Page 261 - Breeding and regulatory opportunities, Renaud

About the author

About the Author

Erica Natalie Claire Renaud was born in Kitchener, Ontario Canada, 24th of

December 1970. She grew up in Kitchener where she attended St. Mary’s

Highschool and graduated in 1988. Subsequently, Erica pursued a Bachelors

of Arts in Comparative Development and Environmental and Resource

Management Studies from Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada,

graduating in 1993. During her studies she spent one year abroad working

and researching in Ecuador where her appreciation for sustainable agriculture

developed. After practicing organic farming, she began a Master of Science

programme in Sustainable Systems with a focus on Agroecology at Slippery

Rock University in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania, graduating in 1997. Upon

completion of her MSc work, Erica worked for Frontier Natural Products

Co-op, in Norway, Iowa, conducting research on herb cultivar performance

under organic conditions and translating the results to farmer-producers

supplying the company. Following this work, she managed quality control

processes and organic certiication of medicinal and aromatic plant production

and wild harvesting with farmers in sub Saharan, Africa through the USAID-

funded project, Agribusiness in Sustainable Natural African Plant Products

(ASNAPP), at Rutgers University in New Jersey. Later, she managed organic seed

research and the trials farm for Seeds of Change, in El Guique, New Mexico.

Presently, Erica is the Business Development Manager for Vitalis Organic Seeds,

North America, the organic division of the Netherlands based breeding and

seed production company Enza Zaden. Erica was responsible for launching the

brand in Canada, the US and Mexico in 2007. With responsibility for establishing

a vibrant organic seed business in each country, and for supporting the growth

of that business through the distribution of certiied organic vegetable and herb

seed, Erica spends considerable time working with policymakers, growers and

breeders to help communicate programs and policy, and to address obstacles

and opportunities for organic seed sector growth. She is an active member

and past-chair of the organic seed committee of the American Seed Trade

Association (ASTA). She is presently engaged in multiple project initiatives with

the Organic Seed Alliance (OSA), aiming to improve the functionality of the US

national organic seed inder database and to determine methods of collecting

market data on organic seed sector growth.

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