Alumni couple named Alliance for Science’s Farmer of the Year December 21, 2020 As hunger rose in the face of the global COVID-19 pandemic, Rick ’81 and Laura MPS ’81 Pedersen responded by sharing the bounty of their farm with their local food bank in upstate New York. The couple – owners of Pedersen Farms in Seneca Castle, New York, five miles west of Geneva in Ontario County – partnered with community activists to donate more than 90,000 pounds of produce to people in need. The Pedersens have joined other smallholder farmers across the United States in helping food banks meet an extreme increase in demand due to the pandemic and ensure there’s food on the table.