Northwest Transition to Organic Partnership Program

Melissa Heuer, Spork Consulting
Melissa Heuer is the Principal Consultant at Spork Consulting, a small Anchorage-based firm specializing in food systems research, applied analysis, and program development. For more than a decade, she has worked on food systems and community resilience projects across Alaska, partnering with communities statewide to strengthen local food systems, improve access to healthy foods, and build climate resilience. She was a lead author of the 2023 Governor’s Food Security Report, which outlined a statewide strategy for Alaska’s food security, and has collaborated on dozens of projects with the Alaska Food Policy Council and partners across the state.

Sundance Visser, Alaska Food Policy Council
Sundance is the Operations and Finance Director of the Alaska Food Policy Council, joining the team in 2023. She also works on various projects, including planning the Alaska Food Festival & Conference and managing AFPC’s partnership on the Northwest Transition to Organic Partnership Program. She lives in Homer with her little family, their garden, and countless projects.

Mel Sikes, Fairbanks Soil and Water Conservation District
Mel is the Fairbanks Soil and Water Conservation District’s (FSWCD) Natural Resource Education Specialist and has worked there since 2010. She is the program leader for the Alaska Agriculture in the Classroom program. She is the Program Director for the AFFECT Farmer Training program to train new farmers, including a brand new incubator farm program providing farmers with shared farmland. She has written and received large and small grants to support statewide gardening/agriculture projects, including both classroom and home hydroponics. She manages two community gardens in Fairbanks. She served 9 years as a governing board member of the Alaska Food Policy Council (AFPC) and helped start the AFPC Hydroponic Working Group.

Trevor Kirchhoff, Anchorage Greens
Trevor has worked in the hydroponics industry for more than 15 years, as a grower and as the owner of an indoor garden supply store. From cannabis to microgreens, he has designed and built a wide variety of gardens to grow a wide variety of plants. In 2019, he moved to Anchorage to start Anchorage Greens, where he now manages their unique grow facility and retail market.

Jan-Tia Kern, Edible Garden
Jan-Tia serves as the Director of Food Safety for Edible Garden. She is directly responsible for overseeing the organic certification process at all company facilities. Edible Garden is actually certified by two different certification bodies, and she works directly with MOSA and Baystate organic certifiers to maintain certification year after year. A graduate of Temple University with a Bachelor of Science in Biology and a minor focus in ecological systems, she achieved the first certified fully soilless and truly hydroponic basil growing operation in the US, certified by MOSA. In addition, the company grows using NFT systems, a form of hydroponics, for 10 other herbs, and these are fully certified by both certifiers. She is a hands-on grower, and for fun maintains a completely organic garden for her family. Farming is her passion, and doing it organically benefits everyone!

Kim Hatfield, California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF)
Kim joins us from CCOF, one of the oldest and largest organic certification agencies serving North America. She is passionate about helping operations navigate their journey to organic certification. With several years of hands-on experience working on certified farms in California and nine years at CCOF, Kim brings a well-rounded understanding of the process, requirements, costs, and benefits of going organic. She’s happy to be your go-to resource!