Zureal Bernier is a second-generation farmer dedicated to supporting his family’s operation, which grows wine grapes, tree fruits, and garlic in the northern part of Sonoma County. His family has been selling to FEED since its inception, and the cooperative has played a significant role in the success of their multi-generational farming business.

The process of selling and distributing Bernier Farms produce through FEED has felt almost effortless from the farm’s perspective, but Zureal recognizes the energy and dedication required to sustain the worker/producer-owned cooperative. Now at a point in his life where he would like to serve the co-op, he brings experience from full terms on two different Farmers Market boards, as well as two terms on Slow Food Sonoma County North’s board of directors, including one term as board chair. With a passion for problem-solving and collaboration, he is committed to helping the co-op continue making a positive impact on local and neighboring food systems.

Andrew is excited to begin a position on the Board of Directors. With nearly six years of experience as a dedicated driver for FEED and a total of 12 years in the delivery field, Andrew has developed a strong understanding of the vital role that teamwork plays in our operations. He believes that collaboration is essential for executing effective strategies and achieving our collective goals.

Andrew is passionate about the growth and future of FEED. He is eager to work with fellow board members to foster an environment of innovation and improvement that benefits all co-op members. 

As General Manager of FEED Cooperative since 2014, Bryan Hohnstein has been deeply committed to strengthening the cooperative’s mission of supporting local farmers, increasing market access, and building a resilient regional food system. With a deep understanding of FEED’s operations, challenges, and opportunities, Bryan is uniquely positioned to contribute to the Board of Directors in a strategic and impactful way.

As a board member, Bryan aims to continue fostering collaboration, transparency, and innovation within the cooperative. His vision is to further solidify FEED’s role as a leader in regional food distribution while ensuring that its values of equity, sustainability, and farmer empowerment remain at the core of its growth. He is honored to serve on the board and contribute to FEED’s continued success.

Rose Madden is owner-operator of Pink Barn Farm, a small mixed-vegetable operation in Sebastopol, established in 2017. As a small-scale producer, being a part of the FEED community has been essential to Pink Barn Farm's business. Rose was thrilled with FEED's transition to a farmer-worker owned co-op and is proud to be a founding member. She has a deep appreciation for the important and groundbreaking work that the co-op is doing. She will bring a passion for problem solving and a thorough understanding of the unique challenges of being small-scale producer in our region.

George has been growing specialty microgreens, salad mixes and edible flowers since 2006. All of his crops are hand planted, tended and harvested using large-scale gardening techniques on a ¾ acre property.

Through George’s experience in running this business and navigating markets for almost 20 years, he has gained a lot of insight and understanding of our local food scene. George believes this background equips him well to be a contributing member of FEED's board.

A husband and a father of two glorious children, one of Tim’s many mantras during the evolution of FEED Cooperative still rings true :: #doinitforthechildren

Tim Page graduated from Santa Clara University in 1991 with a degree in Finance. This propelled him to his first job in the institutional investments sector at the foot of the Transamerica Pyramid building in San Francisco with Montgomery Securities. After several steps up the proverbial ladder, Tim witnessed many times the challenges people have integrating a truthful life with the aggregation of financial riches. The demise of character which typically coincides with a life of accumulation eventually dictated Tim’s major life evolution... on to the island of Maui and teachings at the feet of several Hawaiian elders.

The greatest gift to his soul development were these years of learning of a present-tense and living indigenous culture. These teachings in plant medicine (la’au lapa’au), forgiveness on an individual and community level (ho’oponopono), and ecosystem stewardship and how it relates to a community’s “infrastructure” (ahupua’a) are to this day the very foundational tenets of FEED Cooperative.

This new awareness as a cornerstone of Tim’s life, and the birthing of his beloved family (‘ohana), directly led to the creation of FEED Sonoma in his garage in June of 2011. Armed with a home built walk-in cooler powered by a 25,000 btu air conditioning unit and a CoolBot, and a single (non-refrigerated) box truck, life on Main Street Sebastopol became the birthing of our Food Hub!

Tim’s role as Navigator at FEED Cooperative is focused on day to day viability and growth towards the self-ownership of our food system. His current projects are centered upon the cultivation of the next generation of food system leaders, the self-ownership of FEED Cooperative’s infrastructure, and evolving his tasks as Navigator into an advisory role, ensuring that generational succession in one’s food community happens on the farm level as well as the brick and mortar infrastructure and human resources that FEED Cooperative embodies.

Paige Phinney, Director at Kitchen Table Advisors for the San Francisco North Bay Region. Paige has advocated on behalf of small organic farmers professionally for 20+ years; as a foundational team member of three different farm advocacy entities, a farmworker, a lifelong learner, and a numbers geek. Her appreciation for our environment, grounded respect for the incredibly hard work of farming, and her pragmatic idealism inform her work in leading systems change efforts in the region and as a business coach for farmers.

Paige's diverse experiences have touched upon many facets of our food system. Her time at Marin Organic, working on local farms, at Tara Firma Farms, at UC Cooperative Extension, and for over a decade at Kitchen Table Advisors have all built upon each other and deepened her values and purpose. Paige has years of experience facilitating groups of all sizes, financial modeling to inform business decisions, supporting individuals to mitigate risk and navigate inflection points by rooting in their values, and, moreover, to lead a life that is meaningful to them. Her work bridges the analytical mind and the heart in service of supporting environmentally conscious and marginalized farmers and ranchers, in greater service of planetary and societal health.

Paige’s first encounter with FEED Sonoma was in the early days, while she was leading the operations at Tara Firma Farms. Tim and Paige kept in touch over the years and especially as she grew into her current role at KTA. Paige has witnessed firsthand and on several occasions the important role of FEED Cooperative to the economic viability of our local farms. She is committed to the success of the cooperative and hopes to bring her skills and passion to support and serve our local farming community as the Outside Director of the Board.