Brooks' roots in California food systems can be traced back to his great grandfather, who loaded ice blocks onto the Pacific Fruit Express heading East from Salinas. Brooks grew up climbing apple trees on his family's orchard and learning at the cutting boards of his grandmother's cooking school and his father's restaurant in Anderson Valley. 

Brooks has founded and scaled multiple businesses, starting in college with Bite Hard Apple Cider, a nationally distributed artisanal cider company, followed by Bruxo Culinary, a locally sourced food truck and catering operation out of Santa Cruz. As a consultant, he has helped dozens of businesses optimize operations and develop sustainable growth strategies.

He managed a farm to table basic needs program at the UCSC Center for Agroecology, serving hundreds of students daily with produce grown on campus and building partnerships at local, regional, and state levels across academic departments, community stakeholders, and the larger UC system. Brooks brings his systems thinking approach to his work at KTA, combining ground-level farming experience with systems-level thinking to find new paths to success for farmers and ranchers building more sustainable operations.

Brooks lives in Boonville with his wife and daughter, tending a small orchard, chickens, and large garden just a short walk from the creek where he played as a child. When he's not working, you can find him cooking, fermenting, preserving, reading, foraging in the woods, and exploring the many hidden places to swim in the wilds of California.