Colleen Hanley is the National Program Manager for New Entry Sustainable Farming Project. She  manages the Farm Incubation and Education through Land-based skills Development (FIELD) Network, a Community of Practice that brings farm educators together for webinars, resource sharing, technical assistance, field trips, workshops, shared learning, and collaborative social engagement so they can teach, learn, and share best practices with each other and bring those lessons and networking connections back to their organizations to benefit their beginning farmer audiences.

Colleen joins the FIELD Network from a prior role in Arizona where she served as Assistant in Extension for the Urban Agriculture Production, Small-Scale, and Beginning Farmer Program at the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension. In her extension role, she was responsible for technical assistance efforts, program management, program development, budget management, stakeholder engagement, and evaluation for beginning, small-scale, and urban farmers in Arizona. This included coordination of the People’s Demonstration Farm at Maricopa County Cooperative Extension, conducting applied research specific to urban agriculture and small-scale production, managing the Urban and Beginning Farmer Newsletter, managing Program Coordinators and internships in Urban Agriculture, and hosting educational and outreach efforts including workshops, farm tours, on-site demonstrations, and stakeholder meetings.  

Colleen is passionate about racial equity and justice, local and regional food systems, rural livelihoods, farmland preservation, supporting young producers, and organic agriculture. She believes systems-thinking and stakeholder engagement is key to drive forward practical policy solutions for a more sustainable food system. Colleen Hanley holds an MA in Nutrition and Food Studies concentrated on Food Policy from NYU, and BAs in Environmental Studies, Concentration Food, Land, and Community, and Psychology from UVM.