Heidi Eger, Canton MN. Heidi has been involved in the local food system since 2011. She has 14 years of farm experience and has worked on a wide variety of farms including vegetable, educational, perennial fruit, and livestock. She developed a passion for working with sheep in 2017 when she was the Livestock Manager at the largest organic apple orchard in Minnesota. She spent the next summer doing short-term intensive apprenticeships on other farms with sheep to learn about their systems.

In 2019, Heidi moved to an incubator farm in Spring Grove MN and bought a flock of Katahdin-Dorper ewes and ordered a few batches of broiler chickens. For three years, she grew her direct market meat business at the incubator farm, fine tuned her record keeping for her farm finances, and gained experience with pigs and goats. 2025 is her seventh season with her own flock. She currently farms on rented land in Canton, MN.

Heidi has experience vending at farmers' markets and has worked as a manager of three farmers' markets, including the Cameron Park Farmers’ Market in Winona, MN. She has been awarded two Sustainable Agriculture Demonstration Grants from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, a Good Idea Grant from a Mississippi River basin coalition, a Brighter Future Fund grant from American Farmland Trust, and a Grow the Good Grant from Oneota Co-op.

Heidi's formal education includes a degree in Environmental science from the University of Minnesota, Morris. In addition, she has participated in numerous farm training programs including Minnesota Department of Ag's Farm Business Management, Land Stewardship Project's Farm Beginnings, and Practical Farmers of Iowa's Sustainable Agriculture Business Incubator. 

Erik Heimark, Aitkin MN. Erik joined Renewing The Countryside in 2025 as a Farm Business Management specialist. He works 1-on-1with farmers providing financial assistance, education, and advocacy in addition to offering educational courses, workshops, and seminars.  His background is in education, having taught as a High School Agriculture Teacher for 4 years and a college Farm Business Management Instructor for 3 years.

Erik has been a produce farmer for the last 10 years.  He started his farming career when he moved back to his family's farm in 2014.  From there he managed Gilby's Orchard for two years before venturing out on his own and started Maple Ridge Produce in 2016.   The small vegetable farm grew from a half acre to over 5 acres today and now sells at 3 farmers' markets, 2 food hubs and a handful of wholesale buyers.  Although his expertise is in produce farming, he started his farming career in livestock, raising pastured chickens, pork, beef, and even milked a dairy cow for a year.  He lives in Aitkin, MN with his husband, dog, and 4 bratty cats. 

Delma Kaiga, Northfield MN.

Ryan Pesch, Pelican Rapids MN. Ryan discovered organic farming as a college student. He trekked down the hill from Gusatvus Adolphus College to the St. Peter Food Co-op where he fell in love with good food and the whole food scene. The place was quaint and countercultural with the typical smell of curry powder and coffee. "My food dollar—of which I had few at the time—went to nearby growers and operations that were dedicated to healing the earth by building a business, not lobbying congress. Good food with a high mission – what’s not to love?"

Upon graduation, this inspiration took Ryan to Foxtail Farm near Osceola WI to learn the craft of organic vegetable production for two years. As an apprentice, he learned the ropes of farming. How to battle weeds, swing a harvest knife without losing a finger, and generally push through a slew of bad weather and setbacks to produce a crop.

After a stint as a market gardener on rented land near the Twin Cities, Ryan moved to Otter Tail County in 2004 and began to dig ground. Three kids and countless hours later, he continues to grow and serve good food through a CSA program, Pelican Market in Pelican Rapids, at Manna Food Co-op in Detroit Lakes, and at a self-serve farmstand at the end of his driveway.  

Kathy Zeman, Nerstrand MN. Kathy grew up on a diversified livestock and crop farm, enjoying a successful career in 4-H, FFA, and Junior Holstein. Always knowing she was going to farm, she worked in the feed and  Canadian AI industries, as well as UMN Extension, to earn her 20% down to buy her 1st farm in 1998: 5.22 acres for $65,000. Now at her 3rd farm, Simple Harvest Farm Organics, she raises pastured livestock: poultry, pigs, sheep, and goats; and direct markets all her products.

She joined MFMA in 2012 in part to figure out the complex food laws and rules that were proving to be barriers to the growth of MN's local foodshed. Since then, MFMA has supported the growth of a record-high 378 farmers' markets in MN and the Tribal Nations, by developing and offering for free the many topics that markets and vendors need to know to be profitable, food safe, and successfully feeding their communities.

Kathy's degree is in ag business, with minors in ag econ and farm business management, from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. She also holds a certificate in instructional systems design from Riverland.