Jim Kleinschmit
Director
(612) 870-3430  jim@iatp.org
Kleinschmit's work focuses on promoting working landscapes and sustainable rural development in both the U.S. and abroad. Current projects include: working with farmers and other stakeholders to establish sustainable crop production standards and markets in the Midwest; promoting and facilitating renewable energy and sustainable bioindustrial development projects; and helping increase understanding of the relationship of agriculture to surface and ground water management in the Great Lakes Basin. He has a M.A. from the Jackson School of International Studies of the University of Washington, and a B.A. in European history and Russian studies from St. Olaf College, Minnesota. Kleinschmit was raised on and is still active in the operation of his family's farm in Nebraska. He worked on rural development in the Baltics and Russia and in 1995 began working as the coordinator for the IATP's International Fellows Program, which informed officials from the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe about international trade and agriculture issues. In 1996, he joined the Environment and Agriculture Program, focusing on nutrient and watershed management.

Garat Ibrahim
Rural Communities Organizer
(612) 870-3442 gibrahim@iatp.org
Garat Ibrahim joined IATP in January 2008 as a Rural Community Organizer. Prior to starting at IATP, Garat was a four-year community organizer for the Lexington Hamline Community Council in Saint Paul. At the Council, Garat worked with neighborhood residents on housing, education, social services, immigration and bridging the gap between law enforcement and the Somali community. Prior to that, Garat worked with Lutheran Social Services for five years to develop partnerships and conduct outreach with ethnic groups, employers and service providers to secure affordable housing and employment for refugees. Garat was born in Somalia and has spent eight years in Minnesota. His parents are farmers in the southern region of Somalia. Garat received his B.A. in anthropology from Nairobi University. At IATP, Garat works with African refugees in Midwestern rural communities to improve the standard of living and quality of life.

Julia Olmstead
Senior Program Associate
(612) 870-0453  jolmstead@iatp.org
Julia Olmstead joined IATP as a Senior Program Associate in the Rural Communities Program in February 2009. Her work will focus on biofuels and the bioeconomy. Julia has spent much of the last ten years working both domestically and internationally on issues related to sustainable agriculture and the bioeconomy as a journalist, scientist, as well as in industry. Her writing on agriculture and biofuels has appeared in magazines and newspapers nationwide including the Los Angeles Times, Des Moines Register, and Smithsonian Magazine. Julia was formerly a graduate fellow with the Land Institute in Salina, Kan., and is a member of that organization's Prairie Writers Circle. She has an M.S. in agronomy from Iowa State University, a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and will receive an M.J. from the University of California, Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism in May 2009.

Eleonore Wesserle
Program Assistant
(612) 870-3425 ewesserle@iatp.org
Eleonore joined IATP in April 2009 to support the Rural Communities, Trade and Global Governance, and the Center for Earth, Energy and Democracy programs. After receiving her B.S. in conservation biology from the University of Minnesota, she pursued a few years of fun in field and lab in ecological research and restoration, and then shifted her focus to environmental education and advocacy. She recently worked with the Higher Education Consortium for Urban Affairs' (HECUA) Environmental Sustainability program and the Women's Environmental Institute. In her spare time, Eleonore enjoys volunteering for Heart of the Beast theatre, getting the hang of tricks on her hula hoop and crocheting.

Jim Kleinschmit said additional research is needed on cellulosic ethanol, including research by farmers who want to produce the crop. Other questions concern how farmers and local communities can share in the ownershop of plants producing this kind of ethanol.

—Agrinews
September 26, 2006

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