Endlessly fascinated by how the pieces fit together and why, Nicole has studied, taught about and acted upon the food system from a wide range of perspectives and positions. Let Plenty Enough help you better understand elements, cultures, connections, challenges, and opportunities within the food system at any scale. Our knowledge of the food system is surpassed only by our desire to learn more and to make the way it all works easy to comprehend.

Ethics is all about “shoulds.” Before you can do better, you’ve got to know what you are aiming for. We can help you articulate a set of ethical values and put them into practice. Making and managing trade-offs can be tricky — but it is easier when your values, priorities, bright lines, and acceptable grey areas are clear. Let us put our experience creating ethics frameworks and supporting values-driven food businesses to work for your project.

Sometimes it is not possible to make the change you want to see in the food system without first making changes to the rules that govern it. With two law degrees, over a decade of practice, and many years as a food law and policy professor, Nicole is not only skilled at making sense of the law, she’s also a proven and effective advocate with a track record of shaping change in state, local, and federal farm and food policy.

No one wants to waste food — but we all do. Once we understand the tremendously negative enviromental, economic, and equity impacts of food waste, conserving food starts to feel really urgent and important. Nicole was among the very first food lawyers and food systems professors to focus on the problem and opportunities associated with food waste. She is exceptionally well-positioned to help you conserve food and create conditions for its circular reintegration into the food system.

The food system is massive, complex, nuanced, and pretty fascinating. Nicole has created and taught food systems courses at every level from pre-K to graduate school. She is has also tutored professionals, created lifelong learning programs, built distance education courses, and done deeply experiential and community based education projects. She is available to design curriculum and teach courses about many aspects of the food system tailored to the needs of your audience or endeavor.

When we understand who our stakeholders are, what they need, what they want, what they really don’t want, what they have to offer, and where they could use some support, we are far better able to foster relationships and shape lasting change. Nicole is adept at a range of techniques, formal and informal, for building trust and deepening dialog with stakeholders. She stands ready to support you in planning for and carrying out the kinds of conversations and interactions that go beyond surfacing perspectives to identifying leverage points and creating coalitions.

Systematically collecting baseline data and stories about a region’s food system is an important early step in advancing any place-based and community-oriented food system improvements. Nicole has lead and/or participated in neighborhood, city, county, and regional food system assessments and food policy assessments in both urban and rural contexts. While an assessment and planning project may require some original data collection, there is much to be revealed through skilled compilation and analysis of secondary data as illuminated by stakeholders and their stories.

So much writing about agriculture and food systems is terribly technical. It lacks the seasoning and flavor that makes people care about food in the first place. As an author who has written widely — from legal briefs and peer-reviewed scholarship to blog posts, magazine articles, and most recently, a book — Nicole can help you hone communications about your work and impact in the food system and beyond.