Primary Contact

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  a network of over 50 farmers, food producers and purchasers

Team Members

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  Andy Loughney

  WFF Coordinator and Driver

  Andy moved to southern Vermont in 2010 with his partner Hanna and their animal crew to establish a homestead in the hills. He has been amazed by the community of creative and welcoming people in this area surrounding the development of systems that serve the public well and with care. He is happy to be contributing any momentum he can towards an equitable local food paradigm, these days in the name of Windham Farm & Food. Andy believes in the power of the collective and enjoys playing music, tending to the various kingdoms of life, and sometimes just being.

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  Hans Estrin

  WFF co-founder/ UVM Extension Lo

  I co-founded Windham Farm and Food and am currently the Local Food Network Coordinator for UVM Extension. In my consulting work State-wide, I provide technical support and help emerging food hubs cultivating community-based wholesale food markets connecting farms with schools and Hospitals. I earned a BA and MS in Botany from UVM, taught high school science for decades and worked on several produce farms. My strengths include teaching, motivating and facilitating groups, networking and team building. I love good food and believe that through our evolution, we humans have been selected to produce good food in small social groups--communities. Thus I see building community-based food systems as much about rekindling our true humanity as it is about becoming more resilient and environmentally benign.

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  Paul Harlow

  Owner/ Operator: Westminster Org

  Owner and Operator of Harlow Farm, a large (for Vermont) diversified organic produce farm in southern VT. From one angle, Paul Harlow is a typical Vermont farmer. His farm has been in the family for three generations, since 1918, and during WWII, his grandfather was selling produce at the precise location of today’s Harlow Farm stand and cafe. Paul’s brother runs the stand while his sister helps with marketing and adds value with her preserves sold at the stand. Paul’s son Evan works on the Farm helping to manage things in the field, and keeping the computer running. Like so many other large farms, Paul’s 20-plus employees are significantly international, with many returning year after year from Jamaica on the H2A program. Also like many other farmers, Paul is active in the community outside the farm; he serves on the town selectboard and has chaired it for several years. But clearly Paul and the Harlow Family Farm also deviate from the typical. For over three decades the Harlows have led the organic produce movement in the region. Paul bought the farm from his parents in 1975, and in his-mid twenties he knew farming was in his blood to stay. He started growing organic vegetables on a quarter acre, before the word “organic” came into popular use. Within a decade NOFA was rooted, and his entire operation was certified Organic. As a creative and calculated risk takers Paul and his brothers invested time and resources into making organic produce widely available. In 1985, they helped form Deep Root Organic Cooperative, which significantly increased the quantity and predictability of wholesale organic produce in New England. Paul now grows over 40 crops on about 130 acres. He started his current company Westminster Organics, in 2001. Today, with over 20 employees, Westminster Organics grosses around 1 million dollars annually. Paul’s main crop, lettuce, accounts for about 30% of sales and 30,000 heads planted each week. Other major crops types include root crops (25%), brassicas (20%), and squash (10 % of sales). Paul has thrift in his bones. By buying, trading and maintaining used equipment, converting the old barn to a packing house with cold storage, and doing his own construction and excavation, he has minimized overhead and remained profitable through a changing climate and market. He has increased production and distribution of organic pork, chicken and eggs. Although the biggest Westminster Organics accounts include Whole Foods and Red Tomato, Paul aims to feed more folks in his community. He supplies the likely local markets, selling to the area coops, and soon to Hannaford, the local supermarket. But he also sees value and potential in cultivating future more equitable markets. For years, he has offered produce to nearby schools. In 2009, He partnered with other farmers to launch and run the Windham Farm and Food Network, a local school and institutional wholesale market delivering to local cafeterias in the Windham County Area. And he also works with the Vermont Food Bank gleaning Program to channel a significant amount of fresh Harlow produce into the local meal centers and shelters for those in need. While cultivating from the seat of his tractor, Paul is continually on the lookout for ways to support, build capacity and strengthen the food system in his community.

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  Nathaniel Brooks

  Evangelist

  A recent transplant to Windham County, Nathaniel brings marketing savvy, computer wizardry, and a whole lot of enthusiasm to the WFF team. A former strategy consultant turned international development worker turned farmer, he currently homesteads in Guilford and is actively fermenting ideas for several different ventures in the local food space.

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  Richard Berkfield

  Executive Director- Post Oil Sol

  As a key component of Post Oil Solutions’ work to build a community-based food system, I coordinated the management of WFF during 2012. My greatest skill in this endeavor is listening to (and trying to implement) the ideas from and working with our very talented, multifaceted team of interested parties in making the WFF vision a reality for every community around the world. My organizational skills, networking, and thinking outside the box have contributed to the growth of WFF through new and innovative projects like the Equitable Food Buying Clubs. Somehow I balance this “visionary” thinking with pragmatic Chief Financial Officer skills like monitoring Profit and Loss and strategic budgeting