Statewide Program Staff

Krista is passionate about building agricultural models that center dignified livelihoods, advance food sovereignty, promote regional food systems, and enable farmers to be ecological stewards of working lands. Prior to joining UC ANR, Krista worked on-farm to study the relationships between Agroecological design and management principles, soil health, and soil ecosystem functional outcomes during graduate school at the University of California, Davis. For two and half years, while living in Sacramento, Krista helped manage a mutual aid urban farm program that connected asylum-seeking community members to culturally appropriate foods. Through this work, she participated in city-level policy and coalition building around urban food systems and learned a range of knowledge from community members about small-scale farm design and management. In addition to her personal and professional interests in advancing a more sovereign food system, she is passionate about fiber arts and regional textile productions.

Meaghan’s love of horticulture and passion for education led her to a career  developing educational resources in collaboration with farmers, scientists, and technical assistance providers. While her formal education includes an undergraduate degree in plant science from Cornell University, and a master’s degree from the Agriculture, Food, and Environment program at Tufts University, she also credits the many farmers and educators she has worked with over the years whose wisdom and expertise guided her learning.

Prior to joining UC Cooperative Extension (UCCE), Meaghan worked with a diversity farmers, technical service providers, and non-profits to host webinars on on-farm food safety, produce bilingual English/Spanish podcasts on direct marketing techniques for small farms, and coordinate workshops on organic transition.

In her role as the UCCE Small Farms Program Manager, Meaghan supports UCCE small farms advisors and community educators with collaborative outreach and extension education projects.

Thank you to CDFA for supporting the state-wide Small Farms Network!
Small Farms Statewide Program Staff are part of the California Underserved and Small Producers (CUSP) Grant Program in partnership with the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA). Created in 2021 with funding from the California State Legislature, CUSP is designed to facilitate direct assistance to individual small and mid-scale and socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers including technical assistance in applying for economic relief grant programs, assistance with business planning and marketing strategies, and extension support with specialty crop production, regulatory compliance, and sustainable and climate smart agricultural practices.