About
Land Core is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization advancing soil health programs and policies that create value for farmers, businesses, and communities. The organization was formed in response to the clear and urgent need to address the lack of infrastructure and direct economic incentives that would make the rapid adoption and scalability of regenerative soil health possible.
Over the last five years, Land Core has worked with the USDA, legislators, soil scientists, NGOs and farmers across the country to develop federal legislation to address these issues. We’re identifying market-based strategies to monetize a producer’s investment in soil health, as well as focusing the national conversation around the necessity of soil health outcomes.
Our Approach
• Build broad coalitions
• Use existing infrastructure
• No mandatory standards, no new regulations, no big government expansion
• Create market demand, not government subsidies
• Focus on outcomes data and risk mitigation
Overview Deck
Share a summary of Land Core’s work with a friend or colleague.
Executive Team
Aria McLauchlan
Co-founder & Executive Director
Aria McLauchlan is a communications and policy professional. In her role at Land Core, Aria has shepherded the organization’s rise to the center of the national soil health conversation, including guiding the successful passage of language in both the House and Senate in 2019, supporting soil health at USDA, and building a broad coalition of farmers, businesses, and NGOs to help secure over $50M in federal investment in soil health in the 2018 Farm Bill.
In 2021, Aria was recognized with the Emerging Leaders in Food & Agriculture award for her work on U.S. food and agriculture systems and soil health policy. She was also a 2018 Exchange Fellow at the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture - selected as a leader equipped to tackle vexing challenges and identify emerging opportunities for systemic change in food and agriculture.
Previously, Aria served as the communications director of a California-based non-profit organization promoting healthy soil.
She has a 10-year background in business, branding and marketing, working in Los Angeles, New York and Brisbane, Australia. She's led client relationships and business development for clients like Target, The Coca Cola Company's Ekocycle, Rainforest Alliance, Aveda, Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic and Wildlife Conservation Society.
Aria has a Bachelor of Business with a double major in Marketing and Advertising from the Queensland University of Technology and is a proud dual citizen of both Australia, where she grew up, and the United States.
Harley Cross
Co-founder & Director of Strategy
Harley Cross is an entrepreneur, business/creative strategist, producer, a former film/television actor, and the co-founder of Land Core.
Harley was CEO and artistic director of Hint Mint Inc., a designer candy company he co-founded with partner, Cooper Bates, from 1999 until the successful sale of the company in 2016. He also co-founded a quality control company in China during that time.
Harley also co-launched Interconnected, a Los Angeles-based creative agency in 2011. Through Interconnected, Harley co-produced the viral video, "Caine's Arcade" and the followup, Caine's Arcade 2.
After the viral success of Caine's Arcade, he co-founded the Imagination Foundation, a non-profit organization whose mission is to "find, foster and fund creativity and entrepreneurship" in kids.
In 2014, he co-founded the non-profit organization, Play with Music, an after-school program designed to re-imagine music education for the 21st century.
As an actor, Harley appeared in over a dozen films as well as many TV shows from the 1980s into the 2000s.
Rebecca Champagne, PhD
Programs Manager
Rebecca is an agronomist with a research background in weed management and organic agriculture. She has been involved in interdisciplinary science communications and policy work, and previously worked as an analyst for the ag-tech company, Gro Intelligence. She is passionate about transforming our farm and food systems to be more sustainable and equitable for all people. Rebecca has a PhD in Environmental Science from the University of Maine, an MS in Agronomy from The Pennsylvania State University, and a BS in Sustainable Agriculture from The University of Maine. In her free time you can find her at the gym, gardening, reading, and cooking.
Rachel Owen, PhD
Senior Policy Advisor
Rachel is a soil scientist who has built a career in policy and social entrepreneurship. Rachel co-founded and served as the inaugural executive director for MOST Policy Initiative, a non-profit focused on bringing scientific information to policy conversations at the state-level in Missouri. More recently, Rachel led government relations for the Agronomy, Crop, and Soil Science Societies of America. She is dedicated to promoting bipartisan, science-based policy decisions at all scales. Rachel received a PhD in Soil Science from the University of Missouri School of Natural Resources, holds an MS in Plant Science from South Dakota State University, and a dual BS in Agronomy and Global Resource Systems from Iowa State University.
Jill Parsh
Operations & Finance Director
Jill is an experienced leader in non-profit finance, operations, and human resources.
Before joining Land Core, Jill was the Director of Finance at Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture in Tarrytown, NY. She holds a B.A. in business administration with a focus in accounting from Grand Valley State University.
Jill’s passion for the environment, sustainable agriculture, and growing food led her to pursue an M.S. in health education and become a master gardener. As a master gardener in the Los Angeles area, she started several school gardens working with staff, students, and parents. After many years working in the for-profit sector, she was drawn to Stone Barns Center to combine her passions with her profession.
She resides in the south bay of Los Angeles and enjoys growing food, composting, traveling, hiking, cooking, and spending time with her husband and their dog, Jewel.
Risk Model Team
+ Academic Partners & Scientific Advisors
Board of Directors
Aria McLauchlan, President
Harley Cross, Treasurer & Secretary
Matt Rales, Rancher & Owner
APD Farm
Ron Johnson, Owner & Founder
Boulder Mountain Guest Ranch, Headwaters Cattle & Guest Ranch
Matt Nicoletti, Business Development Lead, Penny Newman Grain Company
Shefali Mehta, Founder and Lead Principal, Open Rivers Consulting Associates; Former Deputy Undersecretary of Research, Education and Economics, USDA
Advisory Board
Francisco "Quico" Canseco, Attorney and former Republican Congressman, TX
Molly O. Ross, President, Deltex Royalty Company, LMA Royalties; President's Council, American Farmland Trust
Sandra Nichols, Senior Governance Expert/Senior Attorney; Natural Resource Governance Institute
Tim Crews, P.h.D., Research Director and Lead Scientist, The Land Institute
Jessica Chiartas, Postdoc, Soil & Biogeochemistry, UC Davis; Foodshot Global Fellow; Founder, Soil Life Services LLC
Jeffrey Mitchell, P.h.D., Plant Sciences, UC Davis; UC Cooperative Extension; Workgroup Chair, California Farming Demonstration Evaluation Network (CDFN) and Conservation Agriculture Systems Innovation (CASI) Center
Mitch Baranowski, Creative Strategist & Brand Marketer (formerly BBMG; Burson Marsteller; Edelman)
Natalie Byrne, Director of Brand Purpose, Unilever Prestige; Founder, Blank Space
Sara Andrews, Founder & CEO, Bumbleroot Foods
Jenette Ashtekar, P.h.D., VP of Sustainability and Regeneration, CiBO Technologies, Inc.