Welcome, New FMC Board Members!

      Posted On: January 24, 2019

Last week, FMC’s membership elected new leaders from a very strong slate of candidates to join our Board of Directors. FMC is pleased to welcome Elise Ashby, Amy Crone, and Anupama Joshi, along with Gary Matteson who was re-elected. 

We also want to thank two former members of the board that have put in countless hours over the past few years to support FMC, helping us grow into the strong organization that we have today. Thank you, Christie Balch and Dale Hazlewood for your leadership, dedication, and invaluable contribution to farmers markets and FMC. 

Learn more about FMC’s incoming board members below.

Elise Ashby
Chief Operating Officer, The RobinHood Group – Union, SC

Elise Ashby founded the RobinHood Group and serves as its Chief Operating Officer. In the last few years she has taken over the management and operations of the Union County Farm and Craft Market and she serves as the Chair of the Ag+Art Tour in Union, she is the co-Chair of the Catawba Farm & Food Coalition’s Policy & Planning committee and the RobinHood Group is the fiscal agent for the Eat Smart/Move More-Union County. She recently received the Olde English District’s Annual Tourism award for her community and volunteer work.

The RobinHood Group provides capacity building, institutional strengthening and technical assistance for income generation to farmers and agri-business owners. The organization has added education and access to agriculture and farming initiatives to enhance skills of veterans, ex-offenders and at-risk youth. The RobinHood Group helps individuals establish businesses and nonprofits, helps farmers and agri-business owners and with USDA/RD funding is creating a business and agriculture training manual to help individuals establish farms and agri-businesses.

Amy Crone
Founder & Executive Director, Maryland Farmers Market Association – Harwood, MD

Amy Crone is the Founder & Executive Director of the nonprofit Maryland Farmers Market Association (“MDFMA”). MDFMA implements a statewide farmers market matching program, Maryland Market Money, which since 2014 has provided more than $700,000 in funding to increase food access and farmer sales. MDFMA provides services including technical assistance, an insurance program, and various educational opportunities for the farmers market community. Crone participates in a number of statewide initiatives and is a nationally recognized expert on federal nutrition assistance programs and is working to ensure that electronic processing of federal benefits will remain available at the national level. She has experience in speaking to a variety of audiences across the country about local food system issues and recently moved to a small farm.

Anupama Joshi
Executive Director, Blue Sky Funders Forum – Cary, NC

Anupama is an accomplished leader in the non-profit and social sector in the United States and abroad. She has excelled in developing policies, programs and partnerships; fundraising; and managing organizations through phases of growth and change. She is a firm believer in the power of networks and collaboration to enable lasting change, and embodies that in her current role with the Blue Sky Funders Forum (https://blueskyfundersforum.org/). Previously, Anupama co-founded and led the National Farm to School Network (http://www.farmtoschool.org/) for more than a decade, shaping the growing movement to incorporate local procurement, gardens and food and farm education in schools and early care sites across the United States. Anupama is co-author of Food Justice (MIT Press, 2010), and speaks at national and international events regularly. She is a mom, loves to cook and travel.

Gary Matteson (Incumbent)
VP, Young, Beginning, Small Farmer Programs and Outreach, The Farm Credit Council
Washington, DC

Gary knows agriculture first hand. Until recently, he was a small farmer operating a greenhouse business in Epsom, New Hampshire, and also raising beef for sale locally. In addition to having been an agricultural entrepreneur, he has served on the board of directors of his local Farm Credit Association, as well as several non-profit boards. Before leaving New Hampshire for Washington, DC, he was active in local government.  Matteson holds Bachelor’s Degrees in agronomy and biology from the University of Connecticut.

Matteson now works at the Farm Credit Council, the trade association for the nationwide Farm Credit System.  He is an advocate for young, beginning, small, and minority farmer outreach programs. Matteson is responsible for spreading best practices for beginning farmer lending and training among Farm Credit Associations, such as providing training sessions in business leadership, governance, financial skills, and generating new program ideas to benefit beginning farmers. This includes work on emerging opportunities in local foods, sustainable agriculture, direct-to-consumer agriculture, and generational transition of farm businesses. In addition to working directly with farm groups, Matteson is active in policy related to new entrants to farming.  He now serves on the USDA Advisory Committee on Beginning Farmers and Ranchers.