Our Team
The BAV team is a small, unique combination of experts who are heavily involved in the farming and food business world. Meet the BAV team and learn about their experiences and expertise below.
To learn more about BAV’s Board of Directors, click here.
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Rebecca Busansky
Executive Director -
Shannon Smith
Director of Lending & Finance -
Dan Carr
Outreach & Technical Assistance Manager -
Ben Crockett
Climate Smart Agriculture Program Manager -
Jake Levin
Local Food Systems Program Manager -
Audrey Hackett
Communications & Development Manager -
Kallie Robertson
Finance Manager -
Rebecca Busansky | Executive Director
Rebecca Busansky is BAV’s Executive Director. Formerly a Program Director at the Franklin County Community Development Corporation, Rebecca’s work focused on helping local farms thrive and increasing food access. She worked as part of the team to create and launch the PVGrows Investment Fund, an innovative community investment vehicle which provides financing and technical assistance to farm and local food entrepreneurs primarily in western MA.
She also managed the Mass Food Trust Program since its inception in 2018 which provides financing to increase the availability of affordable healthy food in underserved communities across the Commonwealth. She joined the FCCDC in 2015 to launch the PVGrows Investment Fund, with a focus on developing and maintaining relationships with farmers and local food entrepreneurs, community investors and food system partners.
She has an undergraduate degree from Brown University and has worked in the community economic development field for more than 30 years. Rebecca resides in Northampton with her family where she enjoys all that the beautiful outdoors has to offer in western Mass including hiking, biking, kayaking, cross country skiing and cooking from her garden’s harvest and nearby farms.
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Shannon Smith | Director of Lending & Finance
Shannon is BAV’s Director of Lending and Finance. Shannon is responsible for managing BAV’s lending programs, supporting special projects and overseeing finance and compliance functions.
Shannon’s interest in regional food systems came from years of stewarding a community garden and being a member owner of the Park Slope Food Coop. She believes that equitable access to financial resources for small food producers is key to building community resilience and healthier nutritional outcomes. She enjoys growing food, hiking, and combating the invasive plants colonizing her backyard.
Prior to working with BAV, Shannon held various underwriting and consulting roles in institutional investments, private lending, and financial technology. Shannon earned a Certificate of Graduate Studies in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. She also holds a B.A. in Public Policy and Economics from Duke University.
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Dan Carr | Outreach & Technical Assistance Manager
Dan grew up on the front range of Colorado. After graduating from the University of Montana, Dan spent a year working on a variety of farms in Europe through Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms. During that experience, he found his passion in regenerative farming.
Dan spent three years as an agriculture Peace Corps volunteer in a remote village in northern Malawi. He worked with farmers to implement agroforestry practices and to start other income-generating opportunities like beekeeping and grafting fruit trees. Returning to the US, Dan worked at Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture in Pocantico Hills, NY for six years as the assistant livestock manager and the head beekeeper. In 2015, Dan moved to Northwestern Connecticut to help James and Linda Quella start and manage Q Farm, which quickly grew into a highly productive, pasture-raised meat business. He managed the production of sustainable honey, grass-fed beef, pasture-raised pork, chicken, turkeys, and eggs for a variety of restaurants and retail markets.
Alongside working at Berkshire Agricultural Ventures, Dan also runs his own farm, Beavertides Farm, with his wife, Marleen, and two young sons, Oliver and Orion. They raise grass-fed lamb and meat goats, produce honey and teach beekeeping courses.
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Ben Crockett | Climate Smart Agriculture Program Manager
Ben has been immersed in agriculture from a young age, whether throwing hay bales for local farmers, picking peas with his mom, or helping his dad care for their apple orchard. He earned a B.S. in Sustainable Landscape Horticulture from the University of Vermont and has worked in agriculture ever since. Ben has managed and worked on farms across the Northeastern U.S., raising everything from vegetables, dairy cattle, cut flowers, and tree fruit. More recently, he served as the department chair for a community college’s sustainable agriculture program, mentored start-up farm businesses, and supported farmers with climate risk management.
Outside of work, Ben enjoys restoring his 1950s Cape, tearing down local ski slopes, and perfecting his breakfast sandwich recipe. Ben lives with his partner Kara in Northwestern CT, and regularly explores local trails with their trusty dog Alice.
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Jake Levin | Local Food Systems Program Manager
Jake grew up in the Berkshires. After graduating from Wesleyan University, where he studied Art, he moved to NYC. While living in NYC and working in the art world, he became increasingly engaged with cooking and the reemerging local and sustainable food movement. While working towards his MFA at Bard he decided to apprentice as a butcher in the Hudson Valley.
It didn’t take Jake long to realize he had a passion both for meat production and for supporting sustainable agriculture. After deciding to pursue a career as a butcher, Jake moved back to the Berkshires where he could work directly with the farmers in his hometown community. Jake has worked in a variety of capacities as a butcher including managing a whole-animal butcher shop and a USDA inspected dry-cured pork production facility. Jake also sits on the Board of Directors for Berkshire Grown, the Berkshire Food Co-op, and the New Marlborough Land Trust. In 2019 Jake authored a book titled Smokehouse Handbook published by Storey Publishing.
Jake lives in New Marlborough with his wife and two children on the land where he grew up. Besides working for Berkshire Ag Ventures helping to improve our regional livestock systems, Jake works as The Roving Butcher where he travels around the country teaching workshops on on-farm slaughter, whole-animal butchery, and value-added meat production. When Jake is not working, he is most likely cooking for his family and friends, preferably in his outdoor kitchen.
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Audrey Hackett | Communications & Development Manager
Audrey is a dreamer, storyteller, and lover of nature and the land. Her role is to connect donors, partners, and the local community with the vital importance of BAV's work and mission. She brings a blend of experiences as a writer, community journalist, and communications professional to BAV, including previous positions in the Berkshires as editor of The Women's Times and communications director at Norman Rockwell Museum.
Audrey holds degrees in English, poetry, and Scottish studies, and is a published poet as well as a proud former newspaper reporter. Raised in Virginia and overseas, she now lives with her husband and long-haired dachshund in the woods of Sandisfield. She is passionate about environmental protection and the role of farmers as good stewards of our region's beautiful agricultural lands.
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Kallie Robertson | Finance Manager
Kallie comes to BAV with a diverse background in farming, non-profit financial management & design experience. Kallie received her BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and after a stint in NYC found herself living on a farm in the Hudson Valley.
For over a decade, Kallie, along with her husband, has owned and managed Sawkill Farm, a diverse pasture based livestock farm in the Hudson Valley raising grass-fed and finished beef and lamb and pasture-raised pork, chicken and eggs which they sold in their farm store and at farmers markets in NYC. While Sawkill Farm has recently scaled down in size, they still raise sheep and make yarn from the fiber.
Most recently, Kallie worked as the Finance & Administrative Director of NOFA/Mass, managing the budget and financial health of the organization whose mission is to promote organic agriculture and food access in Massachusetts.
When not working with BAV, Kallie can be found enjoying the company of her two young kiddos, working in her vegetable & perennial gardens, or planning her family's next trip, which ideally involves bicycles.
Contact Kallie
Berkshire Agricultural Ventures is an equal opportunity employer; we provide equal opportunity for employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, marital status, mental or physical disability, pregnancy, military or veteran status, or any other basis prohibited by state or federal law.