Welcome
Claire Hodge

On December 2^nd we will add Claire Hodge as a full-time employee to our staff. She will help bring a new perspective to the farm that will help us continue to grow.

Claire’s Background

Claire grew up on a conventional farm in IL and in her adult years she has been involved in hands on research (integrative pest management and high tunnel winter growing). Claire found her passion for agriculture through working on organic vegetable farms in Maryland and Minnesota. Claire has a Master’s degree in Agroecology from the University of Minnesota, where she studied both organic and cover cropping systems.

Claire’s Experience

For the past two years, she has worked as a researcher in an organic horticulture lab working with farmers on a variety of projects including growing salad greens in Deep Winter Greenhouses and organic management of the fruit fly Spotted Wing Drosophila in blueberries and raspberries. Both in research and in practice, Claire is interested in sustainable farming systems, particularly those that revitalize the human communities and natural biodiversity in which they are situated. She’s excited to farm again, looking forward to the longer growing season in Illinois, and eager to get to know her new community at Smart Farm!

Please feel free to reach out to her directly at: claire.smartfarm@gmail.com