Andrea Caroe, Executive Director
andrea@protectedharvest.org

Andrea is considered to be an expert in organic certification, having performed over 600 organic inspections before going on to serve as Vice President of Certification Services for Quality Assurance International (QAI). In March of 2003, Andrea was appointed by the US Secretary of Agriculture to serve a five year term as an environmental representative on the National Organic Standards Board. She also serves as chair of the NOSB Certification, Accreditation, and Compliance committee.

Prior to entering the organic industry, Andrea distinguished herself in the environmental laboratory field. Her various positions included a wide range of laboratory management, quality assurance, government contract management, test protocol development, and laboratory analysis and instrumentation. In this capacity, she assisted clients with local, State and Federal compliance as well as maintaining a full range of laboratory accreditations, and conducted diverse evaluations such as: wetland delineations, aquatic toxicology, asbestos abatement, microbiology, pesticide residue analysis, toxic waste evaluations, bioremediations of petroleum site, and a variety of water, soil, and food monitoring.

Daniel Sonke, Technical and Scientific Coordinator
dan@protectedharvest.org

Dan grew up working on his family's almond farm and custom harvesting business in California. Dan will complete his Doctorate in Plant Medicine (D.P.M.) degree from the University of Florida in December 2005, and has a B.A. in Environmental Studies (with a horticultural emphasis) from Dordt College in Iowa. While at the University of Florida, Dan helped to create the IPM Florida program, a statewide program that facilitates extension outreach, research, and education related to integrated pest management throughout the Florida Cooperative Extension Service. He served as Assistant IPM Coordinator for 4 years.

Prior to pursuing his Doctorate, Dan spent six years as Tropical Agriculture and Development Specialist for ECHO, an international non-profit organization in Ft. Myers, Florida. As Director of Information Programs, he managed a program answering information requests from around the globe, assisted in the training of agriculture development interns, and managed a seedbank of seeds from around the globe.

Karl Hakanson, Certification Director

Prior to becoming the Certification Coordinator for Protected Harvest Karl was an Outreach Specialist at the Environmental Resource Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he worked on sustainable agriculture research and education projects, including extensive development of environmental management systems (EMS) for agriculture. Karl spent eleven years working primarily with farmers and agriculturists as the Natural Resource Educator for the UW Cooperative Extension Service in Sauk County, Wisconsin, where he directed education and outreach programs for a variety of water quality and natural resource programs. He holds a B.S. in Agriculture from the UW-River Falls and a M.S. in Land Resources, Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, UW-Madison. Karl lives in Baraboo, Wisconsin with his wife and two daughters.