Board of Directors

Oregon Aglink board members represent many different sectors of agriculture and its supporting industries in the state. They are elected at the Annual Membership Meeting in January to serve two-year terms, meeting five times a year.

Officers

The following officers are elected to the 2019 Executive Committee and voluntarily serve for one year, January to January, in their respective positions:

President

Megan Thompson – Sage Fruit Co.

Megan has been a field rep for Oregon Cherry Growers since 1999. She works with growers in the The Dalles and Hood River area to facilitate maximum return and quality control. In 2007 Megan and her husband bought a 35 acre cherry orchard in The Dalles. They produce cherries for both fresh market and processing.

Megan graduated from Oregon State University with a degree in Horticulture. She first fell in love with plants and horticulture due in part to her involvement with the Green Thumb program in Portland as a child.

Along with being involved in Oregon Sweet Cherry Commission and Oregon Women for Agriculture, Megan is also actively involved in her two sons’ sports and school activities.

1st Vice President

Fred Geschwill – F & B Farms

Fred, co-owns F & B Farms with his wife Leigh, brother Billy and sister-in-law Heidi. They grow a variety of crops including grass seed, hops and nursery crop in the Woodburn area. Fred is in charge of hop sales for F & B Farms.  He is also actively involved in the public hop breeding program.

Fred graduated from Oregon State University with a BS in Agriculture. He enjoys motocross, reading, skiing, scuba diving, and travel. Fred and Leigh have a daughter named Alex.

2nd Vice President

Michelle Markesteyn

Michelle considers herself a “Farm to Family Specialist,” with a mission to make it easier to raise happy, healthy kids, while helping our farmers prosper. She’s a career mom with two growing boys living on a 4-acre farm in the heart of the Willamette Valley in Oregon.

As a first-generation American who struggled in school, digging in the earth and growing food grounded her and turned her toward academics. Over the past 20 years, she has tried just about everything in the food world. She has worked on farms, in food processing, and with non-profit organizations. She has also taught in school gardens and served in state government. She has even piloted a local foodie TV show! All the while, she has been researching ways to get more local healthy foods on our plates and advocating for policy changes that would do that.

Treasurer

Abisha Stone – SEDCOR

Abisha has been in the food industry for more than a dozen years, working to grow local businesses and support the Willamette Valley’s food and ag industries. Most recently she was a Production Manager for Oregon Cherry Growers and served as the V.P. of Operations for Marion-Polk Food Share. Now with SEDCOR, as the Yamhill County Business Retention and Expansion Manager, Abisha works with traded sector businesses, the ag industry and the local communities to create and sustain resilient communities with vibrant economies.

Abisha has lived in Marion County for 20+ years and currently resides in Salem with her husband, Chris who is also in the food industry, 3 of their 5 children (who still live at home) and their 8-year old lab, Silver (named for a silver streak on her chest). The family is active in volunteerism and can be found riding their scooters at the Riverfront or Minto Island Park on any weekend when they do not have baseball, softball, volleyball or football games…or a karate competition.

Secretary

Terry Ross – Integrated Seed Growers

Terry’s love for agriculture started in high school while working at Crocker Farms in Monroe, Oregon.  He joined Pennington Seed as a field representative following his graduation from Oregon State University. The Lebanon, Oregon, based company promoted him to production manager, and his responsibilities allowed him to work closely with producers all over Oregon and Washington.  He also has worked for the Oregon Grass Seed Bargaining Association as their general manager, fulfilling a lifelong dream to work for the farmers as their agent and advocate.

Terry remains active in volunteering his time and efforts for the betterment of agriculture. In addition to his position with the Oregon Aglink, Ross is a past chair of the Oregon Seed Trade Association Trade Rules and Ethics Committee, member of the PR committee of the Oregon Seed Council and a commissioner on the Oregon Tall Fescue Commission.

Terry resides in Sherwood with his wife Jaime and daughters, Brooklyn and Emma.

Past-President

Pamela Lucht – Northwest Transplants

Pamela, along with her husband Neal and now their daughter Lauren, own Northwest Transplants, a 28 year old business located in Molalla, Oregon. NWT is a transplant seedling nursery growing crops of all kinds on contract for their commercial farm customers. Their family operation now  produces over 80 million seedlings and services five Northwestern States and Western Canada.  A core belief is:

“We measure our success by the success of our customers”

She invites you to visit their website to learn more about NWT.

Pamela, once a city girl, and a transplant to agriculture herself,  believes the Oregon Aglink team is doing good things for Agricultural  Education.  She and her family are passionate about Ag Education at all levels; at the elementary school by supporting Oregon Ag in the Classroom,  at the high school level by supporting  FFA and most recently at the middle school level by supporting the Aglink Adopt a Farmer Program for the past 3 years.  “I am proud that our company jumped at the opportunity to be one of the adopted farms. It’s fun and exciting to watch students from all backgrounds  make a connection with our small piece of agriculture.” She believes exposing  students to hands on experiences about where their food comes from is one of our best ways to develop agricultural literacy.

As an Oregon Aglink board member, Pamela believes in Oregon Aglink’s message that agriculture is rooted, green and vital.  It’s important to Pamela that Oregonians understand the critical role that agriculture plays in our economy.  Oregon Aglink’s Adopt a Farmer program,  the Road Crop Identification Signs and the I am Oregon Agriculture TV ads are ways that Oregon Aglink is making this difference.