Ron was raised on a working dairy farm in Northern Illinois and has worked in food systems his entire career with a bias toward organic, sustainable and restorative agriculture.  His skillset includes whole systems integrated agriculture, crop production/marketing. Ron has expansive social and business assets in the agriculture communities of the city, farm, university and food industry sectors. 

Ron has served as a sustainable agriculture consultant to the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, University of Illinois, EPA- Region 5, Death’s Door Spirits, Conservation Design Forum, Conservation Research Institute, SAA Design Group, Inc, Vandewalle and Associates, Alameda County Sheriff’s Dept, City of Milwaukee, and the City of Detroit.

Hope Hellmann was introduced to sustainable agriculture while pursuing an undergraduate degree in Art Theory and Practice at Northwestern University. After graduating, she spent time volunteering at a local CSA until starting with Solutions in the Land in the fall of 2016. 

​

Hope is interested in the integration of agriculture into other disciplines, agricultural ecosystems, analyzing agrarian sites and creating land use plans that value natural resources and maximize the services offered by working lands to a region. She is enthusiastic about continuing to educate herself about sustainable agriculture and its challenges.  She brings experience with site investigation, creative problem solving, using green spaces and working lands as a basis for communication and human connection and uses these tools to integrate agriculture into other fields through whole-system planning at the farm level.

Stacy Cushenbery fell in love with farming as a small child growing up in rural Wisconsin. The time spent working the land, alongside her family and neighbor profoundly shaped her life. As an adult, she has strived both professionally and privately to show the importance of being stewards of the land and the power of the soil to renew the spirit. 

With her passion in mind, she has built a successful career in food education, advocacy, and public policy. Having had the opportunity to work with multiple communities to establish and sustain farming campaigns that directly improved the lives of the residents. These farms have taught her the larger picture of sustainability in our food system but also public policy, land management, and political advocacy. Her work has been recognized through outlets such as EPA, American Planning Association, Illinois Green Governments Council, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Urban Milwaukee. 

​