A jack of all trades … a man for all seasons … Anthony Flaccavento certainly fits the bill. And now he can add self-made YouTube personality to the list.

Anthony has been a certified organic farmer in far Southwest Virginia for some two decades. In 1995, he founded Appalachian Sustainable Development, which has become a regional and national leader in sustainable economic development. More recently he founded SCALE, Inc., a private consulting business dedicated to catalyzing and supporting ecologically healthy regional economies and food systems. He is the author of “Healthy Food Systems: A Tool Kit for building Value Chains” and more than 100 published articles.

An active community leader and one-time contender for Congress (9th District, Va., in 2012), Anthony overlays his knowledge of agriculture and food systems squarely on the issue of diversifying the coal-impacted communities of Central Appalachia. As author and renowned climate activist Bill McKibben said:

“There‘s no more hopeful movement in the United States than the drive towards local food, and with it strong regional economies. As he has been for so many years, Anthony Flaccavento is at the forefront of this movement; if SCALE can go to scale, we‘ll all be the better for it.”

Anthony doesn’t stop with farming. His understanding of the economic, social and political forces that shape human lives–and the ways to change those forces for the better–extends to myriad other arenas.

Curious? Check out his video series, Take 5 with Tony, in which he explains in short clips and plain language the in’s and out’s of economic diversification.