We grow great food, farms and farmers!
OUR STAFF
Margaret Morgan-Hubbard, Founder and CEO: A seasoned social justice organizer, educator and environmentalist, Margaret Morgan-Hubbard has a fertile mind practiced in translating ideas into action. Margaret is committed to mentoring young people in creating meaningful and purposeful lives, and to finishing the equity work her generation began, but lost track of. She is particularly interested in providing venues and opportunities for diverse groups of people to collaborate together toward a better, more peaceful and just world that respects Mother Nature. She is firm believer in thinking globally and acting locally, and manifesting the change she wants to see in the world: one farm, one farmer, one kholrabi and carrot at a time.
Contact: info@ecocityfarms.org
Kayla Agonoy (she/her), Deputy Director: Kayla graduated from Salisbury University with a degree in Biological Sciences. During her time at Salisbury, she became interested in nutrition and the food justice movement. When she decided to become a pescatarian, she became even more aware of the consequences of what we choose to eat on an individual and global scale. Kayla has long been connected to the two towns where our farms are located and calls this area home. She is a graduate of nearby William Wirt Middle and Bladensburg HS. She was introduced to urban farming during her apprenticeship at the Edmonston farm. Since then she has joined our staff and now runs ECO’s signature SEED2FEED Summer Youth Program.
Contact: kayla@ecocityfarms.org
Maura “Mac” McCasted (she/her), Director of Strategic Programming & Training: Mac is a 2023 BFTP graduate turned BFTP coordinator that came to farming as a way to rewrite her relationship with work, the environment and herself. As a beginning farmer, Mac has operated her own farm and CSA since 2022, using ECO City’s BFTP to springboard herself into sustainable agriculture headfirst. Off the farm, Mac is an experienced program manager, having spent 17 years delivering programs for federal agencies. Mac is a 2024 recipient of the National Young Farmers Award, and has shared her lessons learned from her beginning farming journey at regional conferences like FHCASA and Rooting DC, and national conferences like Black Urban Growers (BUGS). She is excited to join her friends on the ECO City team full time, and eager to help the organization grow.
Contact: mac@ecocityfarms.org
Maddie Ramey (they/she), Farm Manager: Maddie has been growing food in the DMV since 2017. Maddie has been involved with ECO in various capacities over the years — first as a BFTP trainee, then as a BFTP coordinator, and currently as a farm manager. Maddie believes healthy, accessible, and sustainably grown food is a human right, and that it’s crucial for communities to come together to share knowledge around, and advocate for, the growing of such food. Nothing fills them with more joy than growing garlic, corn, hot peppers, and Radiator Charlie’s Mortgage Lifter tomatoes.
Contact: maddie@ecocityfarms.org
Michael Atemnkeng, Lead Farmer: Michael has been farming for his entire life. Originally from the Republic of Cameroon, he now lives in Bladensburg, where he manages the food production at ECO’s Bladensburg Farm. A cocoa and coffee farmer in Cameroon, he now grows every kind of North American and African vegetable he can at ECO City Farms with considerable skill and grace. He is a graduate of our Beginning Farmer Training Program, which he took to learn more about chemical free, climate-smart, sustainable farming practices and composting geared to our Mid-Atlantic soils and climate.
Thomas Fazio (he/him), Compost Manager: Native to Prince George’s County, Thomas grew up 10 minutes from ECO City Farms. After graduating from Elon University in 2017, Thomas spent a year working and traveling abroad where he found his passion for organic farming. While employed by local food scrap recycling company, Compost Crew, Thomas worked as project manager on the first farm to table to farm composting system in Montgomery County. Thomas is an MDA Certified Composting Facility Operator, former farm apprentice and trainee in the 2022 BFTP and current compost manager.
Contact: thomas@ecocityfarms.org
Donta Dobbs (he/him), Farmer: Donta is a 2023 graduate of ECO’s Beginning Farmer Training Program. His journey began at home, where he started experimenting with growing peppers, kale, tomatoes, and even sprouting seeds from fruit he purchased at local grocery stores. What started as curiosity quickly grew into a passion. He continues to garden at his parents’ home today, cultivating nearly anything he can get his hands on and consistently pushing himself to learn more.
In addition to his home garden, Donta supports a local farmer, Miriam, who manages a plot at the Urban Farm Incubator at Watkins Park. Working alongside her allows him to continue to put into practice the skills he gained through ECO’s program—from soil preparation and planting to harvesting and managing the daily responsibilities involved in running a farm.
These experiences have strengthened his commitment to producing healthy food for his family and, eventually, his community. Today, Donta continues to work with the ECO team, expanding his skills and deepening his understanding of what it takes to establish and sustain a successful farm. With each season, he moves closer to his goal of creating a farm of his own.
Contact: donta@ecocityfarms.org
Wilma B. Consul, Director of Culinary, Outreach and Media: In this position, Wilma combines her expertise as chef, journalist, artist and educator gained in Washington, DC, San Francisco and New York. While working at NPR News, she got her cooking and pastry certificates from L’Academie de Cuisine in Maryland and Carlos Rosario, an adult charter school in DC, where later she taught French cooking techniques, ServSafe (food safety and sanitation) and life skills. She worked in the kitchens of Purple Yam in Brooklyn, Susan Gage Caterers, Centrolina’s Mercato, Bayou Bakery and J. Chocolatier in the DMV. Through her boutique business Citizen Cook, she plans and cooks the Breakfast of Hope, an annual fundraiser for the homeless advocacy of St. Augustine, the mother church of Black Catholics in DC. For five summers, she cooked vegetarian/vegan meals for Fly By Light, a peace-arts retreat for urban youth in a nature setting. Out of the farm, she teaches Asian cuisine for The Hill Center and team-building cooking classes for Sidewalk Food Tours. She has a master’s degree from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and from the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Italy in world food cultures and mobility.
Contact: wilma@ecocityfarms.org
Jon Berger (he/him), Incubator Farm Manager: Jon grew up in Silver Spring, and has been living in DC since graduating from the University of Maryland in 2011 with a degree in political theory. After several years in the non-profit world organizing college students around dining hall supply chains, he has spent the last 6 years working at farms, restaurants, and as a high-school wrestling coach. In the past six seasons, he has spent time growing vegetables, herbs, flowers, microgreens, and livestock. He is passionate about cooperative business development, land access, and environmental justice.
Contact: jon@ecocityfarms.org
Jocelyn Tidwell, Incubator Farm Researcher: Jocelyn, M.Ed, joins our staff after six seasons of full-time farming, following several years spent teaching and earning her Master’s in Adult Education from Seattle University. She has traveled extensively, working internationally as a curriculum design consultant (Ecuador), program evaluator (Italy), sailor (Greece), and English language instructor (Bahrain). She is excited to help launch the Watkins Park Incubator Farm. An accomplished educator and farmer, she is happiest when surrounded by cups of hot tea, spreadsheets, cats, soil and seeds.
Contact: jocelyn@ecocityfarms.org
