John and Aimee Good own and operate The Good Farm in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. The Good Farm is a certified organic produce farm serving a serving a 225-member CSA community. The Goods have 20 years of experience growing vegetables in southeast Pennsylvania and worked their way up to buying and building The Good Farm on their own land in 2017. John attended his first Pasa conference in 2000 and has continued to rely on the conference and the Pasa community for education and inspiration throughout his life in farming. John joined the board to give back to Pasa for all the assistance the organization has provided to his farm over the years and to ensure Pasa continues to best serve the interests and needs of farmers.

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David Rice grew up on a dairy farm in Bucks County. He received an Associate Degree in Agriculture from Hesston College and a Bachelor’s Degree in Dairy Husbandry from Delaware Valley University. He worked in the bovine embryo transfer industry in Pennsylvania and California before marrying Terry (Kraybill) in 1987. Soon after, they moved to Tegucigalpa, Honduras, where Dave managed a farm that was part of an alcohol rehabilitation program. In 1991 they moved to Morrison’s Cove in Blair County and started dairy farming. They began their farmstead cheese operation in 2005, and they have been selling cheese, raw milk, and pasture-raised beef ever since.

Dave sat on the board of Project Grass for many years. He won the Forage and Grassland Conservation Farmer award in 2014, and he twice won the Chesapeake Bay Clean Water Farm Award. He helped establish the Pennsylvania Cheese Guild and has been involved in marketing co-ops and farmers markets. One of the challenges of 2020 was starting the Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship program as a Master Grazer. Off the farm, he served as a deacon at Canoe Creek Brethren in Christ Church, taught Sunday School, and participated in the Allegheny Conference Ministry Council. Dave and his wife are lifetime members of Pasa.

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Raynise is an Oliver High School and Bidwell Training Center alumni. Completing the Horticulture and Technology program she began her agriculture career at Brenckle’s Greenhouse. She’s worked with Grow Pittsburgh as the School Gardens Assistant, a Learning Garden Educator, and is currently Manager of the Garden Resource Center. She also completed an herbal course certified by the Herbalist of Stonefruit Community.

Raynise is a board member of the Hilltop Urban Farm, and a member of the Black Urban Gardeners, PA Farmers Union, and Western PA Young Farmers Coalition. She is also a part of the Working Committee of Pittsburgh Food Policy Council. Raynise is passionate about advocating for agriculture and social justice.

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Sharifa is an assistant professor at Penn State University, specializing in soil-borne disease ecology and management. A fungal scientist by training, her research asks three main questions: Why do plants get sick? How do we rapidly diagnosis crop fungal diseases? And how can we improve soil health? Sharifa harnesses various tools in microbiome research to enhance soil fertility and develop biological control solutions to suppress soil disease. Some of the fungal pathogens she works with infect crops including grapes, strawberries, hop, chickpea, soybean, and potato. 

Sharifa was born and raised in Northern California and comes from a long line of farmers and educators with roots from Tanzania and India. Growing up in a diverse home and ecologically diverse California landscape, she realized early on why it’s important to maintain healthy farms and natural ecosystems. She completed her bachelor’s degree at the University of California, Berkeley, a master’s at Yale University, and doctorate at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She went on to conduct plant pathology research at the United States Department of Agriculture in the “salad and fruit bowl” of the nation near Salinas, California. She has received various awards including the prestigious National Academy of Sciences, Ford Foundation Pre-Doctoral Diversity Fellowship for plant research. In her position at Penn State, she investigates sustainable solutions to manage soilborne pathogens. Sharifa also teaches an Integrated Pest Management course to undergraduates and she is excited to work together with Pasa to find sustainable plant disease and soil management solutions. When not at work, she makes homebrew and hunts for wild mushrooms with her family.

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Bill serves as Vice President & Agricultural Lending Manager at Ephrata National Bank. He has over 20 years of experience in agricultural banking. In addition, Bill is an adjunct professor at Temple’s Fox Business School.

Bill is passionate about finding the business model that sustains the family farm. He is an advocate for sustainable and organic farming practices, value-added production, and farm-to-consumer marketing. Bill is proud to serve as a Pasa board member furthering Pasa’s efforts to develop an innovative community of sustainable farms.

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Ty Holmberg serves as Co-Director of Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden. Since graduating from Muhlenberg College with a B.A. in environmental studies, Ty has had extensive involvement in youth development, food sovereignty, and education reform. Previously, he served for 10 years with the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Community Partnerships as Director of Health Promotion and Director of the West Philadelphia-based Sayre Community School. He has also spent time in the classroom as a Philadelphia Teaching Fellow and Philadelphia School District science teacher, during two years of national service as a member of Habitat for Humanity AmeriCorps, and as a teaching fellow at the Eagle Rock School and Professional Development Center in Estes Park, Colorado.

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Gay lives in Mifflin County on Hameau Farm in the Big Valley. She graduated from college with a degree in European Studies and Political Science. After a job offer in Washington, D.C., she chose to continue working on her family’s dairy farm. She then purchased her own farm, initially starting with a herd of Holsteins before moving to Ayrshire cattle. In between, she worked for the American Forage and Grassland Council. Gay is a third generation Ayrshire breeder and dairy farmer, and she mentors beginning dairy farmers through the Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship program. Her herd of Plum Bottom Ayrshires graze on 110 acres of grass and have won many awards.

Gay’s Hameau Farm is in its 25th year of hosting an annual summer “Farm Camp” for girls, ages 8–14. A value-added enterprise for six weeks every summer, the camp offers two weeks each of chores, special activities, and unique field trips. In 1999, the farm began hosting artist retreats and workshops geared towards both instructors and novices who desire to capture the views and vistas that the farm offers.

Hameau, when loosely translated, means community — which is important to Gay. She is on the board of the Kishacoquillas Valley Historical Society, a founding Steering Committee member of the Pennsylvania Women’s Agricultural Network (PA-WAgN), a member of Belleville Reading Club, and she attends the East Kishacoquillas Presbyterian Church.

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Jessie is an attorney who was a Deputy Secretary at the PA Department of Agriculture from 2006-2011. She established the first USDA Certified State Mediation Program for PA. She is past Chair of the Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA) Agricultural Law Committee, course planner for What Every Lawyer Needs to Know About PA’s No. 1 Industry (Bar Institute Agricultural Law Forum), and a former member of the State Council of Farm Organizations and Farm Show Commission. She received the Pennsylvania Veterinary Medical Association’s Distinguished Service Award for her Dog Law policy and advocacy work. She has been a civil trial lawyer, appearing in court in nearly all 67 Pa. counties. She also worked in the Attorney General’s Health Care Section, investigating unfair and deceptive practices by doctors, insurers, and drug and device manufacturers. She is PAST Co-Chair of the PBA Women in the Profession Commission, a former member of its Board of Governors, and was named its Government Lawyer of the Year. She taught trial advocacy at the Penn State Dickinson School of Law, taught Magisterial District Judges statewide, and served as a Dauphin County Court Arbitrator.

Jessie grew up near Paint Creek and the former Holleran apple orchard and farm in Cambria County. Her aunt and uncle were dairy farmers in Michigan. In the 1970s their herd was contaminated by the flame-retardant chemical PBB, which was mistakenly mixed into commercial cattle feed. This made her aware of the fragile, priceless and irreplaceable nature of farms, and the need for a group like Pasa to promote farm sustainability and preservation by offering education, resources, community and inspiration to farmers, related ventures and consumers.

She was the Pasa board Secretary and now serves on the Development Committee.

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