Our Board Members

Alisha manages the farm market and implements the food safety policies. Knapp Farms grows a large variety of fruits and vegetables and sells them at the farm’s roadside stand. They also supply regional grocers with watermelon, cantaloupe, specialty melons, onions, and pumpkins. In addition to farm duties Alisha serves on the Rocky Ford Arts Commission Board.

David Harold, Tuxedo Corn Co., grew up in Olathe, before leaving during high school and to attend college. During summers, he returned to work on the family farm. His opportunities to study in other regions of the United States and in other countries, provided him with great perspective and appreciation for many different cultures.

In 2007, he decided to join the family farm full-time, become a farmer himself and purchase ground. He now works with his father managing the farming operation, which includes 700 acres of row crops and a 200 head cow/calf operation. Besides growing crops, the Harolds have turned their focus to improving soil health through reduced tillage, cover cropping, controlled animal integration into the farming system and putting 350 acres in permanent subsurface drip irrigation. Their main vegetable crops are onions, squash, sweet corn, grown in rotation with grain corn, pasture and pinto beans. Approximately 200 acres are certified organic. They also coordinate planting, growing, harvest and sales of 1,500 acres of “Olathe Sweet” sweet corn.

David has served on the Gunnison Basin Roundtable, is on the advisory committee for the CSU organic research station at Rodgers Mesa near Hotchkiss. He also has put a lot of effort into understanding and protecting agricultural water with “No Chico Brush”, an informal grower-led group looking to collaborate on water projects/discussion with municipal, industrial, and environmental groups to make sure that Chico Brush doesn’t become the next crop in the the Uncompahgre Valley.

In the very small amount of free time he has, David enjoys spending it with his wife and two boys.

In August of 2009, Grant and LaRae married. They had discussed moving back to the farm to start a family for a while and decided to move to the farm in the spring of 2010. In September 2010 they were blessed with their first child, Lane. Two years later, Cason joined the family. Grant’s two boys have taken after their dad and can be found checking the moisture or driving tractors.

Grant is currently the president of the Colorado Certified Potato Growers Association and active in Colorado Farm Bureau, Sargent Youth Wrestling and is a 4-H woodworking leader. He has many hobbies that he likes to do whenever he can find time that include mountain biking, motorcycling, hiking, skiing, hunting, fishing, and woodworking. He is also a private pilot and loves checking the crops from above.

Topp is passionate about two things – soil and helping develop grassroots leaders. He is a first-generation farmer, who is working hard to establish himself in the fruit growing industry of Paonia and Hotchkiss. A native of Colorado, he graduated from New York University in 2009 with a double major in film and television production and anthropology.

Catharine Soukup, marketing coordinator at American AgCredit, assists in the association’s public relations and marketing efforts across Colorado, Kansas and Nevada. This primarily includes cultivating strategic industry partnerships, coordinating the association’s tradeshow engagement, implementing advertising efforts through traditional media outlets and organizing customer appreciation events. Catharine has especially enjoyed becoming more involved with the Colorado Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association and currently serves on the CFVGA Business Development Committee. Prior to joining the American AgCredit team in 2016, Catharine attended Colorado State University where she completed a bachelor’s degree in agribusiness and a master’s degree in public communication and technology. During her graduate work, Catharine’s research focus was centered on enhancing consumer messaging in the direct-to-consumer market. Catharine is confident that a career in agriculture means a lifetime of working with wonderful people. She is devoted to serving farmers and ranchers and is passionate about promoting the industry.

Dave Maynard has been a vice president of FreshPack since 2002. Instrumental in developing high volume sales with local retailers and food service customers throughout Colorado, he has worked closely with Colorado Department of Agriculture to promote Colorado Proud.  He also served on the Colorado Farm to School Task Force, where he worked side by side with many Colorado growers to help make their products available to Colorado consumers.

Adrian is excited for the potential CFVGA has to strengthen fruit and vegetable production in Colorado and to enhance its emerging  partnership with CSU.  He is working actively with the Board to develop CFVGA through outreach and educational programming.   More bio at LinkedIn