Award Honorees

Involved with the organic movement and emerging organic industry for over 35 years, Marquez served on the Board of Directors of the Organic Foods Production Association of North America, the original organization that subsequently became OTA. She again served on OTA’s Board of Directors from 2001 to 2009. She also was the founding president of The Organic Center. She joined Organic Valley’s marketing efforts in 1995 when the business was selling $5 million. In 2009, it had grown to $523 million. Today, Organic Valley is America’s largest organic farming cooperative, representing 1,631 farmers in 33 states and four Canadian provinces, and remains focused on its mission of saving family farms.

Marquez credits her mother for teaching her the connection between food and the earth. “We are living in the most remarkable time. The food system is broken,” she says, “we are the pioneers who are part of what it will take to fix it.”