Castanea Fellows
The 16 leaders awarded this year’s Castanea Fellowship are keeping alive a bold vision for how we should farm, fish, and feed society. But they do so under unprecedented attack on growers and workers, and a climate that questions the very value of a liberated world for all. The 2025-26 Castanea Fellows include urban farmers and rural organizers, seed keepers and impact investors, chefs and mayoral policy champions, ancestral and cinematic storytellers, warriors for the health of people, labor, and land. They are multi-awarded and many-identitied, and all of them have worked tirelessly for our future
2025 Fellows
Suzanne Adely
Co-Director, Food Chain Workers Alliance
Kamal Bell
Founder, Sankofa Farms
Malia Chun
Program Director, Nā Pua Noʻeau Kauaʻi
Nick Davis
Program Director, Community Food Navigator
Fatuma Emmad
Executive Director FrontLine Farming, Executive Director Project Protect Food Systems Workers
Mariah Gladstone
Founder, Indigikitchen
Dom Hosack
Builder, Earth-Bound Building
Ora Kemp
Senior Policy Advisor, NYC Mayor's Office of Food Policy
Deanna Lewis
Co-Founder, Diversify Dietetics
Sheelah Muhammad
Lead Strategist, S Mpact Consulting
Esther Park
CEO, Cienega Capital
Mariolga Reyes Cruz
Co-Founder and Executive Director, Fideicomiso de Tierras Comunitarias para la Agricultura Sostenible (FiTiCAS)
Chef Fresh Roberson
Farming Chef, Fresher Together
Edna Rodriguez
Executive Director, RAFI; Co-Founder, Red Clover Collaborative
Duaba
Founding Member, Wild Path Collective
Matte Wilson
Deputy Director, Sicangu Community Development Corporaiton (Sicangu Co)