Marilyn Freeman, owner of Farmers Communications Exchange, has worked in the field of agricultural communications and marketing for over 35 years. From 2003 through 2016, Marilyn was a partner in The Communications Department, Inc., a public relations and issues management firm headquartered in Watsonville, CA. It was in college at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo that Marilyn developed a passion for sharing information about farming. Since then, she has worked for some of the oldest and best-known companies in California agriculture including: Diamond Walnut, Sunsweet Growers, Sun-Maid, Blue Anchor, Inc. and the California Tree Fruit Agreement. She is the former executive director of the Alliance for Food and Farming and a past recipient of CAPCA’s ‘Outstanding Contribution to Agriculture’ Award for her work on a program called Spray Safe. Marilyn currently serves as the public member of the U.S. Potato Board. A native Californian, she lives in Lodi with her 17-year-old daughter Cate.