Sibella Kraus Bio

Sibella Kraus has developed innovative and successful sustainable agriculture marketing and education projects in the San Francisco Bay Area region for over 25 years.

Sibella is president and director of SAGE (Sustainable Agriculture Education), whose primary mission is to revitalize urban edge agriculture. Sibella also directs Agriculture in Metropolitan Regions, at the UC Berkeley Global Metropolitan Studies Center, which engages faculty, students and practitioners in an in-depth investigation of systems- and place-based issues affecting the urban-rural interface.

Prior to forming SAGE, Sibella created the acclaimed San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers’ Market, as founder and director of the Center for Urban Education About Sustainable Agriculture (CUESA) and its predecessor organization, the San Francisco Public Market Collaborative. Under her direction, from 1993-2000, CUESA also developed highly praised education programs at the market, in schools and in the community. In the 1980s, she created other seminal urban-rural linkage projects, including the Tasting of Summer Produce and the Farm-Restaurant Project, and developed an organic and specialty produce department for, a San Francisco produce wholesaler, Greenleaf Produce Company. In the early 80’s, Sibella was a cook at Berkeley’s famed Chez Panisse Restaurant. Throughout her career, Sibella has also worked as a print and television journalist covering regional food and agriculture for the San Francisco Chronicle and NBC-TV.

Sibella has received frequent recognition for her contributions to sustainable agriculture. These include finalist for the NRDC Growing Green  Thought Leader Award in 2009; the Clean Air Award for Public Health presented by Breathe California for work promoting and developing sustainable urban-edge agriculture; the Congress for the New Urbanism Award of Excellence for ‘Getting it Right: Coyote Valley Vision Plan’ to the Consultant Team (including SAGE) and Greenbelt Alliance; the Steward of Sustainable Agriculture award at the 2003 Ecological Farming Conference; the Catalyst Award for Leadership presented by Project for Public Spaces at the 2002 Great Public Market Conference; and the Kathleen L. Barsotti Pioneering Agriculturalist Award presented by the University of California Small Farm Center at the 2001 Family Farm Conference.