Right-to-Farm Authors

Loka Ashwood
Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Kentucky
Website | Profile page

Loka Ashwood is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Kentucky. She theorizes about democracy and social action to pinpoint points of aggravation and openings for change in contexts of intense distrust and government neglect. She analyzes specific corporate and regulatory structures that undergird environmental injustices in rural communities. Her work seeks to help bring the academy and communities together through the One Rural initiative.

Danielle Diamond
Fellow, Harvard Law School, Animal Law & Policy Program (ALPP)

Danielle is a Fellow with Harvard Law School's ALPP. Prior to her Harvard Fellowship, Danielle had acquired over a decade of experience working directly with rural communities confronting the critical threats posed by industrial livestock production (via her role directing a national team of community organizers with the SRAProject). As a Research Associate at Northern Illinois University (NIU), she focused on the political ecology of environmental laws and policies pertaining to industrial agriculture. Additionally, she has experience in local land use and zoning from both private and public interest law sectors. This combined experience helped inspire the creation of One Rural with Dr. Ashwood. Danielle holds a Master of Arts degree in Applied Environmental Anthropology with high honors from NIU and a Juris Doctor degree from the NIU College of Law.

Allen Franco

Allen Franco has both a law degree and Master's of Law in Agriculture and Food Law from the University of Arkansas. After graduation, Allen practiced law in Northwest Arkansas and has since served as a judicial law clerk in both state and federal court.

Crystal Boutwell

Crystal is a campus organizer with the Student PIRGs based in Tampa, FL. She trains and coordinates college students at the University of South Florida to take on issues such as strengthening democracy, ending hunger and homelessness, ditching single-use plastic, and shifting to cleaner energy. She graduated from Auburn University with a B.S. in Natural Resources Management, Summa Cum Laude and a M.S. in Rural Sociology. Her research interests include issues surrounding industrial agriculture and the impact on communities.

Lindsay Kuehn

As a former pig farmer turned lawyer, Lindsay Kuehn became a staff attorney with the Farmers’ Legal Action Group in 2017. Though a native of Minneapolis, Lindsay received her B.A. from Northwestern University, in Evanston, IL, and then moved to Arkansas where she temporarily set aside her city roots for rural soil. During her time in Arkansas, Lindsay worked for Heifer International while also helping to run a small farm dedicated to raising livestock in a sustainable, healthy environment. Before returning to Minnesota, Lindsay attended the University of Arkansas, where she obtained her law degree as well as a Master’s in Public Service from the Clinton School of Public Service.

Aimee Imlay

Aimee Imlay is a Sociology Ph.D. student at the University of Kentucky. Her research interests are at the intersection of stratification, political sociology, and public policy. Specifically, she considers how welfare states create poverty policy and how these policies impact social mobility, systems of stratification, citizenship, and democracy. She is currently researching food insecurity in SNAP ineligible households.