The Future of Organic-Friendly Technology - Crystal Arsenault & Kevin Cussen
Crystal is currently the Administrative Director for an Organic Certification Body in BC, is an organic consultant on various projects including equity in regenerative agriculture and has owned and operated a certified organic farm. She is also a UX designer for Organic BC and UBC working on a collaborative project linking iCertify (BC’s online organic certification application and administrative tool) with LiteFarm (UBC’s farm management software designed to capture and export information needed for Organic Certification). Having been a farmer as well as working in tech design, Crystal has a unique perspective on challenges faced by both industries as we try to unite the two in an attempt to quantify sustainable farm management practices that promote efficiency, research and a healthier environment.
Kevin Cussen joined The University of British Columbia (UBC) and the LiteFarm project in early 2020 as Product Lead. His goal, and the goal of the whole LiteFarm team is to build a product that helps current and aspiring sustainable farmers run their operations.
To date, more than 1,600 farmers in over 80 countries have begun to use the platform and the LiteFarm team hopes to grow this number to 10,000 farmers in 2023. Before joining UBC, Kevin led software teams on a variety of projects from ensuring vaccines reach the remotest African health clinics to ensuring players in the precious metals supply chain adhere to the highest environmental, social, and governance standards of responsible sourcing. Kevin holds a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Texas and an MBA with a focus on Global Business from the University of Washington
