Elaine Brown
Executive Director
517-432-0712

Elaine Brown is currently Executive Director for MIFFS. She is responsible for leadership, overall management of the organization, fund raising, and evaluation.  Prior to this appointment, she served as MIFFS Programs Manager for 11/2 years. She currently serves on the Michigan Food Policy Council, the Michigan Department of Agricultural Value-Added Commercialization Roundtable, and is Co-Chair of the Mid West Sustainable Ag Working Group Extension Research and Education Committee.

Elaine brings over thirty years of professional experience primarily in state government, university and non-profit organizations including an extensive background in program management, regulation and policy, community outreach, constituency building activities and public speaking.

Elaine received her Bachelor and Master of Science degrees from Michigan State University. Currently, she is in the inaugural cohort of the MSU Great Lakes Leadership Academy, a two-year interdisciplinary leadership program for advancing the common good.

She is an avid Spartan Fan and she and her husband regularly attend the MSU football and basketball games. In her spare time, Elaine enjoys gardening, canoeing, golfing, traveling and spending time with family and friends. She serves on the Outreach Committee of her community property owners association.

Scott Corrin
Programs Administator
517-432-0712

Scott Corrin is the Programs Administrator for MIFFS.  He works with Program Managers ensuring that MIFFS is working towards the goals of their respective programs while keeping within budget.  Scott is also the conference coordinator for the Michigan Family Farms Conference which is held in January. 

Scott has over ten years of association management experience, mainly with agriculture, and was a manager for Tractor Supply Company.  He also can be seen working on his family’s strawberry farm when he is not at MIFFS.  During his spare time, Scott enjoys biking, fishing, boating, and attending sporting events of his alma mater, Michigan State.

Emily (Buckham) Beutel
Communications Specialist
517-432-0712

Emily Beutel began working with MIFFS as an intern in 2004 and is now the MIFFS Communications Specialist.  She graduated from Michigan State University in 2006 with a Bachelor’s degree in Agricultural and Natural Resources Communications and was involved throughout college in numerous clubs, groups and activities focused around agriculture and food systems.

Emily grew up on a family farm in Kalamazoo raising sheep and cattle.  Her passions are for her family, agriculture and writing, so MIFFS communications is a perfect fit for her, blending what she loves to do into one great position for a great organization.  She is excited to help family farmers find better opportunities and keep farming and hopes to one day continue her family tradition and legacy of raising sheep on her own farm.

Adam Montri
Hoophouse Program Manager
517-432-3381

Adam Montri is currently the hoophouse project manager for MIFFS and an outreach specialist for the Department of Horticulture and the Student Organic Farm at Michigan State University.  He works directly with small and mid-sized organic and conventional growers as well as limited-resource, low-income, and minority farmers in the state and region to identify strategies to increase sustainability through extended-season, direct marketing, and year-round production in unheated greenhouses. 

Adam graduated from Michigan State in 2000 with a B.A. in English and from Penn State in 2005 with a M.S. in Horticulture where his research focused on organic production in hightunnels.  He has worked on research and teaching farms in both Michigan and Pennsylvania and is excited to be a part of the emerging local food system in Michigan.  When Adam isn’t working he spends his time reading, playing soccer, and planning for a future farm with his wife Dru.

Dru Montri
Michigan Farmers Market Association Project Manager
517-432-3381

Dru Montri works as the project manager of the Michigan Farmers’ Market Association (MIFMA).  Dru has a background in horticulture and has both work and volunteer experience in community food system project development, coordination, and promotion.  She is a graduate of Michigan State University and continued her education at Penn State University where her graduate research focused on production and marketing techniques to aid small acreage growers.  While in Pennsylvania, Dru acted as the Centre County “Buy Fresh Buy Local” coordinator.  She worked to increase awareness of local food through the promotion of area producers and farmers’ markets. 

Dru is excited to have returned to Michigan, a place she has always considered home, and looks forward to building partnerships with farmers’ markets and stakeholders across the state.   

Morse Brown
Multicultural Farmers Program Manager
269-208-1443

Morse Brown is the project manager for the MIFFS Multicultural Farmers Program.  Morse retired from Michigan State University Extension (MSUE) in 2002 where he spent 17 years as County Extension Director for Wayne County.  Morse has 20 years of federal experience with the Soil Conservation Service, now (USDA NRCS) where he served as a soil conservationist and district conservationist reaching the level of GS-12 District Conservationist.  His professional focus was on agricultural and natural resources with a strong interest in land use planning.   

As County Extension Director, he supervised 50-55 employees in the Wayne County MSUE office.  He has worked with urban consumer groups seeking ethnic foods, he has assisted African American farmers venture into the organic market. Brown also served as the Marketing Chair for Community to Enhance Resources for Under-served Farmers (CERUF).  He graduated from Alcorn State University in 1965 with a degree in Agriculture Education and pursued graduate work at Michigan State University.  He and his wife, Arma, have one son, Khary.

Barbara Norman
Multicultural Farmers Program Assistant
269-208-4588

Barbara Norman is the program assistant for the MIFFS Multicultural Farmers Program. She and her family own and operate a blueberry farm in Covert, Michigan where she annually hosts the Friends and Family Farms Field Day each summer.

She works with multicultural farmers throughout the state of Michigan to improve their network of resources and alert them to great opportunities for sustainable family farmers.

Estella Rodriguez
Multicultural Farmers Program Spanish-speaking Assistant
269-223-0685

Estella Rodriguez joined MIFFS last year as the Spanish-speaking assistant for the Multicultural Farmers Program. Estella lives in South Haven and has been an integral part of reaching out to Spanish-speaking farmers to let them know about what MIFFS and other organizations can do to help.