Advisory Committee

Anders has had a passion for rice farming since he could hold a shovel. Growing up, he spent countless hours on the farm with his dad, Bryce Lundberg, receiving a hands-on, boots-on-the-ground education on everything related to rice farming, stewardship, and soil health. Anders attended California Polytechnic University San Luis Obispo, earning degrees in Crop Science and Agribusiness. In 2012, he became the first member of his family’s fourth generation to work at Lundberg Family Farms, where he specialized in caring for the company’s managed farmland and producing quality organic rice. Now, as Grower Services Manager, Anders works extensively with both Lundberg’s internal farming operation and their network of organic rice growing partners in the Sacramento Valley. As a father of three, Anders and his wife, Ashley Lundberg, are also teaching the next generation of Lundbergs how to leave the land better than they found it so they can keep growing together for generations to come.

Mas Masumoto is an organic peach, nectarine, apricot, and raisin farmer in the Fresno area. Masumoto family farm has been organic since 1980's and remains a pioneer in forging innovation along side of tradition and social/community issues. Masumoto has authored 14 books including: Epitaph for a Peach, Wisdom of the Last Farmer, and Changing Season. His newest book, Secret Harvests about a "lost aunt" and family secrets, will be published in Feb, 2023. His family has worked the California fields for three generations of stories. His other writings include: Wisdom of the Last Farmer which was honored as “Best Environmental Writing in 2009” by National Resources Defense Council. The Perfect Peach was named by USA Today as one of best summer cookbooks in 2013. He currently serves on the boards of the Public Policy Institute of California and CalMatters.  In 2013, President Obama appointed Masumoto the National Council on the Arts, the board for the National Endowment for the Arts.

Jessy Beckett Parr is the Chief Program Officer for CCOF, the nation’s largest and oldest organic certification company. In this role she oversees CCOF’s 501c3 Foundation, statewide and national advocacy work, and sits on CCOF’s Executive Team. With over fifteen years of project design and management experience, Jessy Beckett Parr is dedicated to bringing teams together to create positive change. Parr holds a Master of Science degree in community development from the University of California, Davis, a certificate in ecological horticulture from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Sarah Lawrence College. Prior to joining CCOF, she worked for the Community Food Security Coalition, California Farmlink, the California Climate Action Network (CalCAN), and spent five years producing a global documentary on soil and food systems, Symphony of the Soil.

Joji is an assistant Cooperative Extension organic production specialist based at UC Santa Cruz. His research and extension focus on fertility and soilborne disease management in organic vegetables and strawberries. With his statewide responsibility for research and extension in organic production, he is networking organic systems researchers across the state to better serve organic communities throughout California.

Margaret received her PhD from UC Davis in Plant Pathology, 2015.  Under the guidance of Tom Gordon, she researched non-chemical alternatives to soilborne disease management in strawberries.  She focused on three main topics: the role of legume rotation crops in Verticiliium dahliae management, the effect of 4 different composts on strawberry production, and a social study understanding the level of adoption of soilborne disease management tools among practitioners. She also received a masters in International Agricultural Development and Plant Pathology from UC Davis.  While at UC Davis, she established the Salad Bowl Garden, and edible garden at the entrance to the Plant and Environmental Sciences (PES) building on the main campus. Her first agricultural job was as a farm hand on a vineyard in the Santa Cruz mountains.  It was such an inspiration that she changed her course of work towards agriculture.  After completing her undergraduate degree from Tufts University, she worked on a mixed vegetable farm in Hawaii for 9 months and then returned to start an apprenticeship with John Jeavons in Willits, CA.  For two years, lived and studied in on the research farm and the 5-acre mixed vegetable farm. Seeing opportunity for Biointensive practices in the urban and suburban landscapes, she started a small Bay Area business called Home Farming International which provided workshops and one-on-one training in closed-system, complete diet farming. Margaret's hobbies include her dairy goats, laying chickens and small garden.