| Advisory Council
Members
Gene Gantz, Regional Risk Management Specialist
USDA Risk Management Agency, Harrisburg, PA
Mr. Gantz grew up on a central PA farm and operated his own dairy and crop farm in the mid 1960s. He worked for the Federal Crop Insurance Corp., USDA from 1963 to 1983, holding numerous production and management positions. During the period of 1983 to 2002, he worked in the private insurance industry. He rejoined RMA/USDA in 2002 to focus on risk management education for producers, working in the states of CT, DE, MD, NJ, NY and PA.
His passion is to help Eastern U.S. producers better utilize crop insurance-based risk management strategies to better manage their risk exposures, and as a foundation for more profitable crop marketing – both of which increase long term profitability on their farms, benefiting their families and rural communities. Mr. Gantz is a Risk Management Specialist located in Harrisburg, PA, as staff from the Raleigh Regional Office of the Risk Management Agency of USDA.
Carrie Novak, Farm Loan Chief
USDA-Farm Service Agency, Amherst, Massachusetts
Carrie Novak is a Farm Loan Chief for USDA-Farm Serivce Agency, serving Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. On June 4th, 2009 she celebrated her 30th year of working for the Department of Agriculture. As a Farm Loan Chief, she oversees the agricultural lending for the Farm Service Agency with a portfolio of $47 million in outstanding direct loans and $52 million in guarantee loans. Part of the duties of a Farm Loan Chief includes providing training to FSA employees, oversight and internal controls, outreach and writing State Instruction. At the present time, she is also serving as the Acting State Executive Director for Rhode Island Farm Service Agency.
Ms. Novak is a regional representative for the National Farm Loan Chiefs Association. For the past 5 years, she has been a volunteer income tax counselor for the AARP.
Karen Powell , Ag Risk Management Specialist
Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture
Karen Powell grew up on a northeast family farm and worked at several vineyards while putting herself through college. As a graduate from Cornell University with a degree in Agricultural Economics, she worked for the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation as a field underwriter for ten years. As a field underwriter she worked on setting up crop insurance programs throughout the northeast, helping to establish rates, price elections, training, as well as serving on taskforce details to write policy and procedure. Crop insurance was in the midst of expanding existing crops to new counties as well as expanding into new
crops.
When
the regional crop insurance office was relocated from Harrisburg, she worked for the Natural Resource Conservation Service as the State Economist on the Water Resources staff for five years. As the state economist it was essential to make “Sense” and “Cents” out of conservation practices while providing cost benefit analysis in order to implement the most cost effective conservation practices.
Having
worked on the federal level to implement, tailor and expand crop insurance policies and procedures for northeast producers, it was a natural transition to join the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture in January 2006 as an Agricultural Risk Management Specialist. This position has enabled her to continue working with new crop insurance initiatives as well as coordinate the State Crop Insurance Education
Program.
Karen
is excited about what Pennsylvania has done and continues to do to tailor the risk management program to better meet the needs of the state (and northeast) and is passionate about educating producers to enable them to choose the right risk management tools to meet their
needs.
Michael Sciabarrasi, Ag Business Management Extension Specialist University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire
Mr. Sciabarrasi is an Extension Professor of Agricultural Business Management at the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension in Durham, New Hampshire. Michael has
held the Agricultural Business Management Extension Specialist position at the University of New Hampshire since 1980. He works with farm families and other natural resource based businesses, as well as providing statewide leadership for educational programs, in the areas of production economics, agricultural finance, risk management, estate and succession planning, and general business operations. Michael regularly cooperates
with colleagues from other states to plan, coordinate and present at New England and Northeast conferences and seminars. Over the past six years, he has served as the roject director for the cooperative agreements with the FCIC Targeted States Programs in New Hampshire.
In addition to Cooperative Extension responsibilities, Michael currently teaches an undergraduate course, Business Management for Natural Resource Based Firms, in the College of Life Sciences and Agriculture (COLSA). In the past he has also taught Farm Business Management and Agribusiness Finance in COLSA.
Mr. Sciabarrasi
holds a BS in Animal Science from the University of Massachusetts and an MS in Agricultural Economics from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech). In 2006, he was presented with the University of New Hampshire Presidential Award of Excellence for outstanding dedication and
service.
Brennan Starkey, President
Starkey Farms Company, Galena, Maryland
Mr. Starkey is President of Starkey Farms Company, a fourth generation vegetable and grain operation located in the northern portion of the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Specializing in spinach with one thousand acres grown, the farm also produces a variety of vegetable crops for the processing industry. Mr. Starkey graduated from Middlebury College in 1987, and then served two years in the Peace Corps ( West Africa) before returning to the family farm. Mr. Starkey is particularly interested in supporting risk management tools that can reduce the volatility created by wide swings in input and sale prices, as well as the transition of the farming operation and assets from one generation to the next.
|
