Michael Nadeau Announced as Winner of 5th Annual “Bill Duesing Organic Living on the Earth” Award

CT NOFA is proud to announce Michael Nadeau as the winner of the 5^th annual Bill Duesing Organic Living on the Earth Award, to be presented during the 41^st Winter Conference this March.

This award is given annually to an individual or organization who has worked to advance organic living on our earth and supports the continuation of the life work of Bill Duesing. We continue to cherish the legacy of our founder through this annual celebration of his many contributions.

Please share this news with your network to spread the word about the Bill Duesing award and Bill Duesing’s legacy. We hope to inspire a new generation of environmental stewards and to continue the unfinished work of our founder.

2023 Awardee, Michael Nadeau

Before his passing, Bill Duesing expressed his fervent wish that the movement to which he dedicated his adult life be carried on by his colleagues, a mandate which Michael Nadeau fulfills through a lifetime of effort and work to make Connecticut landscapes ever more organic.

Michael Nadeau is one of the leading authorities in the field of sustainable organic and ethical land care strategies in the United States. He is sought after for creating attractive sustainable and restorative environments using organic practices that respect the ecology of the property and reflect the philosophy of the client. Michael’s organic and sustainable holistic land care approach carefully maximizes wildlife habitat with specific plantings and techniques, improving the overall health of land, water, and wildlife.

He is a co-founder of CT NOFA’s Organic Land Care program, which has educated and accredited nearly 4,000 land care professionals since its inception in 2001. In 1999, Michael helped write the NOFA Standards for Organic Land Care to address a national problem: while the  term “organic” is clearly defined in terms of food and agriculture, land care and landscaping — an industry with wide-reaching impact on the health of our environment — had no such national definition for the term. The goal was to define what “organic” would mean in the context of professional land care, and to formalize the practice of organic land care so that the public could reliably choose practitioners who meet organic standards. Ultimately, these standards were the basis upon which the coursework for the CT NOFA Organic Land Care Program was developed. He also co-authored the NOFA Organic Lawn and Turf Course Manual, the only 100% organic handbook for the care of athletic fields and home lawns.

To this day, Michael continues to teach courses within the program, lecture throughout the northeast region about organic land care and restorative practices, and offer a variety of organic land care and environmental restoration consulting services.

Michael Nadeau has previously been the recipient of the 2009 CT Award for Conservation Excellence, the 2009 Environmental Service Award, the 2010 Hummingbird Environmental Stewardship Award, and the 2018 NOFA Person of the Year Award. Involved in the landscape and tree business since 1968, Michael has continued to remain a pupil of Nature and is a published writer on subjects including ecological, sustainable, and organic land-care topics.

About the Bill Duesing Award

Bill Duesing founded CT NOFA, The Northeast Organic Farming Association of Connecticut, in 1982, and when he announced that he was facing the final chapter of his life, he said, “I trust my colleagues in this mission will continue their efforts to realize a sustainable and joyful future for all.” Bill passed on July 12, 2018.

In his honor, Bill’s many friends have joined with CT NOFA to carry on his legacy through the creation of “The Bill Duesing Organic Living on the Earth Award.”

Bill’s passion for conservation, organic farming and land care, activism and advocacy, and education can be seen throughout Connecticut in his life’s work. From the expansion of organic farming and landscaping, to the founding of CT NOFA and Common Ground High School, to the legislative efforts that led to tangible impacts on the environment (such as the statewide ban of synthetic pesticides on school grounds), we honor Bill by continuing his unfinished work through education and advocacy.

This award is presented annually at the CT NOFA Winter Conference. Learn more about this year’s conference, here.