Mark Linder is the US agriculture liaison for the Culinary Institute of America. Mark has dedicated more than 30 years to serving agriculture in the US. He was the first president of Agriculture in the Classroom, which he co-founded while with the California Farm Bureau, and provided leadership to the USDA in establishing the programme across the US. He is the co-founder of Food, Land & People, also serving as president. Mark is a co-founder and consultant to the America's Heartland television show which is aired weekly on more than 230 public television stations in the US. Mark has spent his career promoting rural-urban connections and forming strategic partnerships between the agricultural, culinary, educational, environmental and non-profit communities.