Laura Neale

Laura is the Farm Operations Manager at Liberation Farms and started working with the SBCA in late 2022. Laura began her career in agriculture in 1996 as an apprentice on a vegetable farm in mid-coast Maine and has been working outside and growing food ever since. Laura has worked on vegetable farms in the northeast and northern California, volunteered on agricultural projects in India and Morocco, and owned and operated Black Kettle Farm, a certified organic mixed vegetable farm in Southern Maine. From the youth gardens to the goat herd, Laura supports all of the programs at the farm, but works most closely with the Iskashito commercial growers with crop planning, field management, and production assistance. She loves learning Maay Maay and hearing about life and farming practices in Somalia from farmers. Laura received a B.A. in Anthropology from Colby College, Waterville, Maine, and a certificate in Ecological Horticulture from the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, UC Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California.