Nina Planck

Nina Planck is a food writer, entrepreneur, and the leading American expert on farmers' markets and local food. A champion of small farmers, she grew up on an ecological vegetable farm in Virginia selling vegetables at farmers' markets. After leaving the farm, Ms. Planck was a congressional staffer, a reporter for TIME magazine, and a speechwriter for President Clinton's ambassador to Britain. Her latest book, Real Food: What to Eat and Why is a rebuttal to dietary fads and a call for the return to old-fashioned foods. A former Director of New York’s Greenmarket, the largest network of farmers' markets in the US, Ms. Planck’s company, London Farmers' Markets, runs 16 weekly farmers' markets year-round, serving 150 farmers and food producers whose market income is about $6 million per year. Her new company, Real Food, operates outdoor markets for local and traditional foods in American cities.