‘Part-Amish and part-Hillbilly’ (as her father proudly boasts), Virginia is a product of the Jennings Family Farm – where she was born and raised. Virginia had the luxury of growing-up through the many challenges, opportunities, and transitions of the farm, starting with the hogs in the 80s to more of a crop-focus in the 90s. Athletics and academics took her many places, and starting in 2000 she started her journey from the east coast of New York to the west coast of California. Along the way, she obtained her undergraduate degree in Biology, masters in Science Curriculum & Instruction, and PhD in Insect Ecology. Today, Virginia is an applied scientist working at the intersections of agriculture, the environment, and STEM education by day; and a Firefly Fields, Inc. executive, beekeeper, and glass jar painter by night. She distinctly remembers three events from her childhood that contributed to where she is now: 1) viewing a television clip of a broke farmer in Iowa (mid-1980s) saying he got paid 2 cents for the corn he grew in a 2 dollar box of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, 2) witnessing two devastating crop events – a huge Japanese beetle outbreak in the soybeans and a late-season hail storm – both impacting her family’s crops, and 3) listening to her parents demand that she and her siblings go to college and find a way to pay for it. People, food, the environment, and education are her passions. Virginia brings with her perspective and experience from working in the wide-open rangelands of the Great Basin to the urban-agricultural zones of the Bay Area. She believes strongly in finding win-win-win solutions for people, agricultural, and the environment. Her hope is that www.firefly-fields.com will be a tiny light that shines through all those aims. She also stands behind everything Ben wrote in his bio, and thinks he’s both a great writer and great partner! She is SO EXCITED to see the Firefly Fields dream come to life! One Farm | One Family | Feeds Few