Fred Kirschenmann, Leopold Center, Iowa State University
Patrick Fitzgibbons, Cargill Company
Tony & Sue Renger, Willow Creek Farm
Deana Knuteson (formerly Sexson), Healthy Grown Potato Project
Greg Welsh, Organic Valley & Turkey Ridge Organic Orchard

Fred Kirschenmann, Leopold Center, Iowa State University
Frederick L. Kirschenmann, a longtime leader in national and international sustainable agriculture, is Distinguished Fellow for the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University. From July 2000 to November 2005, he served as the Center's second director since its creation in 1987. Kirschenmann came to the Center from south central North Dakota where he operated his family's 3,500-acre certified organic farm. He continues to oversee management of the farm and has an appointment in the ISU Department of Religion and Philosophy.

He holds a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Chicago, and has written extensively about ethics and agriculture. Kirschenmann's academic credits include several years teaching and as administrator, culminating in a position as academic dean at Curry College in Boston, Massachusetts. He has held national and international appointments, including the USDA's National Organic Standards Board. He is a board member for the Food Alliance, Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area, The Nature Institute, and the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture at the Rockefeller Center in New York. He also chairs and is a charter member of the Whiterock Conservancy, a nonprofit organization that manages a 1,300-acre conservation area in west-central Iowa.

Kirschenmann Family Farms has been part of a number of research studies. It also has been featured in national publications including National Geographic, the Smithsonian, Audubon, Business Week, the LA Times and Gourmet magazine. In 1995, Kirschenmann was profiled in an award-winning video, "My Father's Garden," by Miranda Productions, Inc.

In 1978, Kirschenmann helped organize North Dakota Natural Farmers that later became the Northern Plains Sustainable Agriculture Society. He helped found and for 10 years was president of Farm Verified Organic, Inc., an international private certification agency.

In 2001, Kirschenmann received the Seventh Generation Research Award from the Center for Rural Affairs for his work in sustainable food and farming systems. He also was named a 2002 Leader of the Year in Agriculture by Progressive Farmer publications. His essay, "Ecological Morality: A New Ethic for Agriculture," appears in Agroecosystems Analysis, a monograph published by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America and the Soil Science Society of America.

The Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture was created by the Iowa Legislature to develop sustainable agricultural practices that are both profitable and conserve natural resources. Since his appointment to the Center, Kirschenmann has been a frequent speaker, engaging audiences to help shape a new vision for agriculture. New Center directions include research initiatives in marketing and food systems, ecology and policy.
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Patrick Fitzgibbons, Cargill Company
Patrick Fitzgibbons is the Director of Cattle Procurement at Cargill's Milwaukee facility. He has been involved in the meat packing industry for forty years and he represents the third generation of his family involved in livestock procurement. A graduate of Marquette University, he went on to earn an MBA from Keller Graduate School. He is married and has four children. Fitzgibbons currently serves on the Boards of the Wisconsin Agribusiness Council, the Wisconsin Agribusiness Foundation, the Wisconsin Livestock Identification Consortium, Milwaukee's Business Improvement District #26, the Friends of the Hank Aaron State Trail, and the Shamrock Club of Wisconsin. He provides the unique perspective of an agricultural-based business in an urban environment.
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Tony & Sue Renger, Willow Creek Farm
The Rengers own and operate Willow Creek Farm. Willow Creek Farm raises Purebred Berkshire Pork on pasture with no antibiotics or growth hormones. Willow Creek Farm is certified by the Animal Welfare Institute for humane pork production. Tony was raised on a corn, soybean, and hog farm in Iowa and is a fourth generation hog farmer. He has a degree in Agricultural Economics from Iowa State University and a degree in Accounting from Arizona State University. Sue was raised in Detroit, Michigan, the granddaughter of an immigrant Polish sausage maker. Prior to starting Willow Creek Farm, Sue had a career in mortgage banking. The Rengers have 3 children, ages 11, 8 & 5. They manage the production, marketing and distribution of their top quality pork products. They currently work with 3 other producers who raise hogs according to their standards and breed requirements. All the hogs are direct marketed and distributed to consumers, retail accounts and restaurants in Wisconsin.
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Deana Knuteson (formerly Sexson), Healthy Grown Potato Project
Deana Knuteson is the biointensive integrated pest management (IPM) Field Coordinator for the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Wisconsin Potato and Vegetable Growers Association (WPVGA), University of Wisconsin (UW) Collaboration effort. She is located out of the Nutrient and Pest Management Program in the Department of Horticulture (UW-Madison). Knuteson is responsible for coordinating the outreach and educational programming to Wisconsin potato producers and for assisting potato farmers in reducing their reliance on high-risk pesticides and increasing their use of biointensive IPM practices. She helps coordinate the Healthy Grown program and is the liaison between the growers, industry, and researchers for the effort. In spring 2000, she earned her Ph.D. in entomology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
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Greg Welsh, Organic Valley & Turkey Ridge Organic Orchard
Greg Welsh is an organic farmer at heart. He was born and raised on farm in northern Iowa. For over twenty-five years he has worked tirelessly as an advocate of organic agriculture. In the late 1970's and early 1980's Welsh encouraged his family to convert their farm to organic production. His home farm in Iowa remains certified organic to this day. During that same time period he received a degree in Business Administration from Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa. Following college and a few years working near Washington D.C. for a national organic food distributor, Welsh was hired as the original manager of CROPP Cooperative in 1988. Later he became the first Organic Agriculture Field Specialist to Iowa State University Extension. Two trips to Siberia and one to Eastern Europe as an organic educator provided Welsh with a unique global view of agriculture. Currently Welsh divides his time between Turkey Ridge Organic Orchard near Gays Mills, Wisconsin and the farmer and consumer educational programs for CROPP/ OrganicValley Cooperative.
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