About Us

Food, Land & People was started in 1988 by a coalition of educators, agriculturalists, and environmentalists who saw a need for education about the interdependence of food production, environmental quality, and the sustainability of human cultures.

California leaders have been involved since the beginning of FLP, when three Californians were selected to help form the first national steering committee, and later two additional California educators became part of the national team. During the development of Resources for Learning, California educators and resource personnel were directly involved in:

• reviewing the conceptual framework used in building lessons
• hosting the first of six regional (US) writing conferences
• participating in the pilot test review program
• operating as a field test state, along with Ohio and Connecticut. (Fresno County Office of Education was selected for the field test, since the county included urban, suburban, and rural schools -- a requirement for the study.)

In 1998, when the first edition of Resources for Learning was completed, California Food, Land & People became one of the first FLP state coalitions. Today there are 27 state coalitions across the United States.

California Food, Land & People held its first facilitator training workshop in the Presidio National Park of San Francisco in January 1999. Since then, CA FLP has held numerous facilitator and educator workshops throughout California.

Leaders of California Food, Land & People come from the fields of agriculture, the environment, and education. Please feel free to contact any of our leaders from the list below:

Main Contacts:

• Elmer Eckart (California Coordinator for FLP and CA FLP Education Coordinator), Retired Educator, San Francisco Unified School District. Contact: caflp@aol.com
• Cathy Spensley (CA FLP Organization Coordinator), former Director of Programs, Food, Land & People. Contact: cathy@spensley.com

Other Leaders:

• Stephen Andrews (CA FLP Workshop Facilitator), Coordinator, UC Berkeley Environmental Sciences Teaching Program, Berkeley. Contact: sandrews@uclink.berkeley.edu
• Dan Desmond, 4H Youth Advisor, El Dorado and Amador Counties. Contact: djdesmond@ucdavis.edu
• Richard Engel, Director of Outreach and Recruitment, College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, University of California, Davis. Contact: rrengel@ucdavis.edu
• Loretta Gonzalez, Board Member Garvey School District, Rosemead. Contact: loretta@garvey.k12.ca.us
• Darlene Hill, Director, Fresno County Office of Education. Contact: dhill@fcoe.k12.ca.us
  
• Mary Kimball, Associate Director, FARMS Leadership, Inc, Winters. Contact: kimball@quiknet.com
• Carol Lerner, Community Education Coordinator, California Waterfowl Association, Sacramento. Contact: cwaeducation@calwaterfowl.org
• Mark Linder (CA FLP Advisor), President, Linder Family Farms. Contact: mlinder344@aol.com
• Lonna Torrico, Director of Central Valley Ag Literacy Program, California State University, Fresno. Contact: lonna_torrico@csufresno.edu
  
• Constance Washburn, Education Director, Marin Agricultural Land Trust (MALT); Director, Marin Agriculture and Education Alliance (MAEA) and Marin Summer Agricultural Institute for Teachers, K-12. Contact: cwashburn@malt.org