UCCE Statewide Small Farms Network
Email: natume@ucanr.edu
Languages: English
NgodooAtume joined the UC ANR as a SGMA Technical Assistance for Small Farms Academic Coordinator II in 2024. In this role, she is coordinating a technical assistance and extension education program to provide small-scale farmers in California with technical information, services, policy analysis and recommendations needed to engage in the implementation of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). Ngodoo is interested in the equitable consideration and protection of groundwater users in California.
Ngodoo has a technical background in Water Resources and Environmental Engineering and an MS in Sustainable Water Management from Tufts University. Before joining ANR, she worked as a Water Policy Analyst focused on the implementation of the Human Right to Water in California and the inclusion of underrepresented stakeholders in SGMA, Central Valley Salinity Alternative Long-Term Sustainability (CV-SALTS) and the Irrigated Lands Regulatory Program (ILRP).
UCCE Statewide Small Farms Network
UCCE Sacramento, Solano, and Yolo Counties
Sacramento Office Phone: (916) 875-6913
Email: mjdonovan@ucanr.edu
Languages: English and Spanish (proficient)
Meaghan’s love of horticulture and passion for education led her to a career developing educational resources in collaboration with farmers, scientists, and technical assistance providers. While her formal education includes an undergraduate degree in plant science from Cornell University, and a master’s degree from the Agriculture, Food, and Environment program at Tufts University, she also credits the many farmers and educators she has worked with over the years whose wisdom and expertise guided her learning.
Prior to joining UC Cooperative Extension (UCCE), Meaghan worked with a diversity farmers, technical service providers, and non-profits to host webinars on on-farm food safety, produce bilingual English/Spanish podcasts on direct marketing techniques for small farms, and coordinate workshops on organic transition.
In her role as the UCCE Small Farms Program Manager, Meaghan supports UCCE small farms advisors and community educators with collaborative outreach and extension education projects.
UCCE Statewide Small Farms Network
UC Organic Agriculture Institute
Office Phone: (952) 200-6219
Email: knmarshall@ucanr.edu
Languages: English
Krista is passionate about building agricultural models that center dignified livelihoods, advance food sovereignty, promote regional food systems, and enable farmers to be ecological stewards of working lands. Prior to joining UC ANR, Krista worked on-farm to study the relationships between Agroecological design and management principles, soil health, and soil ecosystem functional outcomes during graduate school at the University of California, Davis. Since 2020, Krista has been urban farming in Sacramento - building relationships with community members while running seasonal farm stands, learning how to operate small-scale productions, and managing a mutual aid urban farm program that connects asylum-seeking community members to culturally appropriate foods. Through this work, she participated in city-level policy and coalition building around urban food systems and learned a range of knowledge from community members about small-scale farm design and management. In addition to her personal and professional interests in advancing a more sovereign food system, she is passionate about fiber arts and regional textile productions.
UCCE Statewide Small Farms Network
UCCE Tulare County
Email: tramos@ucanr.edu
Languages: English and Portuguese
Thais Ramos brings over 10 years of food safety experience to her position as Food Safety Education Program Coordinator with the Small Farms Network at UC SAREP. From the beginning of her professional career in the U.S., Thais has been working on food safety science-based extension programs and developing applied research to address food safety from production to the end consumer. Her research has focused on identifying potential sources of produce contamination by foodborne pathogens during production and processing, while implementing mitigation strategies to minimize the risk of produce contamination on conventional, and organic farming systems.
In her role as the Small Farms Food Safety Coordinator, Thais supports and coordinate statewide produce safety team including, UCCE Small Farm Advisors, UC Davis Associate Professor of Cooperative Extension, and community specialists in providing technical assistance to farmers, and recommendations to growers to minimize food safety risks and meet FSMA compliance requirements. She also facilitates Produce Safety Alliance (PSA) Grower Trainings (remote and in-person) and other food safety workshops throughout California. Thais received both her Master of Science degree and Ph.D. in Food Sciences from the Federal University of Lavras, Brazil.
UCCE Statewide Small Farms Network
UCCE Sacramento, Solano, and Yolo Counties
Sacramento Office Phone: (916) 875-6913
Email: sftian@ucanr.edu
Languages: English and Mandarin
Shufang has a diverse background in sustainable crop production and management and is passionate about extension and educational programs that support small-scale growers through collaborative approaches and outreach. She grew up in China and holds a B.S. in Agronomy. She earned an M.S. in Plant Pathology with an emphasis on host resistance mechanisms of vegetable crops from the University of Georgia and a Ph.D. in Horticultural Sciences with a minor in Soil and Water Sciences from the University of Florida, where her doctoral research focused on organic high tunnel vegetable production.
In her role as the Small Farms IPM Program Lead Coordinator at UC ANR, Shufang supports UC IPM and UCCE Small Farms advisors in identifying and developing accessible IPM materials for small-scale farmers. She also facilitates the production of IPM educational materials and training resources in multiple languages for small-scale and historically underserved farmers throughout California.