Center for Regional Food Systems

Sam is thrilled to have joined the passionate group of people working at CRFS to cultivate healthy, sustainable, and just food systems across the State.

Sam comes from an agricultural background having grown up on a hobby farm in Washtenaw County raising and showing dairy goats in 4-H, club and national shows. She left agriculture and moved North to get a BSc in Wildlife Ecology and Management from Michigan Tech University before getting an MS in Environmental Justice from the University of Michigan and starting a PhD at the University of Minnesota focused on Anishinaabek-centered cultural plant restorations and food sovereignty. A slew of serendipitous events throughout graduate school brought Sam back to raising dairy goats and inspired her to leave her PhD program and pursue a career supporting small Michigan farmers and food producers.

When not in the CRFS office, Sam can be found co-managing the Chubb E Acres Farm dairy goat herd, volunteering with her local 4H club or helping local small-ruminant producers keep their herds healthy and productive.