L. Brooks McCutchen, Ph.D.
Berkshire Sweet Gold Maple & Marine, Heath, MA
mailing: 21 Rowe Road, Charlemont, MA 01339
413-337-8301 bsgfarm@peoplepc.com
Current Objectives
Continue to develop a “ridge-to-reef” model of biocultural diversity research, advocacy and education. Building on our labor and embedded research activities in agroforestry and small-scale sustainable market initiatives with BSG Farm, newly named Berkshire Sweet Gold Maple and Marine will now include field research and applied projects aboard Research Vessel Llyr supporting resilience in economies and ecologies of coral reefs and their coastal zones.
Professional Work History
1998-Present Agroforestry Farmer – co-owner of Berkshire Sweet Gold Maple & Marine, an ongoing experimental family-scale agroforestry project exploring sustainable harvesting, processing and direct-marketing practices based in variance. BSG functions within a no-growth design and supplies 100% of the operating costs for the farm as well as funds for all independent research described below.
2000-Present Independent Researcher
1) applied, embedded research on variance model in food harvesting, processing and marketing as part of reconnecting food systems and ecosystems and recognizing farmers' need to succeed economically while farming ecologically. General area of interest: aligning small-scale economic enterprises in agroforestry, agriculture and artisanal fisheries with biocultural diversity conservation.
2) the study of coral ecosystems and community-based approaches to conservation and resilience of coastal zones (early field studies in Honduras' Cayos Cochinos MPA and STINAPA Bonaire National Marine Park). Currently outfitting our commercially registered 53' steel bluewater ketch for ocean conservation research.
1991- 2003 Licensed Clinical Psychologist (MA license #6179) Independent private practice with the Shelburne Falls Clinical Group. Outpatient psychotherapy & psychoanalysis with individuals, children, couples, families and groups, consultations, clinical supervision, diagnostic testing.
1990-1997 Clinical Supervisor, Dial Self youth program, Greenfield, MA
1993-1994 Clinical Supervisor, Gill-Montague school district psychologists
1993-1994 Clinical Supervisor, Franklin Community Action, Greenfield, MA
1992-1994 Adjunct Professor, Abnormal Psychology, Greenfield Community College
1991-1995 Assessing Editor/Reader, The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Village Station, NY, NY
1990-1991 Post-Doctoral Fellow, Franklin Clinical Associates, Franklin Medical Center Greenfield, MA. Outpatient psychotherapy & psychological testing.
1988-1989 CSPP Clinical Internship: Berkeley Therapy Institute, Berkeley, CA
1987-1988 CSPP Clinical Internship: O.M.I. Family Center, San Francisco, CA
1986-1987 CSPP Clinical Internship: Northeast Lodge, San Francisco, CA
1985-1986 Research Assistant, part-time, Domestic Violence Project, Berkeley CA.
1984-1985 Research Assistant, full-time, The Victim Service Agency of New York, N.Y.
Education
1990 PH.D., Clinical Psychology, California School of Professional Psychology, Berkeley, California. Nominated for Best Dissertation 1990; The Social Language of Dialectics & Irony: Freud, Lacan & Clinical Practice, Chair, Nathan Adler, Ph.D .
1987 M.A. Clinical Psychology, CSPP, Berkeley, California
1985 Continuing Education, City College New York, New York, research & statistical design
1984 B.A. Human Ecology, College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, ME
1983 University of Massachusetts, Amherst, visiting year fine-arts & music
1982 Emergency Medical Technician license
Teaching, Conferences & Awards Related to Berkshire Sweet Gold Maple & Marine Farm
June 25-26, 2011 Host Farm on the Farm & Garden Tour for the Franklin Land Trust.
February 2011 – Guest Speaker at The Center for Environmental Studies Luncheon Speaker Series, Williams College, Williamstown, MA
October 2010– Guest Lecturer
,
Biocultural Diversity and the Marketplace: Variance Harvesting/Processing and Trades. How Food Narratives Drive Sustainability.
Presentation for "Marketing for Community Entrepreneurs", Department of Community Development and Applied Economics, University of Vermont, Burlington.
June 2010 Workshop at Co-Op Power's Energy Summit, Finca Nuestra Raices, Holyoke MA
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June 2010 Paper presented at the Annual Joint Meeting for the Agriculture, Food, and Human Values Society(AFHVS) and the Association for the Study of Food and Society (ASFS), Indiana University, Bloomington, IN. Variance Harvesting/Processing &Ecosystem Services: How Cultural Narratives Drive Facts and Sustainable Ecosystems Hang in the Balance.
January 2010 Launched the Town of Heath's Sustainability Coffee House , a monthly community forum exploring sustainability themes and project development. First presentation topic Ridge to Reef: The hilltown's remarkable connections to oceans and ocean acidification . Screening of “A Sea Change.”
January 2010 Lecture/ Workshop at Northeast Organic Farmer's Association (NOFA) Annual Meeting, Worcester, MA . Variance Harvesting & the Price-Point Spread: How Customers and their Farmers can Co-generate Sustainable Agriculture.
December 2009 Paper published in the Massachusetts Maple Association Newsletter. Variance Harvesting and the Price-Point-Spread: How Customers and their Farmers can Co-Generate Sustainable Agriculture.
Fall 2009 Taught five week seminar titled The Politics of Food and Sustainability to high school seniors at The Academy at Charlemont, Charlemont, MA .
July 2009 – Host for Mass Maple Association annual maple farm tour. Presentation on Alternative Energy Production and Sustainable Direct Market Strategies for Small-Scale Farming.
May 2009 – Attended Informing Possibilities for the Future of Food and Agriculture , 2009 Joint meeting of the Agriculture, Food and Human Values Society and the Association for the Study of Food and Society, Penn State University.
February 2009 – Panel Presentation, Agricultural Energy Conservation & Value-Added Benefits, Massachusetts Department of Agriculture's Harvest New England Agricultural Marketing Conference , Sturbridge, MA.
2008 Three grants awarded for a 9.3 kw commercial photovoltaic installation at Berkshire Sweet Gold Maple Farm which meets 80% of the farm's electricity demands, received from 1) Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, 2) United States Department of Agriculture & Massachusetts Farm Energy Program; 3) Massachusetts Agricultural Environmental Enhancement Program.
Fall 2008 Taught five week seminar titled The Politics of Sustainability to high school seniors at The Academy at Charlemont, Charlemont, MA.
July 2009 – Host for Mass Maple Association annual maple farm tour. Presentation on Alternative Energy Production and Sustainable Direct Market Strategies for Small-Scale Farming.
2007 Exhibitor, Northeast Organic Farmers' Association Summer Conference, Amherst, MA.
2007 Only Light Amber maple syrup awarded Gold Star, noting “exceptional merit” in national review by Sante, the Magazine for Restaurant Professionals. Medium Amber & Black Amber syrups received special “recommended” commendation
Fall 2007 Taught 5 week seminar titled Sustainability and Agriculture to high school seniors at The Academy at Charlemont, Charlemont, MA.
2005 Host farm on Northeast Maple Tour for the Mass Maple Association.
2004-2005 School outreach project: Measuring Maple Tree Growth with Ted Watt of Hancock Nature Center, Hadley, MA & students of Heath Elementary.
1998- Present Annual field trips by local elementary and high schools to study maple harvesting and sustainable agriculture, and ecology. The farm entertains frequent customer visits as part of agritourism allowing us to work with the public in more detail regarding their understanding of, and investments in, family-scale farming, impacts of climate change, and agroecology.
Travel history related to professional development, ecological studies &
2011 East Coast refit & sailtraining aboard R/V Llyr
2011 Crewed aboard S/V Samana from USVI to Trinidad
2010 USVI Sail training with School for Ocean Sailing, ASTA Certified, Level VI
2010 Bonaire, Netherland Antilles. Farm School unit advancing family dive training and development of film and text perspectives on marine ecosystem services, biocultural diversity, markets and wild harvested foodstocks.
2009 Honduras: Cayos Cochinos and Copan. Farm-school unit on relationships between Marine Protected Areas and local cultures; coral reef ecology, continued SCUBA training, agri-tourism research and Mayan history.
2008 Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles. Farm-school unit on Marine/Reef Ecology including reef survey techniques. family dive certifications and collective completion of over 120 dives.
2007 Chilean Patagonia, Argentina. Farm-school unit on Chilean culture and geography, Patagonia ecology. Family backpacked Carretera Austral and rode by horse across Argentine Frontier.
2006 Idaho, Nez Perce Reservation. Farm-school unit on horses, Western US histories, Western ecology. Purchased 2 Nez Perce Appaloosas and horse-trailer camped cross-country.
2004 St. John's Virgin Islands. Farm-school unit on Caribbean ecology, diving.
2000 France, four weeks cross-country camping.
1999, 1997, 1987 Barbados. McGill University, Belair Marine Research Institute, diving.
1992 Labrador, Canada. Sea kayaking expedition between outer islands of Sandwich Bay.
1988 Kujjuak, Ungava Bay, Arctic Quebec. Observation of Inuit social workers' clinical training via McGill University, Montreal.
1986 Europe, Yugoslavia, Albania, Turkey, Greece cross-country travel.
1982 Denver, Colorado, heavy equipment operator
1980 Fairbanks & Circle, arctic Alaska. Gold mining, heavy equipment operator, horse farrier.
1978-1983 Bar Harbor, Maine, seasonal scallop diver.
1979 Enchanted Pond, Jackman, Maine. Wintered in cabin 20 miles from road, forest ecology, back country survival skills
1972-1977 Farm laborer & manager full-time: modern & artisanal practices in dairy, maple, beef production, draft & riding horses
Memberships
Union of Concerned Scientists, World Wildlife Fund
Conservation International, Slow Food USA
Earthjustice, Nature Conservancy, Greenpeace
Rainforest Action Network, Ocean Conservancy
Mass. Maple Association, Diver Alert Network
American Sail Training Association
U.S. Sailing Organization
Reef Check.org
