June 27, 2019 - Soquel, CA – As the organization ramps up for its 40th year anniversary, the Ecological Farming Association (EcoFarm) is thrilled to announce Andy Fisher as its new Executive Director. The selection was made after an extensive national candidate search process.
Andy Fisher has been a leading force in the food security and food justice movement in the US for the past 25 years. He co-founded and led the primary American food systems alliance, the Community Food Security Coalition, for 17 years. During that time, he led campaigns to gain passage of federal legislation that has brought over $200 million to community groups nationwide for food sovereignty and farm to school projects.
“Our community is going to benefit immensely from Andy’s long career experience as a national advocate for fairness and integrity in the food and nutrition sector. We are immediately improved and enlightened by a perspective that connects so well with EcoFarm’s emerging mission to “go beyond conference” and be vital about food safety, quality nutrition access and growing the organic small farm sector,”said EcoFarm Board President Steve Sprinkel of Farmer and Cook.
Andy succeeds Jan Derecho, who will retire in the fall after successfully leading EcoFarm as executive director these last three and a half years.
“I am delighted to welcome Andy to our team. Given his breadth of knowledge and experience, I’m confident he is the right choice to take the reins as I transition into retirement,” added Jan.
Andy is no stranger to EcoFarm. He was honored with a Justie Award at EcoFarm Conference in 2008. In 2017, Andy authored an exposé of the hunger industrial complex, “Big Hunger: The Unholy Alliance Between Corporate America and Anti-Hunger Groups,” published by MIT Press. He has written numerous practical guidebooks about community based solutions to the nation’s food and farm problems. He currently consults with food and farming groups in the US and the UK, and teaches at Oregon universities. Andy holds Masters degrees in Urban Planning and Latin American Studies from UCLA.
“I am thrilled to be returning to the California sustainable agriculture field as the new director of EcoFarm. My three decades of experience in building a movement for a socially just, democratic, and healthy food system fit in well with EcoFarm’s direction toward greater equity and impact. I am looking forward to listening to the EcoFarm community about their vision for how the organization can support their efforts,” said Andy.
Andy will begin serving in his new role as Executive Director on September 23, 2019.
Please join us in welcoming Andy into this exciting new chapter of EcoFarm!