Our Team
Elizabeth Henderson
Fair Farms Technical Assistance Coordinator & Trainer
Elizabeth Henderson farmed at Peacework Farm in Wayne County, New York, producing organically grown vegetables for one of the first CSAs in the country. As NOFA’s representative to the Board of the Agricultural Justice Project, she has spent two decades observing and studying work conditions on farms and farm labor policies and practices with the goal of transforming farmwork into the respected vocation it deserves to be given the significance of food for human life. She blogs at https://thepryingmantis.wordpress.com.
Jon Magee
Technical Assistance Coordinator
Jon Magee (he/him) is a farmer and community organizer based in western Massachusetts, and serves as Technical Assistance Coordinator at the Agricultural Justice Project. Since 2006, he has worked on organic vegetable farms in Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts. His commitment to caring for both planet and people led him to organizing with the Pioneer Valley Workers Center, Agrarian Action Network, and the AJP in 2014. Since then, Jon has volunteered extensively as an organizer, writer, and movement builder in struggles for immigrant rights and community-led safety. Jon is passionate about building people power and learning and sharing the skills we need to get the world we deserve.
Patty Love
Bookkeeper and Queen of Quickbooks
Patty is a lifelong gardener and forager who, for over a decade, has suburban homesteaded on an acre of traditional homelands of the Haudenosaunee People in the Genesee Valley (now known as Rochester, NY) while she patiently waits to become a farmer. Grounded in regenerative living practices, patty has a foot in both the business and the land stewardship worlds. She provides business consulting and bookkeeping to social justice organizations from her keyboard. Patty is also a Certified Permaculture Designer and Teacher, who mentors folks working with nature to create regenerative foodscape ecosystems. Cooking and eating locally sourced organic food with beloveds is her idea of fun!
Denise Aguero
FJC Trainer and Auditor
Denise is a gardener, eater, and believer in human rights and dignity. She has been a trainer and auditor with AJP for over 13 years. She designs and presents online and on-site training for certification bodies, inspectors, and farmworker organization representatives, including mentoring auditors in interview techniques at farm and facility audits. Denise led an internationally accredited organic certification program at Quality Certification Services (QCS) for eight years, and she is now a Program Manager at Sumerra, working closely with the Social & Labor Convergence Program, a multi-stakeholder initiative sharing data on factory working conditions.
Leah Cohen
General Coordinator
Leah Cohen (she/her) is the General Coordinator for the Agricultural Justice Project. She comes from a rural working-class upbringing and has worked with projects aimed at addressing disparities experienced by farmworkers, farmers, and fishing households and rural communities for over 25 years. Her experience with the Agricultural Justice Project began in 2004 with development of the verification system for certification and development of the certifier and worker organization training in verification of compliance to the standards. Recognizing that western, white supremacist, patriarchal-centered charity and aid work is unable to transition us to a just food system and society, she is committed to working towards justice work that is rooted in the those most impacted and harmed being centered in the solutions and power structures to address systemic injustices and disparities.
Governance
The Agricultural Justice Project is driven by stakeholders and committed to democratic principles. Our stakeholders are everyone who works in food and farming or is impacted by our food system, who shoulder too many of the burdens and enjoy too few of the benefits of how our food system works.
Our Stakeholders
The size and membership of the Advisory Council and Standards Committee are determined based on principles of equal representation. AJP has identified key stakeholder groups: Farmers, BIPOC Farmers, Workers (food system workers, farm interns and apprentices, and farmworkers), Small Local Retailers, Food Businesses (manufacturers, processors or brand holders), Food Insecure Eaters and Communities, Indigenous Communities, and experts in fields related to AJP work. The Council and Committee are established with an equal number of representatives from each stakeholder group as much as possible. Representatives from additional groups, such as civil society NGOs or certifiers, are also welcome to join. Contact us for more information on becoming a member.
The label is governed by three collaborative committees made up of representatives from different food system stakeholder groups: an Advisory Council; a Standards Committee; and our Board of Directors.
See our comprehensive list of all food system stakeholders that have had decision-making responsibilities regarding AJP’s work, strategies, and standards by serving on our governance bodies since AJP’s inception. Read more about our governance process in section 7.0 of our Policy Manual. Our bylaws are also available upon request.
AJP partner organizations
Project partners Rural Advancement Foundation International-USA (RAFI-USA), Comité de Apoyo a los Trabajadores Agrícolas/Farmworker Support Committee (CATA), and the Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA) are leaders in the fields of sustainable agriculture policy, workers’ rights, community-based food systems, and organic certification. Each of the non-profit organizations in this unique partnership is grounded in decades of grassroots change-making and community organizing. These three organizations sit on the AJP’s Board of Directors.
Board of Directors
AJP is governed by a Board of Directors, a collaboration of non-profits working to create equity and fairness in our food system. These non-profits include El Comite de Apoyo a los Trabajadores Agricolas/The Farmworker Support Committee (CATA), Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA), and Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI). The board can also be comprised of advisor members. All decisions are made via consensus with a quorum that dictates that at least one farmworker representative and one farmer representative be present in addition to a simple majority of the board.
Current Board Members
- Cali Alexander, representative of the Northeast Organic Farming Association, small-scale rancher, NJ.
- Jessica Culley, representative of Comité de Apoyo a los Trabajadores Agrícolas / Farmworker Support Committee (CATA), farmworker advocate and representative of farmworker stakeholder group via CATA membership, NJ. Current board president.
- Edgar Franx, Healthcommunism100@Washington State Political and Campaign Director at Familias Unidas por la Justicia, farmworker stakeholder, WA.
- Elizabeth Henderson, representative of the Northeast Organic Farming Association, retired organic farmer and co-founder of AJP, farmer stakeholder, NY.
- Susan Alan, representative of the Rural Advancement Foundation International – USA, family farmer advocate, NC.
- Marty Mesh, retired organic farmer and co-founder of AJP, farmer stakeholder, FL.
- Michael Sligh, retired rancher and co-founder of AJP, rancher stakeholder, NC.
Advisory Council
The AJP Advisory Council is active year-round and offers guidance to the Board of Directors and AJP Staff on standards interpretation, policy development, and many other issues. The AC meets by conference call to consider any program or standards changes proposed by the Board and Staff. Members must be able to contribute time to carefully consider revisions and guide the program in annual meetings and in urgent revisions scenarios. The Advisory Council is composed of food system stakeholders and stakeholder advocates, as well as individuals with expertise useful in our work for a just food system.
Current Advisory Council Members
- Anita Adalja, Not Our Farm, NM, farmworker stakeholder.
- Denise Aguero, Independent Organic and FJC Inspector, FL; eater and certification stakeholder.
- Becca Berkey, Northeastern University, MA; eater and farm labor justice researcher stakeholder.
- Christina Spach, Food Chain Workers Alliance; a coalition of worker-based organizations that advocates for the following stakeholder groups: food chain workers, immigrant workers, women workers, workers of color.
- Ernesto Bustos, former Executive Director, Centro Campesino, MN; farmworker advocate.
- Gail Wadsworth, former Executive Director of the California Institute of Rural Studies, representing marginalized rural residents of California; farmers and farmworkers. Low wage workers in the food chain.
- Jennifer Taylor, Lola’s Organic Farm, GA, BIPOC farmer stakeholder.
- Jim Cochran, Swanton Berry Farm, CA; farmer stakeholder.
- Joy Miller, Keewaydin Farms, WI; farmer stakeholder.
- Kathy Peters, Abundance Cooperative Market, NY; retail food co-operative and retail employee stakeholder.
- Keith Talbot, Workers Legal Rights Project, NJ; worker advocate.
- Nancy Vail, Pie Ranch, CA; farmer stakeholder.
- Nezahualcoyotl Xiuhtecutli, The Farmworker Association of Florida, FL; represents farmworker stakeholders.
- Rosalinda Guillen, Executive Director, Community to Community Development, WA; a women of color led organization that works to empower under-represented people to bring justice to our food, land and cultural practices and promote community relationships towards self-reliance and human rights for all.
- Tonya Noel Stevens, Co-founder, Flower City Noire Collective, NY, BIPOC urban farmer and food insecure experienced stakeholder.
Standards Committee
The Standards Committee convenes formally every 5 years for the FJC standards revision process. Committee members are invited to participate based on expertise or experience in a particular area of the food system the AJP standards cover. Members may be called upon on occasion in between 5-year revisions to address urgent standards revision issues.
Standards Committee Members for the 2015-2016 Revision Process
- Jim Cochran, Swanton Berry Farm, CA; farmer stakeholder.
- Jessica Culley, Farmworker Support Committee (CATA), NJ, a migrant-farmworker founded, membership-based organization; farmworker advocate.
- Rosalinda Guillen, Community to Community, WA; a women of color led organization that works to empower under-represented people to bring justice to our food, land and cultural practices and promote community relationships towards self-reliance and human rights for all.
- Marion McBride, Canada; brand stakeholder and Canadian organic grower stakeholder.
- Joy Miller, Keewaydin Farms, WI; farmer stakeholder.
- Tirso Moreno, formerly with the Farmworkers Association of Florida, FL; Farmworker stakeholder and advocate.
- Kathy Peters, Abundance Cooperative Market, NY; retail food co-operative and retail employee stakeholder.
- Nancy Vail, Pie Ranch, CA; farmer stakeholder.