Owner, T&D Willey Farms
Policy Advisor, The Cornucopia Institute
LLC Management Committee Member, California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF) Certification Services
Tom Willey, with his wife Denesse, operated T&D Willey Farms from 1981 until 2016, a seventy-five-acre Certified Organic farm in Madera, California, growing a wide array of Mediterranean vegetables the year round. T&D Willey Farms produce was appreciated in specialty markets and fine restaurants up and down the U.S. West Coast as well as on the tables of over 800 weekly Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) subscription members in their own community. Tom was, for nearly a decade, Slow Food USA’s governor for California’s Central Valley and he passionately advocates for local food prominence through his writing, speaking, radio, and event organizing activities. His monthly “Down on the Farm” radio interview program features the work of progressive farmers and others prominent in San Joaquin Valley’s agriculture and food communities. Tom has served over the years on the boards of directors of the Ecological Farming Association (EFA) and California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF) and presently is a member of CCOF Certification Services’ five-person LLC Management Committee. He currently serves as a Policy Advisor to The Cornucopia Institute which monitors integrity of the U.S. organic industry. He has been collaborating with several California organic growers to develop no-till and reduced-till organic vegetable production systems over the last three years.
