Inc. in Ionia, Michigan, one of the nations largest purveyors of hydroponic sprouts and one of Michigan's first large scale greenhouse herb producers. After a few years studying landscape architecture in eastern Pennsylvania, John accepted the position of Manager of the Lansing City Market. Currently John is devoting his energies to local non-profits and cooperatives focused on equitable food distribution and food justice.  For 40 years an advocate and practitioner of the organic method of food production John's special concerns involve the benefit of a better life experience for all through proper and wholesome nutrition.  He joined the Board in 2009, served as Chair from 2011 through 2015, and is our current Secretary.

Kido Pielack is the Education Coordinator at Keep Growing Detroit. Kido is a native Detroiter who has been working in the field of Urban Agriculture for the past 12 years. His passion for plants and people led him from a career in organic landscaping to an apprenticeship in Urban Agriculture and studies with the MSU Student Organic Farmer Training Program. This training set the foundation for his current position coordinating and teaching adult agriculture education programming with Keep Growing Detroit. He loves sharing his skills with others and believes that in the classroom everyone has something to share and there is always something new to learn.  Kido joined the board in October, 2019.

photo of Linda Purdy Linda Purdy has been an organic grower, and an active member of Organic Growers of Michigan as well as MOFFA, for the past 30 years.  Linda and her spouse Lee purchased an historic flour mill in Argentine in 2000, and they were millers of certified organic grains for 15 years.  In 2016, they sold the mill, and are now growing specialty crops as well as their own grain, and are milling grain both from their own farm and other organic farms in the region at Westwind Farm in Swartz Creek.  In addition to the milling, they operate a CSA and host educational sustainable living events at the farm.  Linda joined the board in October, 2019.

photo of Brittney Rooney Brittney Rooney is an owner and manager at Beaverland Farms LLC, a 3-acre urban farm in Detroit. Beaverland Farms grows market vegetables, tree crops, mushrooms, annual and perennial flowers, and raises pastured chickens. The farm runs vegetable, flower and chicken CSA, as well as vends at markets in and around Detroit. Brittney has been farming since 2013 and is passionate about the role of animals in soil health and food production. She graduated from the University of Loyola Chicago with degrees in Environmental Studies and Political Science. Brittney was elected to the MOFFA board in April of 2023.

photo of Dane Terrill Dane Terrill joined the board as an advocate for providing non-toxic environments for kids and pets to play on, and to grow healthy nutrient dense food.  His work supports his advocacy as he is the Director of Sales/Marketing and Soil Consultant for Crop Services International (CSI) and Flowerfield Enterprises (FE) in Portage, MI.  FE is a leader in the small scale vermicomposting industry, and for the last ten years Dane was employed to develop a compost tea program.  He attended the Sustainable Studies Institute in Corvallis, OR to study compost, compost tea/extracts, soil biology and direct microscopy methods.  With his previous experience designing and maintaining an environmentally-friendly golf course, what evolved was an organic lawn care business that brews and applies compost teas to residential yards, gardens and athletic fields eliminating the need for toxic rescue chemicals and synthetic fertilizers.  The interest in compost tea and soil biology from a few local farmers prompted Dane to seek out a strategic partnership with CSI, a soil testing, consulting and product brokerage business started by Dr. Phil Wheeler.  This success of this relationship blossomed to the point that Dane brought both businesses under one roof in July 2014.  Utilizing the concepts of balancing minerals and bio-activating microbes, he and the staff at CSI/FE specialize in the education and transition of farmers, gardeners and landscape professionals to more sustainable, biological, and organic paradigms.  Dane is an avid golfer and fisherman and raises vegetables in his hoop-house and raised bed gardens.  He joined the board in 2012 and has served as Treasurer since 2015.

photo of Shara TrierweilerShara Trierweiler grew up on the island of St. Lucia and spent much of her childhood trekking rainforests with her Grand-uncle who was an environmentalist. This sparked her love for the animals, the environment, and mushrooms. After going to business school, she had a successful career in the finance world. However, in 2013 she met a woman farmer of Berkshire pigs at the Ohio state fair that changed the trajectory of her life.  She was introduced the potential of farming as a woman and the organic movement. She started planning, dreaming and hoping that she would get her own farm. That became a reality at the end of 2016 and she now owns and runs Agape Organic farms out of Dansville where she raises purebred Berkshire pigs and turkeys, grows over 28 varieties of mushrooms and grows microgreens. Shara joined the board in June of 2021.

photo of Stacey WilcoxStacey Wilcox is a marketing and business professional with 20 years of experience working with health and wellness, food, and technology companies. She is in the process of completing a Graduate Certificate in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems from Tufts University. She has an MBA from Northwood University, and graduated from Michigan State University with a Bachelor of Communication Arts. Stacey is also a certified health coach and yoga instructor.  She is passionate about helping others understand the origins of their food. She was elected to the board in September, 2020.



Please join us!

MOFFA members are welcome at any board meeting during the year.  if you're interested in joining us please email us at moffaorganic@gmail.com.  Currently meetings are planned for the following dates, but the dates may change depending on external factors, so be sure to contact us to confirm meeting dates, times, and locations. 

  • January 24, by conference call, 7 pm EST
  • February 28, by conference call, 7 pm EST
  • April 11, Annual Meeting, possibly in person
  • July 15, picnic retreat, in person
  • September 12 by conference call, 8 pm EST
  • October 17, by conference call, 7 pm EST
  • December 12, by conference call, 7 pm EST