Many years ago Chantel’s kindergarten teacher sent her home with two chicks, and from there the family’s journey into farming and food production was born. She spent eight years raising market animals for 4-H and learning to drive a pick-up in the fields that her family hayed. Eventually she found herself in the Peace Corps teaching advanced rice farming techniques to small-scale farmers, an experience that rekindled her passion for working at the local level to improve food security. Her Masters degree in International Development took her to Myanmar, where she worked on monitoring and evaluation of education programs for dairy farmers, coffee growers, and fish farming operations. When not at work, you can find her somewhere in the wilderness.