Meet the NGBI Team

NGBI is led by Ridge Shinn

a longtime farmer, grazing advocate, CEO of Big Picture Beef, and co-author, with Lynne Pledger, of Grass-Fed Beef for a post-Pandemic world.

A man with a gray mustache wearing a plaid shirt, a dark vest, and a flat cap standing in a green field with several cows grazing in the background.
Book cover titled 'Grass-Fed Beef for a Post-Pandemic World' by Ridge Shinn and Lynne Pledger with a foreword by Gabe Brown. The cover features a pastoral landscape with grazing cattle and trees under a sky, along with a green circle containing text about building resilient, secure, and healthy food systems during times of disruption.

Ridge Shinn has been a leader in the shift from feedlot production to raising cattle on a diet of 100% grass and forages. In addition to raising a large herd of grass-fed Rotokawa Devon beef cattle in Massachusetts, he was the Vice President of a Connecticut slaughterhouse and founded a successful meat company, Hardwick Beef. 

He has developed markets and distribution systems for 100% grass-fed beef throughout the northeastern United States and has consulted all over the US and for the Argentine government on the production and marketing of grass-fed beef.

His work has been recognized in Time Magazine, Atlantic Monthly, New York Times, Wine Spectator and Smithsonian.

Prefer audiobooks? Grass-Fed Beef for a Post-Pandemic World is now on Audible.

  • A woman with dark, curly hair and a bright smile standing outdoors in a park with green trees in the background.

    Sara Riegler, Program & Development Manager

    Sara is an agroecological farmer/gardener, service provider, and activist based in central Vermont. She is committed to building systems that support thriving for all beings and to the active exploration of alternatives to the current hegemonic food and agriculture systems.

    She currently dedicates her time to her work with NGBI, supporting and organizing with farmworkers through her work with UVM Extension and Migrant Justice, growing and making medicine, and her creative practices of printmaking, natural dyeing, and restoring an old farmhouse. 

    sara@ngbi.org

  • A woman with long brown hair smiling at the camera, wearing a gray shirt and a red top underneath against a brown background.

    Angie Boone, Operations Manager

    Angie’s curiosity to engage with the land and food systems led her to work on farms and vineyards in Washington and New Zealand. She later pursued a Permaculture Design Certificate to further her understanding of growing food and stewarding the land, and was then led to serve a Tribal community’s wellness department focused on chronic disease prevention and traditional foodways.

    She currently splits her time between her work at NGBI, hiking in the mountains of Colorado, traveling and looking for good places to homestead, and constantly learning any new topics in the health, wellness, and traditional medicines spaces.

    angie@ngbi.org

  • A woman smiling outdoors, wearing a blue cap, a blue bandana, a maroon puffy jacket, and sitting on rocks with a mountain landscape in the background.

    Lea Camille Smith, Communications & Outreach Manager

    After many years of gardening and farming in Maine and New Hampshire, Lea now works in communications for organizations that connect eaters with local food and support farmers in their transition to sustainable practices. She also serves as the Editor for Edible New Hampshire, and writes on local food, the outdoors, the arts, and the intersection between agriculture and climate. 

    When not at her desk, Lea can be found skiing, biking, hiking, and “ooo-ing” and “aah-ing” her way through the White Mountains of New Hampshire, where she finds home.

    lea@ngbi.org

NGBI ADVISORY COUNCIL

Cheryl Cesario, Senior Livestock & Grazing Specialist, American Farmland Trust

Jenn Colby, Executive Director, Northeast Pasture Consortium

Lisa Holmes, President, The Martha and Hunter Grubb Foundation