Celebrating 27 Years of Leadership
As we embark on our 27th year of providing organic seed to growers across North America, we’d like to celebrate some of our leadership and introduce our new CEO Andrea Tursini and her vision for the future of organic agriculture.
While we touch on the leadership of some of our key teammates, it is important to note that there have been many individuals over the last 27 years that have made High Mowing Organic Seeds what it is today. Every single member of our High Mowing community, past and present, has been an essential part of our journey and we are grateful to them all. We exist today because dedicated individuals care greatly about organic seed, and that truth gives us strength when we face challenges and motivates us to continue this important work.
The Inspiring Tom Stearns
High Mowing Organic Seeds came to life in 1996 when founder Tom Stearns began harvesting seed from 28 varieties, many of which originating from his own backyard. Tom’s small business grew and today High Mowing employs upwards of 70 people and offers over 700 unique vegetable, flower and herb varieties. Tom Stearns’ passion for organic varieties may have started small, but his influence in modern agriculture has been an inspiration and benefit to growers near and far. His leadership has solidified a hardworking community based in Wolcott, Vermont whose efforts everyday make organic seed available to gardeners and farmers across North America.
True to Tom Stearns' original philosophies, we continue to source many of our varieties from independent organic seed farmers. All our Certified Organic, GMO-free seed is selected and trialed on our organic trials farm for flavor, productivity, climate resilience and disease resistance. Through Tom Stearns’ leadership, High Mowing has supported organic growers, has contributed to food security in countless regions, and has provided the passion needed to pursue our mission of creating a food system where the wellbeing of the environment and people are a priority. In Tom’s view this starts from the production of the seed and continues all the way to the harvested crops shared with loved ones at the dinner table.
"My desire from the beginning has been to help connect people to their food and land in a healthier way. This relationship has been mostly severed. Since agriculture is the biggest way we have damaged the earth (and is the biggest way we can heal it), it has seemed essential that shifting farming and gardening toward healthier methods has to be at the center of climate change solutions. And healthier farming can’t happen without healthier seeds. It is my sincere hope that the work of High Mowing has been an inspiration and contributed in these ways."
Leadership through Partnership
While Tom Stearns has been our inspiration and fearless leader over the years, he has counted on key partners to make High Mowing the humming, well-oiled machine it is today.
In 2013 Tom Stearns felt the difficult tugs of a growing company in need of more infrastructure and systems support. He brought on Tom Furber, a Middlebury College and Dartmouth educated general manager with over 30 years of experience in business leadership. Before High Mowing, Tom Furber helped companies navigate growth and change in ownership. He worked with Hannaford Supermarkets, to turn around a business unit, lead pricing/margin performance, and reengineer the company’s financial reporting and decision support systems. He also founded the home shopping and delivery division, HomeRuns. Tom is passionate about organic food, improving the human condition, and engaging with people and work that makes an impact on the world.
Tom Furber became CEO of High Mowing and spent a decade innovating the flow of the warehouse and seed storage facilities, firming up the organization’s team dynamics and community, and helped to oversee the implementation of a new ERP system and website. Tom Furber worked tirelessly to build foundations that would ultimately be tested by the surge in seed sales brought on by the pandemic in 2020. During that time, he was the boots on the ground that kept our team safe and ensured seed continued hitting the mailboxes of our dedicated organic growers. His contributions to High Mowing have deep roots and his talent for business is matched equally by his compassionate heart.
Affectionately called “the Toms,” these two leaders, along with an incredible team of self-motivated individuals, have helped to make High Mowing what it is today. As Tom Furber leaves his post as CEO, another key trail blazer is ready to take the reins.
The Path Forward
Andrea Tursini has worked at High Mowing for 12 years. Starting in 2011 as the Retail Sales and Marketing Manager, Andrea brought with her farming experience and an instinct for building community. Her keen eye for systems has led to countless new opportunities. Her collaborations with the Toms have allowed High Mowing to reach and surpass goals, elevating the company to a higher level of professionalism and functionality. In 2019 she was promoted to Director of Sales and Marketing and then to Chief Marketing Officer in 2020. In 2023 Andrea Tursini accepted the position as the new CEO of High Mowing Organic Seeds.
With big shoes to fill, Andrea takes this new appointment seriously. She sees the opportunity to further the organic mission of bringing consumer-level awareness to the importance of organic produce being grown from organic seed. Working at High Mowing opened Andrea’s eyes to the fact that much of the organic produce on the grocery shelves today is grown from conventional seed. While organic seed usage has increased in recent years, she feels there’s still work to be done.
Looking to the future of High Mowing, she is enthusiastic about the possibilities. She is eager to continue to cultivate meaningful relationships with seed breeders and producers. Andrea knows that a stable seed system is built through collaboration, and she embraces the ideology set forth by Tom Stearns of not cutting individuals with differing perspectives out, but instead, calling them in. This has been a strength of High Mowing; a willingness to work with unconventional partners. From outward appearances, this may seem like a breach of commitment to the organic mission, but what typically results from these untraditional relationships is more varieties becoming available organically.
Andrea is committed to transparency about our practices, about our seeds and about our mission with the organic growers that support us. She would like the company to continue to promote diversity and inclusion in modern agriculture and create opportunities for good work right here in Wolcott, Vermont. She hopes that the unique journey of being one of the only 100% organic seed companies will have a lasting impact on today's agricultural landscape. For Andrea, it is the health of the entire system that truly sprouts change in our industry. She feels that this is an even more pressing matter as climate change begins to wreak havoc on growing seasons across North America.
Hope in the Age of Climate Change
While climate change is a deeply felt concern to Andrea, it is the dedication of the High Mowing community to organic growers and the organic growers themselves that give her hope. It is because of the diverse communities of growers we serve; their resilience and the art they bring to their craft that she believes a green future is possible. “Change happens when people care and when they build communities with other people who care. That’s what I see in our community and it’s what I look towards when I’m feeling wrapped up in the challenges we face in this new era of climate change.”
The last 27 years have been an extraordinary example of how powerful we can be when we work towards a shared goal as a community. It has been a wild ride for this small, independently owned seed company and we couldn’t have made it this far without your support. As we look to the future, we remain eager to build a greener, more just and community supported world with you all, one seed at a time.