Instructor for Organic Crop Production on the Prairies web course:

Joanne Thiessen Martens is originally from Austin Manitoba, where she grew
up on a small mixed farm. She studied in the Faculty of Agriculture at the
University of Manitoba, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Agroecology
in 1999. She has worked in the Department of Plant Science as a research
assistant, in the areas of Pesticide Free Production, and alternative
cropping systems. She has recently returned from a three-year voluntary
service term with Mennonite Central Committee in Northeastern Brazil, where
she worked with a small association of small-scale organic fruit and
vegetable producers, offering assistance in the production and marketing of
organic produce. This included promotion of intercropping, use of natural
fertilizers such as compost, and organic pest control using natural
pesticides and repellents along with preventative measures.