Nate brings close to two decades of experience in food, farming, and farmland preservation to his role as Conservation Manager at Washington Farmland Trust (WFT). Nate and his wife own and manage Oyster Bay Farm, a 40 acre organic diversified livestock and crop farm on the shores of Puget Sound in Olympia, WA. Prior to joining WFT, Nate was the Farm Policy Director at the Organic Trade Association (OTA) where he provided staff support to OTA's Farmer Advisory Council, on-the-ground outreach to OTA's organic farmer membership community, and analysis of policy issues that affected organic crop and livestock producers. He interacted directly with government officials and the organic supply chain on behalf of the grower segment of OTA’s membership. Prior to OTA, Mr. Lewis served as Certification Coordinator for Washington State Dept. of Agriculture's organic certification program where he managed WSDA's material review program and gained certification experience in all scopes of organic production. Mr. Lewis holds a Bachelor’s of Science from The Evergreen State College with a focus in agricultural science and organic chemistry.