The California Agricultural Land Equity Task Force (Task Force) is made up of 13 members who live across California and have wide ranging experiences and expertise. Learn more about each Task Force member below.
Darlene Franco
Member of the Wukchumni Tribe Wukchumni ancestral homelands / Tulare County
Darlene Franco has worked all her life in Native communities, including directing statewide Native language revitalization programs, coaching Native youth sports teams, leading health and wellness cultural programs, providing cultural curriculum development, and teaching and practicing her Tribe’s culture and running ceremonies for her people. She is a member of the Wukchumni Tribe, whose ancestral homelands are in the region known as Tulare County. For the past year, Darlene has been attending California Truth and Healing Council (CTHC) sessions throughout the state to learn about other California Native Americans’ successes and struggles. She also regularly participates in agricultural groups and activities, from basketry workshops to Traditional Ecological Knowledge programs. Her expansive knowledge and lifelong commitment to tribal Communities in California are invaluable contributions to the California Agricultural Land Equity Task Force. In her words, “I feel I can help make recommendations on how, why, and where to increase access to land for food production, traditional uses for culture and medicines, and support for traditional tending of the land.”
Doria Robinson
Agricultural Industry Member, California State Board of Food and Agriculture / Executive Director, Urban Tilth Statewide
Since 2008, Doria has been executive director of Urban Tilth, which works to build a just local food system by, in part, educating, training, and hiring community members to grow their own edible gardens to provide healthy foods to the community. The nonprofit operates more than a half-dozen school and community gardens, including the North Richmond Farm. In 2022, Doria became the first Urban Agriculture representative and the first Black Woman to serve on the California State Board of Food and Agriculture. Doria is a member of Cooperation Richmond, Richmond Our Power Coalition, Climate Justice Alliance, U.S., Food Sovereignty Alliance and the Richmond Food Policy Council.
Dorian Payán
Radical Real Estate Law School at the Sustainable Economies Law Center Central Coast, Bay Area, North Bay, Central Valley
Dorian Payan serves as the Director of Holistic Land Relations and Co-Director of the Radical Real Estate Law School at the Sustainable Economies Law Center (SELC) in Oakland, California. The organization offers pro-bono and low-bono support to community-based organizations dealing with - among many other things - legal issues related to land acquisition. All SELC clients are Black, Indigenous, and people of color. Before SELC, Dorian was a full-time farmer and land steward, managing a 35-acre organic vegetable farm affiliated with the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems at UC Santa Cruz.
Emily Burgueno
Head Seed Keeper, Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel Kumeyaay Land/San Diego County/Imperial County/Northern Baja California, Mexico
Emily Burgueno is Head Seed Keeper of the Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel. Previously, Emily has worked as a Cultural Resource Manager, where she was a liaison for the Kumeyaay Nation and several agencies and institutions throughout San Diego. Emily is also active within three of the four Kumeyaay subcommittees, which specialize in the repatriation of Kumeyaay ancestors, Land conservation and stewardship, and Heritage preservation. Emily is an active advocate for revitalizing cultural burning by actions (facilitating burns on my Reservation and providing consultation with federal agencies to support their understanding of cultural burning) and actively consults with federal agencies on plant restoration, land conservation, and cultural competency.
Irene de Barraicua
Director of Operations, Líderes Campesinas Statewide
Irene de Barraicua is Director of Operations at Líderes Campesinas, a statewide advocacy organization that supports and coordinates campesinas (women farmworkers) to become agents of change and be a more effective unified voice. Irene also serves on the advisory board for a land access study in Sonoma County, which works to assess the needs and desires of farmworkers regarding workforce development. Irene has contributed to various research studies regarding farmworkers and documented firsthand testimonies to better understand farmworker needs. Irene’s work focuses on representing and advocating for policies that address inequities and gaps such as food insecurity, low quality foods, food deserts, and lack of access to various resources, including funding.
James Nakahara
Farm Business Advisor, Kitchen Table Advisors Northern California
Born and raised in Oakland, California, James grew up with a strong appreciation and respect for environmental stewardship from a young age. This appreciation and respect was instilled in him through both his parents and his Japanese grandparents, who were sharecroppers in the Salinas Valley prior to being interned during World War II.
James’ farming career began at Dinner Bell Farm—a diverse operation of cut flowers, vegetables, and pasture-raised animals in the Grass Valley area, where he learned many of the joys of working with your hands in synergy with the land. This experience springboarded a desire for a more formal education in agriculture, leading him to the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems at UC Santa Cruz.
Since then, James has managed small and large-scale vegetable, fruit tree, and animal productions along the coast and in the South Bay. In addition to utilizing sustainable, organic, and regenerative farming practices during this time, James honed and developed his business management skills.
He believes strongly in the importance of providing greater awareness and support for the hardworking farmers and ranchers in our local communities. His goal is to help steward the land by stewarding relationships, leveraging networks, and providing direct business support to Kitchen Table Advisors clients and many aspiring farmer and rancher entrepreneurs.
Lawrence Harlan
Treasurer, Fort Bidwell Indian Community Council Fort Bidwell Reservation
Lawrence Harlan is the former Chairman of the Fort Bidwell Indian Community of the Fort Bidwell Paiute Indian Reservation, a federally recognized Tribe. Lawrence currently serves as a councilman on the Fort Bidwell Indian Community Council and was recently appointed the Tribe's Inter-Tribal Buffalo Council Delegate. Lawrence has over twenty years of work experience in the field of finance and serves as Associate Director of Finance at a Federally Qualified Health Center in San Jose, California. Lawrence holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics with a minor in policy studies from Syracuse University and a certificate in financial planning from UC Davis Extension.
Liya Schwartzman
Senior Program Manager, California FarmLink Sacramento, Central Valley, Central Coast, Bay Area
Liya Schwartzman has been working in partnership with farmers on behalf of California FarmLink since 2010. She has supported hundreds of farmers and ranchers accessing land, securing strong tenure agreements, exploring financing, and facilitating farmland and business succession plans. Liya also directs farmers to a variety of resources from FarmLink, its partners, and service providers nationwide. She is a frequent speaker at workshops and conferences on topics of importance to beginning and retiring farmers and ranchers.
Nathaniel Brown
Owner/operator, Brown Sugar Farm Sacramento / Bay Area
Nathaniel Brown is a beginner farmer in the Sacramento area with extensive personal experience with unstable land tenure and ways to overcome challenges accessing land. Nathaniel is the founder of Brown Sugar Farms, which offers veggie boxes, eggs, bouquets, classes on natural farming and agroforestry (food forests), and volunteer and work-trade opportunities in the greater Sacramento area.
Nelson Hawkins
Founder, We Grow Urban Farm Greater Sacramento
Nelson Hawkins holds over 12 years of farming experience and is the founder of We Grow Urban Farm in West Sacramento. Nelson is in the process of acquiring land and can speak directly to the barriers faced by beginning and socially disadvantaged farmers. At We Grow, Nelson produces a large variety of seasonal fruits/vegetables and makes them accessible to low-resourced communities directly, and at their summer farm stand, as well as supplying local restaurants, food distribution programs, and the Yolo Food Bank. Nelson also provides work opportunities for local youth to learn about sustainable food production and help run their seasonal community-supported agricultural program.
Ruth Dahlquist-Willard, Ph.D.
Small Farms and Specialty Crops Advisor, University of California Cooperative Extension, Fresno and Tulare Counties Central Valley
Ruth Dahlquist-Willard is the Small Farms and Specialty Crops Advisor for UC Cooperative Extension in Fresno and Tulare Counties. She coordinates an extension program supporting small-scale, diversified, and socially disadvantaged farmers through individual extension support, bilingual outreach and training in Hmong, Lao, Spanish, and Punjabi, research on small-acreage specialty crops, and policy engagement. Ruth holds a Ph.D. in Entomology from the University of Idaho and the Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE). Her collaborative policy efforts have resulted in several changes to regulatory and incentives programs, including revised reporting requirements for the Irrigated Lands Regulatory Program for small-scale and diversified farms and improving access for limited-resource farmers to California Department of Food & Agriculture’s (CDFA) Climate Smart Agriculture programs. She has served as a co-chair of the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources (UCANR) Small Farms Workgroup and is currently the co-leader of the Diversified Farming and Food Systems Program Team.
Thea Rittenhouse
CDFA Farm Equity Advisor Statewide
Thea Rittenhouse joined the California Department of Food and Agriculture in 2018 as the first Farm Equity Advisor. Her career has been dedicated to working with farmers, farmworkers, and sustainable agriculture projects in different capacities. She received a master's degree from UC Davis in Community Development with a specialization in Food Systems. Most recently, she was a sustainable agriculture specialist with the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas (ATTRA). She taught workshops for farmers in English and Spanish, co-developed the Latino Farmer Conference, and created farm business resources for beginning farmers and ranchers. She was raised on a farm in the Midwest and is the co-owner of an organic farm in Yolo County.
Qi Zhou
Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Program Manager, California Association of Resource Conservation Districts Statewide
Qi (pronounced as Chee) Zhou is the Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Program Manager at California Association of Resource Conservation Districts (CARCD). She has been working closely with farmers, extension agencies, non-profit organizations, and government agencies on agriculture and environmental issues for over 10 years, with a focus on assisting historically underserved farmers and ranchers. For the past 5 years, Qi has provided multi-lingual outreach, workshops, training, and technical assistance to many small scale, underserved farmers in California. She also created the "Association of Asian Farmers" working group which has over 140 active Asian farmer members in the group. Qi holds a Ph.D. in Plant and Environmental Sciences from Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina.