Tina studied for a master's degree in Food Policy at City, University of London, and graduated in 2007.
When Tina started the Master's, she had just quit a job she loved as an international grain trader. She was interested in ‘what made the markets move’, which led her to food policy. She got a job in Washington DC with a non-profit, the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, but quickly realised that to do any kind of policy work, she needed a Master's.
She came to London, took the course full-time, and describes it as the best year of her life. She was soon offered a job back in Washington, helping to draft the 2008 US Farm Bill. She then spent 10 years working on successive farm bills, either in the Senate or as a presidential appointee.
She has recently moved to Minnesota to take up a newly created position at Land O’Lakes, a major US farmer-owned agribusiness. There, her simple ambition is to persuade its members to farm more sustainably.
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