WES and KELLY ADAMS have been farming and ranching with best biological methods since they began Adams Blackland Prairie Farm in 1986. They have grown legume seeds, grass seeds and grains as well as native seeds for many years supporting the local need for regional ecotype cover crop seed and forage seed. They specialized in their own brand of grass-fed beef that has been sold directly to customers and to the Whole Foods Market when they were members of the Grassfed Livestock Alliance. Wes and Kelly have held a Conservation Security Program contract from the Natural Resource and Conservation Service for the past 15 years, requiring that the farm has no erosion. They created a Holistic Resource Management goal in 2002. Adams Blackland Prairie Farm has been certified organic since 2009 by Nature’s International Certification Services. Their motto is Healthy Soil = Healthy Plants and Animals = Healthy People. Wes currently serves as the Council’s President of the Board.
CHAZ DAUGHTRY is a first generation farmer and agriculture entrepreneur. He is the founder and operator of Sweetwater Farms HTX, a 6-acre urban farm located in Houston, Texas. His farm sells seasonal veggies and teaches youth about agriculture and entrepreneurship.
Chaz is also the founder and CEO of Soulfitgrill a low sodium spice and sauce company. Today, Soulfitgrill has become one of the largest healthy food product companies in the world. When he is not making healthy food blends and urban farming he serves as the co-founder of TWEF, a non-profit that has impacted over 100,000 lives. Chaz holds a B.S. in economics from Texas A&M – College Station.
STEPHEN LUCKE is founder and CEO of Gardopia, a nonprofit that works to reduce obesity and malnutrition by increasing access to fresh produce and by implementing strategic intervention programs in schools, businesses, and community organizations.
During his undergraduate years, he became enamored with health and wellness, first starting a student & employee wellness program, and then a community garden on campus, all of which led to his launch of Gardopia.
He earned a B.S. in biochemistry and a M.A. in nutrition, both from the University of the Incarnate Word. Stephen is a proponent of civic engagement and ran for mayor of San Antonio in 2017.
CASEY McAULIFFE operates Moon Dog Farms with her partner Alex McPhail in Santa Fe, Texas, and manages Galveston’s Own Farmers Market on the island. Under her leadership, the market became the first in the Houston area to establish a “double dollars” initiative for food stamp customers and the first in Galveston county to adopt the Farmers Market Nutrition Program for WIC clients, which distributes $30 vouchers for fresh market produce to families using WIC benefits.
Casey graduated from Southwestern University in 2008 and worked on organic farms in the Northeast until returning to Texas in 2013. Casey recently won her local municipal election and now serves as City Councilperson for La Marque, Texas.
PAM WALKER is a writer and a local farm and food activist. She is the author of Growing Good Things to Eat in Texas: Profiles of Organic Farmers and Ranchers across the State (Texas A & M University Press, 2009) and of articles that have appeared in edible Austin, edible Houston, and the Houston Chronicle. From 2002 – 06, she led Urban Harvest, a Houston nonprofit, in organizing and initially developing its first farmers’ market.
Pam is a lifetime member of the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance and a sponsor of its annual conference. She holds a Ph.D. in English literature from Rice University, an M.L.S. from the University of Texas at Austin, and a B.A. in English from Austin College, and has worked as a librarian, a college English teacher, and the administrator of the Humanities Research Center at Rice. She is the granddaughter of sharecroppers and learned from them to grow vegetables and to pay attention to farming and food.
