People

Project Director

Dr. Julie Dawson, Associate Professor, Department of Horticulture, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Julie Dawson will lead project implementation. She will oversee the collaborative breeding projects, manage on-farm testing of breeding lines, advise on SeedLinked functionality improvements and oversee all elements of the graduate students’ scope of work including farmer engagement, breeding line testing, data collection, video development and results publication.

Co-Project Directors

Micaela Colley, M.S. Program Director, Organic Seed Alliance. Micaela Colley will oversee Organic Seed Alliance’s scope of work, and will collaborate on the development and delivery of educational materials.

Dr. Nicolas Enjalbert, Co-Founder & CEO, SeedLinked LLC. Nicolas Enjalbert will manage all platform development with the SeedLinked team in collaboration with work managed by Dawson and Colley.

Alice Formiga, eOrganic Director. Assistant Professor of Practice, Oregon State University. Alice Formiga will oversee eOrganic outreach activities.

Key Personnel

Bjorn Bergman, SeedLinked. Bjorn Bergman is a Cofounder and the Marketing Lead for SeedLinked, an online platform that aims to connect all parts of the seed system (growers, seed companies, breeders, researchers, eaters, etc.) and increase transparency. He has years of experience as an event planner, outreach coordinator, and marketing specialist in the local and organic food industry. Bjorn is also an avid home gardener and loves seeds. His favorite crops to grow are head lettuce and dry beans and he loves to share his enthusiasm for both with any eager grower. Bjorn has a B.S. in Environmental Science Biology and Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse.

Ambar Carvallo Lopez, Master's Student, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Ambar is currently a Ph.D. student in Plant Breeding and Plant Genetics program at UW-Madison. She is interested in developing climate-resilient and locally adapted crops, and her work focuses on developing tomato varieties that are adapted for organic production in the Midwest, focusing on flavor and disease resistance. Her work with the TOMI project consists of evaluating and selecting different breeding lines in the open field and high tunnel systems. Fruit tasting is her favorite part of the process!

Kitt Healy, M.S. Research and Education Associate- Midwest Region. Kitt Healy will lead the development of the Upper Midwest collaborative plant breeding community of practice, design and delivery of educational outreach materials, coordination of in-person events, publication on regional considerations for organic seed production, and administration of program evaluation.

Dr. Jared Zystro, Research and Education Assistant Director. Organic Seed Alliance. Dr. Zystro will collaborate with SeedLinked staff on improving the platform for plant breeding, and will collaborate on the delivery of educational materials.

Dr. Rue Genger, Associate Researcher, Department of Horticulture, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Genger has extensive experience with plant pathology in organic systems and with farmer collaboration. They will participate in the climatic considerations for Upper Midwest seed production publication, as well as farmer outreach and engagement for the tomato and pepper breeding projects. They will also oversee seed shipment logistics to farmers participating in the breeding trials.

Erik Kastman: Full stack developer and data scientist, SeedLinked. Erik Kastman will be responsible for the integration of analytics tools in the SeedLinked platform and data architecture.

Sajan Thandaserry, lead developer, SeedLinked. Sajan Thandaserry will be responsible for architecting and writing the software for the SeedLinked platform and native apps.

Collaborators

Cathleen McCluskey, OSA Communications and Outreach Associate. Organic Seed Alliance. Cathleen McCluskey will assist in communications, website content, project promotions, tracking impacts, and publication layout.

Erica Kempter, owner, Nature and Nurture Seed Company. Erica Kempter will be a plant breeding partner for the sweet pepper breeding project. She will oversee the development of breeding lines, seed production for on-farm trials, and SeedLinked testing. She will also host the 2022 field day at her farm.

Keith Mueller, owner, KC Tomato. Keith Mueller will be a plant breeding partner for the tomato breeding project. He will oversee the development of breeding lines, seed production for on-farm trials, and SeedLinked testing.

Greg Reynolds, owner, Riverbend Farm, Delano, MN. He will test and participate in selection of the tomato breeding lines on his farm in Minnesota. He will also host the 2020 field day at his farm.

Dusty Hinz, co-founder, Experimental Farm Network. Dusty Hinz will use and provide feedback on SeedLinked for on-farm breeding and trialling projects, and will promote SeedLinked to Experimental Farm Network’s partners.

Dr. Philip Kauth, Director of Preservation, Seed Savers Exchange. He will oversee Seed Savers staff and farmer/gardener network using and providing feedback on SeedLinked.

Elizabeth Tigan, Certification Manager, Nature’s International Certification Service. She will oversee NICS certifiers’ use of SeedLinked to verify farmers’ trialing efforts, and feedback to SeedLinked developers.

Cori Skolaski, Executive Director, MOSA Certified Organic. Cori Skolaski will oversee MOSA certifiers’ use of SeedLinked to verify farmers’ trialing efforts, and feedback to SeedLinked developers.