Jean-Paul Courtens is a native from the Netherlands. He is a graduate of Warmonderhof (part of Groenhorst College), specializing in biodynamic farming. He moved to the US in 1986 and founded Roxbury Farm in 1990. Roxbury Farm is an integrated operation, producing vegetables, beef, pork, and lamb on 425 acres located in Kinderhook, New York, and serving 1,100 CSA members in New York City, Westchester and Columbia County, and the Capital District. Jean-Paul has three kids, and he is proud that all three are working with nature either as a farmer or gardener. He has dedicated much of his career educating the next generation of farmers. He was part of the original CRAFT (Collaborative Regional Alliance of Farmer Training) in 1995. He shared many resources on the Roxbury Farm website (known as the "Roxbury Farm Manuals") and taught numerous workshops at farming conferences. Between 2014 and 2017, Jean-Paul created the ProFarmer program at the Hudson Valley Farm Hub in Hurley, New York, an on-the-job training program to provide a path to farm ownership. During this time, he guided the transition of their 1,250-acre sweet corn operation to organic practices. Jean-Paul was recognized as Farmer of the Year by NOFA-NY in January 2018.
