Robert Karp has been a leader in the local food and sustainable agriculture movement for over fifteen years and has been a student and practitioner of Rudolf Steiner's spiritual scientific research methods for almost three decades. Robert is the former Executive Director of Practical Farmers of Iowa, one of the country's premier farmer-led sustainable agriculture organizations, and is a former board president of the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute, a leading center for biodynamic and organic research and education in East Troy, Wisconsin.

While in Iowa Robert was a pioneer of the local food movement, helping start the first CSA in the state, the first community food project, and the first farm-to-institution marketing program. He worked closely with FoodRoutes to develop the Buy Fresh, Buy Local program and launched one of its first chapters in Iowa. He also helped launch a number of innovative projects, such as Value Chain Partnerships for Sustainable Agriculture, designed to help mid-size crop and livestock farmers work cooperatively with each other and with other partners to establish and grow new markets.

Robert moved to Wisconsin in 2005 where he has worked as an independent writer, organizational development consultant, and social entrepreneur. He has advised dozens of businesses and organizations, including the Johnson County Local Food Alliance, Angelic Organics Learning Center, Wholesome Harvest Organic Meats, the Center for Energy and Environmental Education, Deep Organic LLC , and a host of Buy Fresh, Buy Local chapters across the country. Most recently he has helped launch Northeast Sustainable Traders, a learning community of mission-driven food distributors on the East Coast, and the Organic Farmland Investment Project, a slow money initiative designed to help organic and sustainable farmers gain long-term access to farmland by linking them with ethical investors.

Robert is active in the anthroposophical movement, giving lectures and leading workshops on social threefolding, associative economics, community building, and other topics. His writings include an analysis of the sustainable food and farming movement in the light of Rudolf Steiner's economic insights titled Toward an Associative Economy in the Sustainable Food and Farming Movement, published in serial form in the Biodynamics journal in 2008-09 (the first installment is available in pdf format), and an essay titled "Community and Agriculture: An Iowa Pilgrimage," which was recently published by Free River Press in Eating in Place: Telling the Story of Local Foods.

Robert studied theater and creative writing in his undergraduate years and has a Masters Degree in Education from Iowa State University. He currently lives in East Troy, Wisconsin with his wife Lori Barian and their two children, Austin and Hannah.

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