Left to right: - Jim Roberts, Taaron Meikle, Ted Beal, Peggy Beals, Pete Kennedy, Steve Bemis, Tim Wightman.
Meet Our Board Members and General Counsel
Tim Wightman - President
Peter Kennedy, Esq. – Vice President
Peggy Beals, RN
Ted Beals, MD
Steve Bemis, Esq.
Katie Igrec Lima - Secretary
Taaron Meikle - Treasurer
Jim Roberts
General Counsel - Gary Cox, Esq.
Tim has been in agriculture all of his life. He has pioneered CSAs, organic cooperatives, farmers' markets, the Cow-share program, Farm-share program, Milk Direct raw milk testing program while living in Northern Wisconsin. Tim consults worldwide with dairy farmers on raw milk safety and direct marketing. He also is a consultant for Midwestern Bio-Ag on enhancing the soil system to increase soil fertility issues and herd health management and nutrient density in food and feed. He is an instructor in Cow-Share College & Goat-Share University and the author of the “Raw Milk Handbook". His new "From Grass to the Glass - Chore Time" DVD instructs farmers in raw milk production.
Peter Kennedy, Esq. – Vice President
He has represented or assisted in the representation of dairy farmers facing possible state enforcement action in Florida, Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan and Indiana.
Pete is currently working with others to challenge the federal ban on the interstate shipment of raw milk for human consumption. He is an instructor in Cow-Share College & Goat-Share University.
Peggy is a community activist, educator, and author. She has worked with grassroots organizations in Childbirth Education, Homeopathy, and local township politics on land development and open government issues. She is the volunteer Administrator of the MI Fresh Milk Council. From her desire to see small family farms thriving in every community, she networks for cow-share dairies, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA's) and access to other local food. And, during the past ten years, has developed teaching materials and presented classes and hands-on workshops in the preparation of traditional foods. She authored and published the widely used Safe Handling - Consumers' Guide to Preserving the Quality of Fresh, Unprocessed Whole Milk.
Peggy and her husband Ted have been consumer participants in the Michigan Fresh Unprocessed Whole Milk Workgroup since it began in 2006.
Ted Beals is a Pathologist, Health educator and Administrator. He is the retired National Director of Pathology & Laboratory Services, Dept. of Veterans Affairs. He has retired from his practice in the Veterans Health Administration and faculty of the University of Michigan Medical School. Since retirement he continues his years of biomedical research, now focusing on dairy safety and foodborne illnesses. He is an international consultant and educator on the medical aspects of agricultural product safety
He is a lifelong advocate for organic principles, sustainable and local agriculture and the nutritional and medical values of nutrient-dense foods. Ted is active in promoting the rights of farmers to provide and consumers to obtain milk and other locally-produced fresh unprocessed foods.
Ted lives with his wife Peggy on 40 acres in rural Michigan.
Katie Igrec Lima is a community development and local food advocate. She has worked with community and economic development organizations at the local and national levels. Her work included supporting entrepreneurship development in rural and urban areas, and empowering communities to become self-sufficient. Currently Katie manages the Annapolis FRESHFARM Market and volunteers with the Chesapeake Sustainable Business Alliance. Both endeavors aim to educate consumers about the importance of sustainable agriculture in the Chesapeake Bay region. Katie lives in Baltimore where urban agriculture, community gardens and initiatives for access to local foods are taking off and setting examples for other US cities to support sustainable agriculture and local food systems.
Steve Bemis worked in corporate law for 35 years and for the last several years with the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund advocating for greater access to local foods, especially raw milk. Shown here with his favorite John Deere diesel, Steve bales round and square hay for local farmers.
Taaron Hohman Meikle is from the fifth generation of a Colorado Ranching and Farming family, whose love for the land and its ample bounty are a heritage. A long time student of nutrition, Taaron follows the teachings of Dr. Weston A. Price. As a homeschooling advocate, Taaron has been educating her four sons for over twelve years. She hopes that the FTCF will positively impact the food practices of the nation in her children’s future.
Jim Roberts is a Systems Engineer at Hewlett-Packard with a Masters of Science degree from Purdue University in Computer Science. For several years, Jim and his wife led the Dayton, Ohio chapter of the Weston A. Price Foundation (WAPF). He taught science labs in college, undergraduate computer classes at Purdue, and sign language for interpreters and sign choirs in church. His hobby has been photography since high school and was the primary photographer in numerous annuals.
When he first encountered the impact of raw milk on individual health, he was determined to ensure it could be shared on DVD. Since then he has made over 700 educational DVDs and the profits have supported the legal defense of raw milk farmer's. After encountering all the negative press on raw milk, he developed TheOtherRawMilk.com website to clarify the difference between the raw milk developed expressly for human consumption and the raw milk that is selected for industry-supported research.
General Counsel - Gary Cox, Esq.
Gary Cox practices environmental and agricultural law and is Of Counsel to the Columbus, Ohio law firm of Lane, Alton and Horst LLC. Gary formerly served in the Environmental Enforcement Section of the Ohio Attorney General's office for 14 years and prosecuted such Fortune 500 firms as General Motors, BP Chemical, Philips Electronics, Sun Oil Company and AK Steel for violations of state and federal environmental laws.
Since entering private practice, Gary's clients have included organic farmers, raw milk producers, and other clients manufacturing organic products. Gary has been involved in raw milk issues in New York, California, Pennsylvania, Ohio and numerous other states throughout the country, and has brought a national class action lawsuit against the nation's largest alleged organic dairy producer.
Gary is currently General Counsel to the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund and to the Farm-to-Consumer Foundation and in that capacity represents farmers throughout the United States who are trying to market their products directly to consumers free from governmental interference and harassment.
Gary lives in Columbus, Ohio with his teenage son and daughter, is an avid gardener, a former organic vegetable farmer, a supporter of local farmers, and consumes raw milk daily.
