This April Claire Tondreau, Marketer / Strategic Planner, and Doctor Joseph Heckman, Rutgers University' Cooperative Extension, both accepted the nomination to serve on the Board of Directors for the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New Jersey.
Claire's interest in healthy food systems started with a healthy interest in food. An enthusiastic cook, Claire noticed decades ago that the vegetables that came from her garden and the local CSA tasted significantly better than those from the supermarket. Claire is a career marketer by background who held executive positions at J. Walter Thompson and Ammirati Puris Lintas advertising before founding a boutique consulting firm in New York that specialized in brand development and corporate strategy. Her firm, HotSpring, was based on the philosophy that any one thing in a system necessarily affects everything else in that system. She brings this belief to NOFA NJ, knowing there's a tremendous opportunity to help residents understand and appreciate that everything in New Jersey—from water and soil quality to consumer demand and satisfaction—is critically interconnected and vital to our individual and collective well-being. Claire has had kitchen gardens in Hunterdon and Warren counties. Her current garden grows in Monmouth County. Dr.
Dr. Joseph Heckman is a Professor of Soil Science; he teaches courses in Soil Fertility, Organic Crop Production, and Agroecology. As Soil Fertility Specialist for Rutgers Cooperative Extension, he serves both conventional and organic farmer cliental. He is responsible for providing soil fertility recommendations for the wide variety of agronomic and horticultural crops grown in New Jersey. His current research focus is on sustaining soil fertility with improvements in nutrient cycling and composting. His extension programs support healthy plant and animal ecosystems with the goal establishing nutritious food systems for human health and sustainable communities. Dr. Heckman has served as Associate Editor of Journal of American Society of Horticulture Science, and as Chair of the Council on History, Philosophy, and Sociology of Soil Science. Dr. Heckman is currently serving as chair on the American Society Agronomy, Committee on Organic and Sustainable Agriculture. Dr. Heckman recently hosted a seminar series on Raw Milk at Rutgers University.
Please join NOFA-NJ in welcoming these two new board members!
Source: Northeast Organic Farming Association of New Jersey
