Staff & Board

Diane Litwin is the farm manager at The New Haven Ecology Project, an urban farm nestled in West Rock park at a high school in the city of New Haven.

Patrick has been at Waldingfield Farm full time since 2006. Prior to that (he was part-time at Waldingfield from 1996-2006) he worked in finance at R.G. Niederhoffer Capital Management, a New York City hedge fund, while also pursuing acting. He is a graduate of Union College (B.A. English) and The Stella Adler Conservatory (MFA program). Patrick is responsible for marketing, sales, farmers markets, and operations, as well as day to day farming duties. He and his wife and son, Suzie and Griffin, divide their time between Brooklyn, NY, and the farm in Washington, CT.

Howard retired after a career as CFO/COO for large law firms to start a small USDA processing business focused on purchasing whole animals from local farmers to create delicious charcuterie and contribute to the creation of a more sustainable food system.  In June of 2021, Howard joined forces with Sub Edge Farm where he now works as a butcher. Howard has a BS in Statistics from the University of Michigan; an MBA with a concentration in Non-Profit Management from Boston University; a Grand Diplôme from the French Culinary Institute.

Dana Jackson is editor and publisher of Edible Nutmeg, a regional magazine focusing exclusively on western Connecticut’s food community, including farmers, chefs, and locally produced food of all kinds. He is a graduate of UCLA (B.A. English) and San Diego State University (M.A. English). A former Connecticut farmer, himself, Dana believes that community begins at the food level and that local food production is the key to building stronger communities in our state. Although he enthusiastically supports all of our state’s food growers and producers, he admits to having a particular affection for our breweries.

Steve Munno is the Farm Manager at Massaro Community Farm in Woodbridge, a certified organic, non-profit, which operates a CSA, sell to local markets, offers on-farm educational programs and events, and donates a portion of its harvest to local hunger relief organizations. Prior to coming to Massaro, Steve farmed in both Massachusetts and California.  Steve was a co-founding member of the New CT Farmer Alliance and joined the CT NOFA board in 2012.

Hailing from Los Angeles, her 16 years working in agriculture began on the West Coast bringing her to Connecticut first in 2004. Shannon has extensive experience aligning urban agriculture, food justice, and environmental education. After graduating from San Francisco State University with a degree in Geography and Natural Resource Management, she found her way from working in outdoor education to farming and agricultural education. As a farmer, she has worked all manner of farms from 20-acre certified organic CSA to 450 acre Christmas tree farms, to community gardens and urban agriculture. Shannon has developed farmers markets in Hartford, mobile markets in New Haven and hustled her own farm products everywhere she could. She is a certified Master Composter and a founding member of the New Connecticut Farmers Alliance. In 2011 she left her own farm business, Four Fields Farm, to be the Farm Director at Common Ground High School. She recently left that position after 6 seasons and is exploring a new relationship to agriculture not as a producer, but as an advocate and strategist.

Yasemin has been a fan of real food and agriculture since her childhood in Austria where she grew up across the street from a farm.  She has traveled and lived in many different countries, always paying attention to the eating and growing habits of the various cultures. Since her return to the US in 2012, Yasemin has put her background in hospitality and event planning to good use by creating opportunities to support local small businesses and farmers through farmers markets, collaborations, and fundraisers. Yasemin is always seeking out new opportunities to share her administrative talents and organizational skills to support local, organic farms, which are a crucial part of healthy, natural lifestyles and protecting and preserving the earth.

Freedom Gerardo is co-founder of SEAmarron Farmstead and E&G Community Builders. He built these two businesses with one thing in mind: building people power in BIPOC communities. Freedom has dedicated his life to organizing youth, teaching them about power, the power they have individually and as a collective – and the power and potential of their communities.

Throughout his career, food insecurity has been the preeminent issue to tackle. Freedom is now building a multi-layered, long-term agenda to end food insecurity by farming and organizing communities to build power and reimagining a new food system centered around justice and equity.

Having worked with nonprofits and unions throughout the country in several different capacities, Freedom has gathered the knowledge necessary to help lead organizations to identify their strength and create lasting change. Freedom created numerous multi-generational coalitions that were used successfully to win campaigns, and continued to use said coalitions to advance other political, legislative, and social objectives. Lastly, Freedom has a proven record of creating and implementing multi-year strategic plans that have supported the vision of organizations while also ensuring that the plan was tangible and transparent for all.

Diego Osses is the Programs Director at Green Village Initiative. Diego is an accomplished Agricultural Engineer with an MBA and a Master in Finance. He has a wealth of experience in farm management, international business development, and diplomacy, spanning over 25 years and several countries, including Chile, China, and Thailand. He is also an alumnus of the MS in Finance program at the University of Bridgeport School of Business. One of his notable achievements was leading the promotion of socially and environmentally responsible exports during his tenure as Trade Counsellor for South East Asian markets. In Green Village Initiative, Diego leads efforts to promote food justice and food access, urban agriculture, youth leadership, and community engagement.

Vetiveah Harrison is a Black American/Creole native from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Her parents birthed an entrepreneurship spirit within her that kickstarted a journey of urban farming, herbalism, nutrition, food justice, anti-hunger advocacy, and economic development strategy. She is an expert with 10 years of in-depth food system industry knowledge. She is motivated by the dire need to have a more equitable food system and channels this motivation through leading efforts that inspire, educate, and transform marginalized Black communities and organizations that serve Black communities.

She is currently a Program Manager for CitySeed Food Business Incubator, a nonprofit organization that reduces barriers to food entrepreneurship in New Haven by working to create economic opportunity for all, increasing leadership by people-of-color and immigrant food entrepreneurs, and strengthening our local food system by linking food entrepreneurs to source food from farmers. At CitySeed, Vetiveah, plays a major role in supporting entrepreneurs in launching their food businesses by providing an affordable commercial kitchen, helping with obtaining permits, licenses, insurance, marketing needs, creating basic business plans, and successfully entering the marketplace. Through her commitment to this role, she has helped CitySeed improve their training, support, and resources food entrepreneurs need the most.

Outside her capacity at CitySeed, Vetiveah serves as the Committee Chairwoman for Environmental Justice at the NAACP Bridgeport Chapter. Additionally, she works part-time as an Urban Farmer and Community Nutrition Educator, providing vital support to various nonprofit organizations in Bridgeport, New Haven, and Chicago. Her work involves cultivating food in urban spaces, school gardens, and community gardens. Vetiveah offers straightforward nutrition guidance, aiming to enhance dietary choices, while also addressing food waste issues and ending food apartheid.