Put Local on Your Tray Team

Hard-working individuals devote a percentage of their professional time guiding and implementing our program. People step in and out of various roles depending on the availability of funding for initiatives and the seasonal nature of the work.

Together, we strive to connect schools to farms and farmers to schools.

Jiff Martin

Jiff Martin

Sustainable Food Systems Educator
Phone: (860) 870-6932
Jiff.martin@uconn.edu

Jiff brings a background of coalition building and collaborating across sectors to build sustainable food systems in the state of Connecticut and across the Northeast.

Contact Jiff Martin, the Extension Educator and backbone of the Put Local on your Tray Program with any questions regarding UConn Extension Collaboration. She can help you understand where to go to get the resources you need within the UConn Extension network across Connecticut.

Shannon Raider Ginsburg

Shannon Raider-Ginsburg

Special Projects Coordinator/Farmer Liaison
shannon.raider@uconn.edu

Shannon brings a background in farming, teaching, and bringing people together around local food.

Contact Shannon Raider-Ginsburg for help locating farmers, to be added to the Put Local on your Tray Farm Directory, or to join CTFarmtoSchoolMarketplace-Listserv: a place for school food service directors and growers to connect. Shannon can help Food Service Directors better understand the needs of growers, and she is available to help connect farmers to schools and schools to farmers.

Abby DuBois

Abby DuBois

Farm to School Technical Assistant
abigail.dubois@uconn.edu

Whether you are a seasoned Farm to School participant or new to the world of local food in schools, contact Abby to connect with a farmer or school Food Service Director, find recipes that feature seasonal local foods with cultural relevance, and to gain resources on how to build your Farm to School goals and create a Farm to School Team.
Abby is one of the co-chairs of the CT Farm to School Collaborative Steering Committee, she supports the planning of the CT Farm to School Institute, and works for East Hartford and Coventry/Andover Public Schools as their Farm to School Coordinator.
Zania Johnson

Zania Johnson

zania.johnson@uconn.edu

Zania is a Grant Coach for the USDA Farm to ECE Mini-Grant Project with DPH. She will be overseeing and assisting early childcare centers with a CSA food box program and establishing garden beds for vegetable and fruit production. Zania co-coordinates the CT Farm to ECE Taskforce and serves on the New England Farm to ECE Project Steering Committee and the CT Department of Agriculture Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Access to Secure Land Tenure. She is the co-founder of Micro2Life farm with her partner.

Emmanuel Marte

Emmanuel Marte

Communication Specialist
emmanuel.marte@uconn.edu

Emmanuel brings a background in nutrition education, farming, and technical computer skills. Contact Emmanuel if you desire to shout out your farm-to-school efforts on social media. He is eager to help Tray reach a broader audience of farm-to-school supporters.