Sprouting Farms Board of Directors

Committed and Passionate

Sprouting Farms Non-profit Corporation Board of Directors is made up of farmers and community members that are all  committed to the mission of the Sprouting Farms project.

     Eric Fitts

Eric is the Director of Bethlehem Farm (bethlehemfarm.net), a small Catholic nonprofit in Clayton, WV. Bethlehem hosts groups of high school and college volunteers on service-retreats. Bethlehem Farm has a mission to transform lives through service with the local community and the teaching of sustainable practices. Eric has 17 years of experience in agriculture and local food systems. He has a Masters in Public Administration with a Certificate in Nonprofit Management from West Virginia University, which afforded him a strong base of knowledge and robust professional network in the region.

              Annie Stroud
              Board President

Ashley Matheny

Annie grew up on a sheep farm in Greenbrier County WV and is currently Project Manager for the Buzz Food Service Appalachian Abattoir in Charleston WV.  She has expertise in local food systems research and assessment, resource access, rural business development, business and implementation planning, and farm business service through her past work with Downstream Strategies and the Value-Chain Cluster Initiative. She was a founding team member of Sprouting Farms and is humbled to be back serving as Board President.

Ashley Matheny is a Master’s level licensed psychologist who works primarily with adults suffering from substance abuse. Ms. Matheny previously worked in Logan, WV and has recently taken employment with Coplin Health in Wirt and Jackson County. While In Logan, WV Ms. Matheny assisted one facilitating the development of the Fresh Start program which pairs substance abuse treatment with gardening opportunities. 

       Dave Burhman

   Lauren Deskins

        Spencer Moss

Dave Buhrman’s vegetable gardens grew in size from 1972 until 2010. Catering mostly to the demands of The Greenbrier Hotel chefs from 1983 on, Dave also sold his fresh produce to local grocers and restaurants in and around Greenbrier County. Now retired, Dave hopes to give back some of his knowledge and experience to others interested fresh vegetable production.

Lauren is from Greenville, WV. She graduated from WVU in 2017 with a Bachelor's degree in Multidisciplinary Studies consisting of three minors: Agribusiness Management, Food Science Technology and communications. Currently, she is renovating a home built of out a water tower and maintains their 25 acres surrounding it with an orchard full of apple and pear trees. 

Spencer’s roots in agriculture run deep and family happenstance has committed her to supporting those who want to feed their communities and enjoy farming as a livelihood find the resources to do so.  After spending two years developing food security projects in central and southern Appalachia, she joined the West Virginia Food & Farm Coalition in 2015, where she now serves as the Executive Director. Spencer holds a B.S. in Communications from Missouri Western State University and a Masters in Public Administration with an emphasis in Local Governance and Community Development from West Virginia University.

       Elizabeth Spellman

Ture' M. Johnson

Bradley Wilson

Elizabeth's life work is dedicated to supporting small farm communities and environmental and human health. Her broad perspective—developed through work from West Virginia to the San Joaquin Valley of California—stems from her faith in equitable food systems as a catalyst for justice, health, and a new economy.  Elizabeth is the Community, Farm, & Operations Director at Agrarian Land Trust. She and her partner co-operate a diversified farm in the Sinking Creek Valley of southwest Virginia. Elizabeth is an acupuncture intern at Jung Tao School of Classical Chinese Medicine. Care-taking of the land, animals, and plants as a farmer interconnects with caring for people and the landscape of the body as an acupuncturist! She plans to specialize in geriatric care and complex illnesses that are resistant to standard care through a rural acupuncture clinic and farm that empowers community well-being with healing foods.

Ture' M. Johnson is the proud parent of two; David and Faith, married 10 years to his lovely wife Jade. Ture' is a graduate of West Virginia State University and Marshall University Graduate School with a degree in Adult and Continuing Education. He has been with KISRA for 12 years and in his current position for 5 years. In those 12 years he has had the opportunity to instruct and facilitate more than 10 different curricula, become a statewide trainer in Parenting Inside Out, an evidenced based curriculum, and be trained as a motivational interviewer. He has taught inside correctional facilities as well as in the community setting.  He has 10 years of experience in teaching and facilitation. He is currently the Assistant Manager of Paradise Farms. 

Associate Professor of Geography at West Virginia University. Bradley is the director of the Food Justice Lab and Center for Resilient Communities. The WVU Food Justice Lab is an experimental space for research and action focused on challenging food system inequalities. In addition to working with research partners they mentor, advise and support students working on food, environmental and development issues. Students affiliated with the Food Justice Lab participate in seminars, research, and real-world problem solving associated with our on-going projects.  Students are also encouraged and supported to experiment with new ways of combining learning, research, and action to create alternative futures.