Sarah Hackney

Sarah serves as the Coalition Director for the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, leading strategic direction and governance for this 170-member policy advocacy coalition since 2019. She has spent her career at the intersection of farms, food systems, and grassroots power-building: organizing nationally coordinated campaigns focused on advancing more sustainable, equitable federal farm and food policy over multiple farm bills, developing communities of practice for farmers and leaders in rural communities, and building community-scale, community-led food systems infrastructure in New England and the Pacific Northwest. Raised in Florida helping tend cattle and citrus groves, she is equally at home washing and packing produce for market and devising tactics for farm bill floor debates.

Plenary Speaker

Grassroots Agricultural Policy: A conversation with Sarah Hackney and Xochitl Torres Small

Who has a say when it comes to healthy food and working lands? Like it or not, policy has a large influence on how we raise animals, grow food, and care for our lands across the country. But often, those with the most practical experience aren’t at the decision-making table. Join the conversation as Sarah Hackney demystifies the Farm Bill, Xochitl Torres Small pulls back the curtain from her time in Congress and USDA, and we all grapple with ways to share hard-earned knowledge on this big web of a food system.