June Russell is the Farm Inspections Coordinator for Greenmarket, a program of the Council on the Environment of New York City (CENYC). Greenmarket is the largest network of farmers’ markets in the country with forty-six locations within the City’s five boroughs. It provides retail outlets for nearly two hundred local farmers, fishers, and bakers who sell what they grow, raise, catch, and bake themselves.
June spent the last two and a half years as the Program’s Inspections Coordinator. Prior to this position, she learned the market system through managing several neighborhood-based markets across the City, as well as led tours and conducted cooking demonstrations at the Union Square Market. In her current capacity, she travels extensively within the region, visiting producer farms and production facilities and overseeing issues of compliance.
A self-described food service professional, June has spent twenty years working within the food industry. In the early 90’s she spent five years in the kitchen of Zingerman’s Delicatessen in Ann Arbor, Michigan where she spearheaded a program to purchase produce from local farms. After talking to growers who were struggling to find markets, she realized there was a lot of work to be done on the demand and education side of the sustainable agriculture equation. She has continued to advocate for small-scale producers throughout her career. Before working with Greenmarket, she was the manager of the Sweet Things program at the Lower Eastside Girls Club, where she launched and co-managed a farmers’ market on Avenue D. She believes that farmers’ markets are the most powerful way for consumers to shop.
Through her many years in the food business, June honed her culinary chops as a cook, a baker, a wine buyer, a bartender, a caterer, and a café manager. These experiences have given her broad insight into the challenges and opportunities of creating a sustainable food system.
And she loves the food.