Posted on October 31, 2017 at 11:58 AM by Allan Warren
Our new Crop Farm Specialist, Alison Nichols, is a local hazelnut farmer with a history of traveling the world. Ali is available to assist crop farm operators in planning and applying natural resource conservation practices and facilitate workshops and technical support around topics relevant to farmers in Pierce County. She will also be working collaboratively with government agencies and non-profit partners to support the needs of farmers contributing to a vibrant local food system.
The seeds of Alison’s interest in agriculture started as a child in Madagascar where she got exposure to development work. She was fascinated by what progress could be made by providing a population with tools and opportunities. She followed that interest into college and did an internship in South Africa giving people toolkits for community veggie gardens. After earning a Masters in Crop Science from the University of Florida in 2001, she worked for a few years in Burkina Faso doing agriculture development work.
When the opportunity arose to start her own farm in 2009 she took it and moved to the Puyallup Valley to revitalize an old hazelnut orchard.
At her farm “Filbert Acres” she works hard to put her two boys to work managing 700 hazelnut trees. She finds it very rewarding to provide her community members with healthy food and is excited to connect farmers with each other and with the ideas and practices that will help them succeed in their farms while conserving their natural resources for the generations to come. She hopes to help the community to see how the choices we make in growing and buying our food effect the community and the environment.
When she isn’t farming or helping farmers she enjoys cooking, sharing good food with friends, and aspiring to knit.