Jeff is a 9^th generation farmer in Sutton, MA with over 25 years of farming experience. He has deep roots in agriculture and focuses on creating systemic change through collaboration, education, and building networks of support.  Jeff worked as the Mass Farmers Markets Executive Director for 19 years, was a founding Board Member of the Boston Public Market and the National Farmers Market Coalition. Jeff advised the USDA in the creation of the Know Your Farmer Know your Food Program. He serves on the MA Food Policy Council, the Worcester County Farm Bureau Board of Directors, and the MA Food System Collaborative working group on Boards of Health.  In addition to being The Carrot Project’s Client Services Specialist, he also works part time as the MA Food System Collaborative’s Agricultural Network Coordinator. More recently, Jeff has opened his farm’s land and infrastructure to beginning, immigrant, and refugee farmers. He has a degree in Economics from Bates College.

 Meg farms at Abode Farm, a diversified draft horse and tractor-powered vegetable farm in located in New Lebanon, NY just over the MA border. She also works as the Rural Coordinator for Rolling Grocer 19, an innovative grocery store that prioritizes access for local income residents. She may also be found growing and processing medicinal herbs and caring for her dairy goats. Meg graduated from McGill University with a B.A. in Anthropology and has a Masters in Public Health from Columbia University.  

As a farmer, organizer, and public health professional, Meg has been working at the intersection of increasing equity in the food system and reducing health disparities for over a decade. She has managed food access programs at the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s Center for Health Equity, organized with migrant farmworkers and young farmers, and is involved in several projects to increase access to nourishing and affordable food locally. 

Genevieve Goldleaf coordinates outreach and communications, contributes to development, and provides administrative support for The Carrot Project. Genevieve found her passion for food justice advocacy and sustainable agriculture through managing the sustainable student farm at Wellesley College, where she earned a B.A. concentrated on agricultural policy and practice. Since then, she has mapped Boston’s local food systems and helped to launch the city’s first municipal composting program as an Assistant for Food Systems with the City of Boston’s Office of Food Initiatives; provided technical assistance to several of the Carrot Project’s clients as Program Assistant for Julia Shanks Food Consulting; and worked with a range of farm-related entrepreneurs and nonprofits.  

Johanna de Graffenreid began working with youth teaching sustainable farming practices while in college, and found her roots in the environmental justice movement while working for Greenpeace in 2009. She has since worked around the United States with education and advocacy organizations focused on a range of environmental issues. She left the frontlines fighting mountain-top removal for Coal River Mountain Watch in West Virginia to earn a Masters of Environmental Law and Policy from the Vermont Law School in 2015. After graduating, Johanna worked in the Gulf Coast region on climate justice as well as oil and gas accountability campaigns. In 2017, Johanna moved back to Vermont to advance state-based toxics and sustainable agriculture policy. She is excited to join our team coordinating The Agricultural Viability Alliance, supporting a region-wide coalition to advance food and farm enterprises in the Northeast. 

Julia Shanks is The Carrot Project’s Senior Business Advisor. She brings a broad range of professional experiences to her clients, from pilot to chef to serial entrepreneur. Julia received her professional training as a chef at the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, her BA from Hampshire College and an MBA from Babson College. After more than 10 years of professional cooking, Julia became a college professor of accounting and now works with food businesses and farms, helping them maximize profits and streamline operations through business planning, feasibility studies and operational audits. Julia’s second book, The Farmer’s Office provides tips, tools and templates for farmers to successfully manage a growing farm business. She sits on the advisory board of Future Chefs and is the regional leader of Slow Money Boston.

Dorothy Suput is the founder and executive director of The Carrot Project. Dorothy’s commitment to a sustainable food system grew out of the incredible contrasts between Midwestern agriculture, with which she grew up, and the locally focused food and farming system in Switzerland, where she lived after graduating with a BS from Purdue University. Dorothy formalized her commitment when she returned to the U.S. to complete her Master’s degree, from Tufts University’s Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning program, by focusing on sustainable agriculture and non-profit management. Following graduate school, she worked as the first regional organizer on the 1995 Farm Bill for the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group under the auspices of the Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture, and subsequently, as a consultant for the Hartford Food System, Red Tomato, and The Food Project. Dorothy serves on the Board of Managers for the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund Flexible Capital Fund and the Advisory Committee for the PVGrows Investment Fund.