About the Author
Nicolette Hahn Niman is an attorney and livestock rancher. She serves on the Board of Overseers of the Boston-based organization Chefs Collaborative. Much of her time is spent speaking and writing about the problems resulting from industrialized livestock production, including three essays she has written on the subject for the New York Times. Nicolette is a regular blogger for the food section of the online version of The Atlantic Monthly and has blogged for Huffington Post and CHOW. Previously, she was the Senior Attorney for the environmental organization Waterkeeper Alliance where she was in charge of the organization’s campaign to reform the concentrated livestock and poultry industry, and, before that, an attorney for National Wildlife Federation. She served two terms on the city council for the City of Kalamazoo, Michigan (pop. 80,000), during which time she served on sixteen community boards and commissions including the Environmental Concerns Committee. She received her Juris Doctorate, cum laude, from the University of Michigan in 1993 and her B.A. in Biology and French from Kalamazoo College in 1989. She lives in Bolinas, California with her son, Miles Robert, and husband, Bill Niman, founder of Niman Ranch, a natural meat company supplied by a network of over 600 traditional farmers and ranchers.