The lure of an agricultural lifestyle is not unique to those of us who grew up on farms. If you hail from city or suburb, you may still recognize the yearning for dewy mornings, acres of space, and most of all, access to the freshest, ripest food there is. Todd is one of those farmer's sons who not only understands those feelings personally, but wants to bring that experience to the public - well, at least the farm fresh produce. Until they find a way to make surfing the internet as restorative as a walk in the countryside, those of us who don't live on or near a farm will have to settle for just a taste.

When did you know that you wanted to work in food?

I grew up surrounded by fresh food, in the rural farmland of Southeastern Connecticut.  My grandfather was in the dairy business so I grew up feeding farm animals and picking up vegetables for dinner at the local farmstand.  Good food was at the bedrock of my family as well as an understanding of where our food came from.  As I grew up I moved away from the farmlands, but never forgot about food and agriculture.  I studied at Duke in North Carolina and then took a job in finance in New York.  My 'career' took me all across America, meeting with clients.  I would invariably start the day in any new city or neighborhood running, given I am an avid outdoorsman.

Through my travels, I met scores of family farmers and no matter what region of the country they farmed they all spoke thoughtfully about the mirage of challenges they faced in preserving their farm and, importantly, way of life.  At the same time, I got to sample some of the amazing produce small, multi-generational, family farmers are producing.  They're creating great food with transparency and thought for the environment.  I don't know if it was an 'aha' moment, but I was increasingly struck by how much was lost when food goes from a farm into the big, industrial food system.  I found myself asking farmers, 'What if?'  What if there were a way to get your vegetables, fruits, cheeses, organic meats and other fresh foods directly to the people who want them, rather than having them lose freshness traveling to-and sitting in-warehouses for days before being transported to supermarkets?

I started America's Farmstand as a way to make it easier for families to get honest, farm-fresh food back on the dinner table again and re-introduce them to the very people that should have a hand in it. I was committed from the very beginning to doing things differently - absolutely no warehousing and an opportunity for foods to be enjoyed mere hours after harvest.

How did you get your current good food job?

I actually quit the job I was at to start America's Farmstand.  I spent two years traveling across America, visiting small family farms.  In that time I met some incredible farmers doing some absolutely amazing things with their land and got to try a lot of unbelievable food, like vine-ripened heirloom tomatoes and citrus picked when the sun is strongest and the fruit most ripe.  It dawned on me pretty quickly that spending time with family farmers was incredibly rewarding and I wanted to offer our shoppers a curated experience of the best family farms in America.

I should point out that while I might have created my job, several of the America's Farmstand team members were found through Good Food Jobs. Editor's note: we did not pay nor bribe Todd to say that.

How did your previous work or life experience prepare you for a good food job?

Growing up as I did was amazing preparation for my good food job.  In my family we ate everything; our dinner table was always filled with fresh fruits and vegetables of every variety.  Living in the area we did it was easy to have access to a spectacular assortment of produce. Southeastern Connecticut used to be dotted by beautiful American farms and in my estimation, one of the prettiest parts of New England. However, over time, many of the farms disappeared and were replaced by commercial entities. I was able to witness firsthand the severing of the link between communities and small family farms.

Interestingly, my previous life in finance also had an important hand in America's Farmstand given I constantly asked questions and displayed a curiosity about the companies I used to invest in. At America's Farmstand our farm partners are vetted for over 30 criterion including growing methods, sustainability practices, biodiversity, fair treatment of workers and absence of chemical inputs. Our insatiable desire to understand every nuance of the farm harvest has much of its roots in my previous work experience.

What was the greatest obstacle you had to overcome in pursuing your Good Food Job dream?

I built America's Farmstand web presence from the ground up myself.  I never thought of myself as a great programmer but there are so many online resources.  Ultimately, it has been very rewarding but there were many days (and nights) of testing new features and coming across roadblocks and arguing with my Dell laptop. (I lost most of those arguments, by the way.)

Even in those difficult hours I genuinely had a love affair with breathing life into the American family farmer.  Not only could I escape the confines of coding to spend time with so many of them but I wanted in some small way to pay homage to their incredible history and way of life.  Our average farm is over 75 years old and several are celebrating their 100-year anniversary in 2013; to be a part of that American history and share a meal at their table was reason alone to keep pressing on. I also became addicted to the idea of making our site as visually beautiful and clean as so many of their neighborhood farmstands.

What can you identify as the greatest opportunities in food right now?

The truth is there are tons of opportunities in food right now. There likely has not been a better time to be a part of the food community. Frankly, I was disappointed during the political season that there was never any mention of food and rural agriculture as a material area of growth across the country. There are many drivers at stake but several notable ones include the amazing romance of food at display in television, movies, arts and restaurants from coast to coast, the increasing desire for sheer transparency in understanding where your food comes from and what role it plays in our general health and longevity, and finally the production of food and what it means to the environment and the legacy we leave behind.

We are at the intersection of a food renaissance that shows no signs of abating including using technology as a real lifeline for family farms, because when the only thing between eaters and growers is the internet, everyone is better for it.

If you could be compensated for your work with something other than money, what would it be?

A lifetime supply of Bomster sea scallops, navel oranges and rocky road fudge would make me insanely happy.