| Matt Steiman,
Chambersburg, Pennsylvania
Matt Steiman and his partner,
Jenn Halpin, manage Wilson College's Fulton Farm, a 150-member community-supported
agriculture enterprise with steadily increasing membership. Steiman
focuses on biodiversity and water conservation, accomplished through
the integration of flowering plants with vegetables, careful soil
management, drip-tape irrigation and a no-till system. He uses mulch
and rolled-down cover crops to manage weeds, a system he tested
with help from a SARE grant.
Steiman is an enthusiastic educator. He and a CSA
member constructed a biodeisel processor and built a wind generator
and solar panels to be used as educational tools in the community.
In other examples of his outreach, he leads renewable energy demonstrations,
while the farm hosts soap-making and cooking workshops. The farm
also showcases an interpretive trail, a straw-bale building and
a composting toilet. Each year, the farm hosts interns and work-study
students. An adjunct professor at Wilson College teaching organic
gardening and agroecology courses, Steiman leads several field days
and educational visits by children and helped start the local farmers
market.
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