2021 Illinois Specialty Crop Conference Speakers

• Katie Adams
  Kaitie is a Southern Illinois native whose commitment to food, farming, foraging, and deep rooted human connection emerged from the rolling hills of the Shawnee National Forest. These passions culminated in a large-scale research project for which she received a Master’s Degree in Anthropology in 2015 from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Katie's work explored the social life of seeds and mushroom cultures on small scale farms in Southern Illinois and the power of agricultural relationships. Prior to joining the Savanna Institute, Kaitie was a farmer & educator at EarthDance Organic Farm School in Ferguson, MO. Kaitie is based in Champaign-Urbana where she also teaches community classes on seasonal cooking, fermentation, and canning and runs Red Crib Acres, a small apple orchard on rented land, with her partner John Williams.

• Bronwyn Aly
  Bronwyn Aly, Local Food Systems & Small Farms Extension Educator for the University of Illinois, serves Gallatin, Hamilton, Hardin, Pope, Saline, and White counties in the southernmost part of the state. She has a background in applied research of specialty crops and continues to conduct small fruit and vegetable research in high tunnels located at the Dixon Springs Agricultural Center. Bronwyn also provides educational programs for farmers, community members, decision-makers, and others involved in local food systems.

• Kacie Athey
  Kacie Athey is specialty crops extension entomologist in the department of crop sciences at the University of Illinois. She did her graduate work at the University of Kentucky. Her research combines integrated pest management emphasizing organic and non-insecticidal control with agroecology where she uses molecular gut content analysis to explore the use of generalist predators for biological control. One of her first projects at U of I will be exploring biological control in high tunnels with local food systems extension educators. As a specialty crops entomologist, she will be working in a variety of crops and taking the lead from extension educators throughout the state.

• Mohammad Babadoost
  Mohammad Babadoost received his M.S. degree in plant pathology from Washington State University and a Ph.D. degree in plant pathology from North Carolina State University. In 1999, he joined the Department of Crop Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) where he is now a Professor of Plant Pathology and Extension Specialist. Dr. Babadoost conducts research and extension programs on the biology and management of vegetable and fruit crop diseases and teaches plant disease diagnosis. He is well-known for developing techniques for quantifying soil-borne fungal pathogens and managing vegetable diseases (especially diseases of cucurbits) and apple diseases. 

• Traci Barkley
  Sola Gratia Farm

• Katie Bell
  Katie Bell, Local Food Systems & Small Farms Extension Educator for the University of Illinois, serves Franklin, Jackson, Perry, Randolph, and Williamson counties in the southern part of the state. She has a background agribusiness economics, market premiums for organic produce, and currently conducts research on specialty crops including asparagus, tomatoes, and peppers. Katie provides educational programming to specialty growers, youth and others involved in the local food system. 

• John Bientema
  John is the Business Outreach Manager for Leidos, Inc. an Ameren Illinois Energy Efficiency Programs partner.   John has been with the program for 9 years and is responsible for managing the overall marketing outreach efforts for the business program.   John has given over 250 Energy Efficiency Program presentations to Chambers of Commerce, professional associations and service groups throughout the Ameren Illinois Service territory.  John earned his LEED® Green Associate credentials in June of 2014.  He is also an active member of the Association of Energy Engineers, Association of Professional Energy Consultants, Illinois Hotel & Lodging Association, Heart of Illinois Hospitality Association, Bloomington/Normal Hotel & Lodging Association and the Illinois Restaurant Association. 

• Bjorn Burnett
  Harvie

• Jessica Buttimer

• Pat Byers
  Patrick Byers, Field Specialist in Horticulture, University of Missouri Extension. Pat works to enhance profitability and sustainability for Missouri farmers. He provides programming and expert assistance on farming practices, soil testing, disease diagnoses, pest control recommendations, and business development and marketing for specialty crops. Pat has a very strong background in small fruit crops, especially blueberry and elderberry production, and works to enhance the industry in Missouri and surrounding Midwest states.

• Nick Carter
  Market Wagon

• Dr. Dewey Caron
  Dr. Dewey M. Caron is Emeritus Professor of Entomology & Wildlife Ecology, Univ of Delaware, & Affiliate Professor, Dept Horticulture, Oregon State University. He retired from the University of Delaware in 2009 and moved to Portland, OR to be closer to grandkids. Dewey remains active in bee education, writing for newsletters, giving Bee Short Courses, assisting in several Master beekeeper programs, and giving presentations to local, state, and regional bee clubs. Dewey represents WAS on Honey Bee Health Coalition and is the principal author of HBHC Tools for Varroa Management and BMPs. He is also the author of Honey Bee Biology & Beekeeping, a major textbook used in University and Association bee courses, and has a new bee book The Complete Bee Handbook from Rockridge Press this year.

• Lorien Carsey
  BlueMoon Farm

• Ruplal Choudhary
  Dr. Choudhary is a Food and Bioprocess Engineer with over 20 years of academic and industrial experience in design and development of food processing equipment and operations. Before moving to SIU, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Manitoba, and South Dakota State University.  Dr. Choudhary also worked as a senior faculty member of the Dairy Engineering Division at the National Dairy Research Institute Karnal, and as a Scientist at the Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering Bhopal, India.

  Dr. Choudhary is interested in improving safety and quality of foods such as dairy, soy and fruits and vegetables. The food safety research includes removal of microbial pathogens as well as mitigation of food allergy using the state of the art nonthermal processing technologies such as germicidal ultraviolet light, nonthermal plasma, power ultrasound and nanotechnology. Near infrared spectroscopy and color machine vision systems are used for rapid sensing of safety, quality and defects in food products. The other area of research interest is the process development for conversion of ligno-cellulosic biomass to biofuels, especially improving the enzymatic conversion of cellulose and hemicellulose to fermentable sugars for biofuel industry. 

• Leslie Cooperband
  Prairie Fruits Farm

• Paul Dietmann
  Paul Dietmannis Senior Lending Specialist on the Diversified Marketsteamat Compeer Financial, a member-owned rural lending cooperative and Farm Credit System institution serving Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Paul and his colleague, Sai Thao, are responsible for Compeer’s Emerging Markets Loan Program, which provides loans and technical assistance to farmers who market their products through local food systems.

  Prior to joining the staff at Compeer, Paul spent 16 years with the State of Wisconsin; eleven years as a county agriculture agent with the University of Wisconsin-Extension and five years as director of the Wisconsin Farm Center, which is the farmers’ assistance program in the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP). He served as Wisconsin’s Deputy Secretary of Agriculture in 2010.

  Dietmann holds a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Economics from the University of Illinois, and a Master’s Degree from UW-Madison. Heis co-author of the books Fearless Farm Finances: Farm Financial Management Demystified and Financial Risk Management for Specialty Crop Farmers, and author of turning Grain Into Dough: Farm Financial Management for Organic Grain and Crop Rotation.

• Bill Dodd
  Bill Dodd is a 4th generation grower from Amherst, OH (35 miles west of Cleveland). More information about his family farm is available at Hillcrestfunfarm.com. He has served as the President of the Midwest Apple Improvement Association (MAIA) since 2007. MAIA is a grass roots grower run apple breeding program that has released 6 new varieties of apples. Bill has been very active in many apple industry organizations such as the US Apple Association (Chairman of the Board in 2015) and the International Fruit Tree Association (Board member for 12 years). 

• Angie Eckert
  Angie Boeker Eckert earned a Bachelor’s Degree (Bronze Tablet, top 3% of graduating class) from the University of Illinois in Horticulture and a Master’s of Science in Agricultural Education from The Ohio State University. Angie taught horticulture at Southwestern Illinois College, coordinated Adult Education Classes for the Missouri Botanical Garden and ran a horticultural speaking business for several years before joining her husband’s seventh generation orchard and retail operation. At Eckert’s, Angie initially managed the greenhouse and landscape design entities. Currently, she serves as the Vice President of Retail Operations for Eckert’s located in Belleville, Illinois where she oversees the specialty food store, garden center and cooking classroom as well as retail functions at four seasonal locations.

  She is avid promoter of local food and she speaks regularly to visitors and groups. Angie also enjoys testing recipes and writing a weekly recipe blog on behalf of the Eckert family. She has co-authored three cookbooks: The Eckert Family Spring, Summer and Fall Cookbooks.

  Angie has formerly served on the education committee for the Illinois Farm Bureau and the Members Board for the Missouri Botanical Garden. She is a past president of the University of Illinois’ College of Agriculture, Consumer and Economic Sciences Alumni Board. Angie currently serves on the University of Illinois Alumni Association Board of Directors and on the St. Louis Chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier Board. She is currently active as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for several children in St. Clair County.

  In her free time, Angie loves to cook and garden at her home on the farm where she lives with her husband Chris, daughter Ella (age 16), son Theo (age 13), and two golden retrievers. Angie believes the best family memories are made around the dinner table with good food and company!

• Chris Eckert
  Chris Eckert is the President and CEO of Eckert’s Country Store and Farms in Belleville, IL.  Chris is a member of the seventh generation of Eckerts to farm in St. Clair County.  Eckerts grows approximately 600 acres of fruit and vegetable crops and operates a farm market, restaurant, garden center and the largest pick your own fruit business in the country.

  Chris has a B.S. in Agricultural Economics from the University of Illinois.  He started his career with Shaw’s Supermarkets in Boston, MA as a fruit buyer and then worked as production manager for Custom Cuts, a vegetable processing company, in Columbus, OH.

  Chris is the Past President of the Greater Belleville Chamber of Commerce and the Belleville Rotary Club and serves on the board of Memorial Hospital. 

  Chris also serves the fruit industry as Past President of the National Peach Council, and the Illinois State Horticulture Society.  He has advocated on behalf of the fruit industry for immigration reform both locally and nationally.

  Chris is married to his high school sweetheart, Angie.  Angie also works in the family business and serves as the Vice President of Retail Operations.  They reside in a historic family home on their farm in Belleville with their children, daughter Ella, and son Theo.

• Dr. Breanna Ellison
  Dr. Brenna Ellison is an associate professor in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics and a fellow of the Gardner Agriculture Policy Program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her research program focuses on how people make food choices, particularly how information and other environmental factors impact those choices. 

• Steve Ericson
  Steve has served as Executive Director of Feeding Illinois since August 2018. Prior to that, he spent 24 years with the Northern Illinois Food Bank, holding numerous leadership positions within that organization. Over his 25-plus years total in the food banking industry he has managed the entire spectrum of the supply chain and operations - from procurement to distribution and facilities to transportation.

  Currently, he works in conjunction with Feeding America in representing the combined interests and coordinates common efforts of the eight Feeding America/Feeding Illinois member food banks that serve all 102 counties in Illinois. The main collective priority is to access more local foods to meet the increasing demand and nutritional requirements of the food banks’ agencies and programs.

  Previously, Steve spent seventeen years with Sears, while and after obtaining a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana; before leaving to attain a MS in International Agricultural Economics and an MBA from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Steve and his wife Susan, an NPO consultant, live in Campton Hills, IL.

• Larry Erwin
  Larry Erwin is currently employed by Leidos, Inc., serving as the Territory 7 Energy Advisor representing Ameren Illinois in Southern Illinois. As such, he works with Ameren’s Large Business Account customers in both the Private and Public Sectors to maximize their incentive payments received for doing Energy Efficency projects and upgrades. He works out of his home office in Fairview Heights, Illinois.

  Prior to his employment at Leidos, his corporate work career included three years with Ford Motor Company (Engine Division Quality Control Staff), thirteen years with The Boeing Company (Wichita Division Industrial Engineering and Quality Assurance), and fifteen years with Anheuser-Busch Companies (A-B Packaging Group and A-BI Quality Assurance). His primary areas of expertise are teaching and consulting in Applied Statistics, Experimental Design, Reliability Theory, and Root Cause Analysis methods. He has trained and/or consulted with over 100 Process Improvement teams.

  He is a 1974 graduate of Illinois College, with a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Mathematics and Physics and minoring in Secondary Education. In 1977, he received a Master of Science in Industrial Engineering and Management from Oklahoma State University, and has an additional 30 semester hours in Industrial and Systems Engineering coursework from Wichita State University.

  He is a former member of the American Society for Quality, a Certified Quality Engineer, and Certified Quality Manager. He is currently a member of the Association of Professional Energy Consultants, the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE), and is an AEE Certified Energy Manager.

• Kelly Estes
  Kelly Estes is an entomologist at the University of Illinois where her role is the State Survey Coordinator of the Cooperative Agriculture Pest Survey (CAPS) program.  She coordinate surveys for invasive insects, pathogens and weeds that are a threat to Illinois’ agriculture, forestry, horticulture, and the environment. She works work with the Illinois Department of Agriculture and USDA-APHIS-PPQ along with industry stakeholders, University of Illinois Extension, and many others. In addition to coordinating surveys and managing the data associated with them, she helps develop public information and educational material for these invasive pests. She also works collaboratively with the Illinois State Water Survey as entomological lead for the Pest Degree-Day Calculator.  You can learn more about CAPS at the program website or keep up to date with @ILPestSurvey on social media outlets such as Twitter or Facebook. 

• Austin Flamm
  I’m a member of the 6th generation of my family to manage our farm, Flamm Orchards, Inc. We have been in business for 132 years, since 1888. We grow strawberries, peaches, apples and a few vegetables. Mainly zucchini, yellow squash and cucumbers.  
  Growing up I spent all my summers and free time on the farm. I graduated from Southeast Missouri State with a degree in Ag Industry/ Ag Business in 2018 and have been working on the farm full time ever since. Myself and my cousin Parker look forward to taking the reins of our business in the future and ensuring it remains sustainable for generations to come. 

• Sarah Frey
  Frey Farms is a Certified Woman Owned Business founded by Sarah Frey in 1992. Today, Headquartered in Keenes, Ill, Sarah and her four older brothers operate farms and facilities in seven states. Frey Farms distributes its fruits and vegetables throughout the country through its Sarah’s Homegrown label. With a mission to end food waste in the fresh produce industry, the family makes natural food products and beverages from imperfect or “ugly fruit”.  They feature a complete line of juices through Sarah’s Homegrown Tsamma Watermelon Juice. 

  Sarah Frey has been described by the New York Times as “the Pumpkin Queen of America”. Sarah sells more pumpkins than any other producer in the United States. Her family business, Frey Farms, plants thousands of acres of fruits and vegetables in Florida and six other states.    

  She is the author of The Growing Season:  How I Built a New Life–and Saved an American Farm published by Random House in August of 2020.   Sarah will serve as Co-Executive Producer of the upcoming ABC television production of The Growing Season based on her story

  Frey Farms is a Certified Woman-Owned Business founded by Sarah Frey in 1992. Today, Headquartered in Keenes, Ill, Sarah, and her four older brothers operate farms and facilities in seven states. Frey Farms distributes its fruits and vegetables throughout the country through its Sarah’s Homegrown label. With a mission to end food waste in the fresh produce industry, the family makes natural food products and beverages from imperfect or “ugly fruit”. They feature a complete line of juices through Sarah’s Homegrown Tsamma Watermelon Juice. 

  Sarah Frey has been described by the New York Times as “the Pumpkin Queen of America”. Sarah sells more pumpkins than any other producer in the United States. Her family business, Frey Farms, plants thousands of acres of fruits and vegetables in Florida and six other states.    

  She is the author of The Growing Season: How I Built a New Life–and Saved an American Farm published by Random House in August of 2020. Sarah will serve as Co-Executive Producer of the upcoming ABC television production of The Growing Season based on her story. 

• Stephanie Frischie
  Stephanie provides pollinator and beneficial insect habitat expertise to farmers in Canada, the U.S., and Mexico. She also works with the native seed industry and researchers to plan and develop seed supplies of important plant species for use in habitat creation and restoration.

• Debbie Graham
  Debbie (Curtis) Graham co-owns and operates Curtis Orchard and Pumpkin Patch in Champaign, Illinois. She graduated from Eastern Illinois University with a Bachelor of Arts in Visual Communications coupled with a Technical Education Certificate. Debbie worked in the Graphic Arts Department at Eastern and in the Instructional Media Division at the University of Illinois. She also taught K-12 art for two years early in her career. 

  Debbie took over as Director of Social Media for Curtis Orchard in September 2019 and has expanded the business’ social media presence dramatically since that time. In addition to Facebook and Instagram, Debbie developed new content for Curtis Orchard’s YouTube channel in 2020 with the addition of a program starring several of her grandchildren titled “Cooking with Kids.”  

  Debbie is an avid photographer and videographer who built her skills over many years with inspiration from her five children, their spouses, and her 13 grandchildren. 

• Zach Grant
  Zack Grant is a Local Foods and Small Farms Extension Educator housed in Cook County, unit 6.  He joined Extension in 2015 to focus on urban food production programming for a diverse group of stakeholders. In addition, Zack educates, consults, and provides technical assistance in small-scale intensive and urban ag food production systems in the Chicagoland region and beyond.  With growing interest in urban agriculture from both community food system and entrepreneurial perspectives, Zack plays a critical role in disseminating much-needed production, financial, and systems-based information to urban ag practitioners through various digital platforms and experiential training.

• Drew Groezinger
  Drew Groezinger, owner of Clara Joyce Flowers, is a lifelong resident of northern Illinois. Clara Joyce Flowers is a specialty cut flower farm and floral design company that grows on 9 acres of field space and utilizes greenhouses for year-round production and event floral design. CJF markets their products through florists across the country, local farmers markets, and through unique wedding and event floral design. 

• Scot Gunderath
  Scot Gudenrath is a senior loss control representative for COUNTRY Financial. Scot joined COUNTRY in 1999 after graduating from Illinois State University with a degree in Occupational Safety.  Prior to that, Scot worked as an OSHA consultant for a company in Springfield, MO. Scot provides service to some of COUNTRY’s largest commercial accounts, including light manufacturing and agri-tourism as well as a variety of automotive, food service, and habitational risks.  Client services include on-site surveys, account reviews, preparation of help documents and bulletins, and the gathering and selection of resources.  Scot provides training to COUNTRY loss control and underwriting staff and has served on product development committees.   

  Scot is a past president of the Insurance Loss Control Association (ILCA).  Outside of work, Scot enjoys spending time with his family, with a strong focus on little league baseball in the Northern Illinois area.

• Jeff Hake
  Jeff is a Midwest transplant, originally from Massachusetts. He moved to Illinois in 2014 to become the farmer training program manager for The Land Connection, and eventually met and married his wife, Katie Funk. They, along with her brother, now operate Funks Grove Heritage Fruits & Grains in McLean, Illinois, where they grow, process, and package flour, baking mixes, and fruit leather products in collaboration with the Funk family's maple sirup operation. Jeff also consults on marketing and other food systems work in central Illinois, and is the president of the region's chapter of the National Young Farmers Coalition.

• Rufus Isaacs
  Dr. Rufus Isaacs is the berry entomology extension specialist at Michigan State University where he has worked since 1997. His program investigates pest issues in berry crops and vineyards, and also studies ways to combine wild bees and managed bees for crop pollination. Results from the team’s research is delivered through MSU Extension programs, and through talks to growers such as this one. The topic of his presentation reflects research over the past decade, and growers looking for more information should explore www.projecticp.org and www.nativeplants.msu.edu where much of the information is available in more detail. 

• Lewis Jett
  Associate Professor and State Extension Horticulture Crops Specialist, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV  G215 Agric Sciences Bldg. I am a native of West Virginia having received my B.Sci Agriculture from West Virginia University and my M.S. and Ph.D. in Horticulture from Virginia Tech University 

  I serve as project leader for specialty crop extension and outreach programs in West Virginia.  My research and extension projects focus on evaluating high tunnels (low cost, solar greenhouses) for extended production and marketing of high-value, vegetables and small fruits in West Virginia.  In addition, I conducted vegetable, nut and small fruit cultivar trials across West Virginia. 

• Nathan Johanning
  Nathan Johanning is a Commercial Agriculture Educator for the University of Illinois Extension in Waterloo, IL serving Madison, Monroe & St. Clair Counties. He started in Extension in 2013 as a Local Food Systems & Small Farms Educator after working at SIU in research and teaching in Plant & Soil Science.  He accepted his current role in Extension in the fall of 2019.  Nathan has a broad background in both row crop and specialty crop production and specializes in weed, soil, & nutrient management, cover crops, & no-till production along with being active on his family farm south of Waterloo where he raises variety of specialty crops including pumpkins. 

• Ken Johnson
  Ken Johnson is a horticulture educator with the University of Illinois Extension serving Calhoun, Cass, Greene, Morgan, and Scott Counties. His educational efforts focus on fruit and vegetable production, pest management, and beneficial insects. Through his programming efforts, he aims to increase backyard food production and foster a greater appreciation of insects.

• Annie Klodd
  Annie Klodd is a statewide Extension Educator for fruit and vegetable production at the University of Minnesota. She works with farmers across the state to deliver research-based guidance on growing fruit and vegetable crops. She manages the UMN Extension Fruit and Vegetable Newsletter and co-hosts the UMN fruit and vegetable podcast called “What’s Killing My Kale?” Annie grew up on a vineyard in Iowa and holds a Master’s degree in Plant Biology from Penn State University.

• Donald Lewis
  Donald Lewis, Professor of Entomology and Extension Entomologist at Iowa State University.  Dr. Lewis teaches undergraduate online entomology courses and provides diagnostic and IPM information about pests of the home, landscape, turfgrass, fruits, and vegetables to the public. 

• Mark Longstroth
  Mark Longstroth is a Small Fruit Extension Educator for Michigan State University Extension in Southwest Michigan. He earned a BS in Biology from Boise State University in 1976. He has worked in the fruit industry since 1978. He began working for The University of Idaho as summer help and was then hired full-time as a technician working with tree fruit. He managed and performed all the maintenance tasks in apple, cherry, and plum orchards. Mark earned an MS from the U of I in 1987 then moved to Michigan in 1988 to pursue a degree in Horticulture working with cherry rootstocks. Mark became a District Fruit Agent for MSU Extension in 1993and hasover27yearsof Extension experience working in the Michigan fruit industry. Prior to 2010, he covered all tree fruit, grape, and berry crops in Southwest Michigan. Mark now focuses on blueberries, grapes, and other berry crops. His main education efforts are in crop production, pest management, and farm financial management. He has developed cost of production budgets for blueberries and other fruit crops. Mark is especially interested in the impacts of weather and climate on fruit production. Mark’s wants to help growers remain profitable and adapt to changes in agriculture.

• Christina Lueking
  Flower Girls is owned and operated by Chris Lueking with her three daughters. The flower farm located in Woodlawn, Illinois has been in cut flower production since 2017. 

  Chris has always been interested in production. She attends Southern Illinois University at Carbondale where she received a B.S. in Animal science production. Currently, she is pursuing a Master’s degree in horticulture.  

  Chris is responsible for the variety selection and production schedule for the farm. She works with the market managers, customers, and bridal consultations to ensure that the color variety and trends meet the customers’ expectations for events. The flower farm has been growing by acknowledging the strengths and passion that everyone brings to the family farm.   

  Callie is currently pursuing a degree in Business management and accounting. Callie is responsible for our social media, variety selection, and bridal consultations. Her role is to be our customer service representative at our market and events. She is a key designer for events and installations. She has valuable insight into current trends and tracks our customer base. She is a valued member at harvest and planting times on the farm.  

  Kiara works as a Physical therapy assistant but has a passion for the care and propagation of succulents and cactus. She is an interrogate part of our market of succulents and fairy gardens. She helps with events and installations.  

  Cassandra works as a Special Education teacher but is an interrogate part of our team. Her specialty is the field production and construction components of the farm. 

• Natalie Kenny Marquez
  Natalie Kenny Marquez is the Founder of Grow Marketing + Communications, LLC, a firm that provides business development, marketing, branding, and communication support. Natalie has served a wide variety of startups and small businesses, including the healthcare and agriculture sectors. This includes work with small farms and farm businesses to large-scale grant projects through the Illinois Department of Agriculture and the United States Department of Agriculture. Prior to founding Grow Marketing + Communication, Natalie worked for over a decade in municipal government, most recently for the city of Urbana, serving as Marketing Coordinator & Director of Urbana’s Market at the Square – one of the largest and most diverse producer-only farmers markets in Illinois. Natalie has a double major in Journalism/Advertising and Political Science from Southern Illinois University Carbondale and a Master of Public Administration from the University of Illinois at Chicago. 

• Janie Maxwell
  Janie is passionate about expanding local foods and farmers’ markets. As a Registered Dietitian she believes strongly in the health value of local food and advocates for local food by building systems that highlight the economic and health value of markets to communities, communities and farmers.   

  Janie is a longtime farmers market advocate and customer.  She is an avid cook and can be found at a farmers market somewhere, every week.   

• Amy McCann
  Local Food Marketplace

• Grant McCarty
  Grant McCarty is the Local Foods and Small Farms Educator for Jo Daviess, Stephenson, and Winnebago Counties. He works with commercial and backyard growers and producers by providing resources in fruit and vegetable production. His area of expertise includes soils management, fruit tree pruning, alternative crops, and general fruit and vegetable production. He further assists stakeholders within the local food system in helping them to expand their operation, adopt new practices, and/or better manage their current production. 

• Dr. Timothy Miles
  Timothy Miles, Assistant Professor of Plant Pathology and Extension Specialist for Michigan State University. Dr. Miles’ areas of expertise involve small fruit and hop pathology including post-harvest, fungicide resistance, and molecular detention of hops, blueberries, grapes and other berry crops. His current topics of study include mycology, genomics, population genetics, pathogen detection, molecular diagnostics and host resistance.

• Taidghin O'Brien
  Taidghin O’Brien is the Marketing & Communications Manager at The Land Connection, a small non-profit based in Champaign, IL and a member of the Design & Development team at MarketMaker. Taidghin has 12+ years of graphic and web design expertise in addition to 5+ years of expertise in food, farming, and food system development. He currently serves on several councils/committees and boards, including the Steering Committee for BFBL Illinois and the Board of Directors for Common Ground Food Co-op. With a background in marketing and design, as well as experience as the co-owner of Lucky Pierre Bakers and Deux Chevaux Farms, Taidghin brings a wealth of insight and creativity to solving farming and food system problems while providing advice and technical assistance to farmers struggling with branding, online marketing, and e-commerce strategy.

   

• Shantanu Pai
  Shantanu Pai is an assistant sustainability researcher at the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) and the interim zero waste coordinator for the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.

  At ISTC, Shantanu has managed over 30 projects providing hands-on technical assistance to citizens, businesses, institutions, and governments across the state of Illinois. Projects range from identifying individualized solutions in material management to implementing sustainable transitions that increase resilience.

  Shantanu received his B.S. in soil science and waste resources from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and a master’s in urban planning at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

• Ben Phillips
  Ben Phillips is Vegetable Educator in East Central Michigan for Michigan State University Extension.  He works with commercial field and greenhouse vegetable growers who target the fresh, wholesale and processing markets in the Bay and Thumb areas of Michigan.  His duties entail crop scouting, pest identification, crop management and food safety consultation, resource development, educational programming and facilitation of research projects with MSU’s main faculty researchers and grower collaborators.  

• John Rollins
  John Rollins is President and Owner of Central Illinois Produce, a local produce foodservice distributor supplying restaurants, schools, hospitals and assisted living centers across central Illinois. Central Illinois Produce has close to 40 trucks and 100 employees spread throughout their three warehouse locations in Danville, Urbana and Morton Illinois. John has been in the industry for over 34 years in large part due to the support of his wife, Candy and their three daughters Cristy, Chelsea and Jamie. Candy and John live in Champaign, Illinois and enjoy spending time at their lake house on beautiful Kentucky Lake where they enjoy boating, fishing and relaxing on the porch.  '

• Michael Ryan
  Michael is in his fifth season at the orchard, starting as a cashier in the store, eventually becoming head cashier and taking on more of a managerial role in the recent seasons. In this last season, Michael has assisted Debbie with social media efforts, mainly in charge of the company Twitter page, as well as helping structure content rollout and analytics.

  Michael is currently a junior at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign studying Recreation, Sport, and Tourism with minors in Leadership Studies and Political Science.

• Phil Schwallier
  Philip Schwallier is the Retired District Horticultural Agent for the greater Grand Rapids area specializing in Apple production and marketing.  He worked for 41 years for MSU Extension and retired fully on Nov 1 2020.   Philip also has a 100 acre apple orchard and a moderate sized farm market. 

• Kami Semick
  Food4All

• Bill Shane
  Tree Fruit Extension Specialist for Michigan State University and Coordinator of the MSU SW Michigan Research and Extension Center, Benton Harbor, MI, Ph.D.: University of Minnesota, Plant Pathology, MS: North Carolina State University, Plant Pathology, BS: Michigan State University, Botany and Plant Pathology. Bill Shane specializes in tree fruit, with emphasis on peaches, apples, plums, and cherries and oversees the MSU peach breeding program.  His areas of expertise integrated crop management, crop loss assessment, tree fruit breeding, tree fruit cultivar and rootstock evaluation, tree fruit training systems, plant disease diagnosis and predictive models for pest management. 

  Dr. Shane advises Michigan fruit growers on tree fruit management with emphasis on culture, varieties, and disease management.  He was recently honored with the 2020 Outstanding Extension Educator award by the International Fruit Tree Association. 

• Mark Schleusener
  Mark Schleusener is the Illinois State Statistician for USDA - NASS. He will present some results of the 2019 Organic Survey including statistics for Illinois and the US. NASS conducted the survey in all 50 states during the first half of 2020. Results will include farm counts, acreage, and sales data. 

• Zach Schmidt
  Zach Schmidt is the Assistant Director of State Legislation in the Illinois Farm Bureau Governmental Affairs and Commodities Division. Schmidt works with the director and associate director of state legislation in planning, implementing, and evaluating the state legislative program, state finance issues and state and local political campaigns.  He serves as legislative liaison with the General Assembly and provides assistance to county Farm Bureaus on matters pertaining to state legislative programs. 

  Schmidt earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture Business at the University of Illinois in 2010 and a Juris Doctorate degree at Valparaiso University School of Law. Prior to joining the Illinois Farm Bureau, he was an Assistant State’s Attorney in Logan and Peoria Counties. He joined Illinois Farm Bureau in October 2018. Schmidt was raised on a corn, soybean, and cattle farm in Greene County Illinois. 

• Stan Schutte
  Triple S Farms

• Michelle Sirles
  Michelle Sirles is a Marketing & Business force whose superpower is creative thinking and designing unforgettable experiences. 

• Andy Smith

• Don Stoeckel
  Don is an environmental microbiologist who has collaborated with the Cornell National Good Agricultural Practices Program for nearly a decade on water quality issues related to food safety. For the past five years, he has been an instructor of the online GAPs Produce Safety Course. As a career research scientist and educator, he has 15 years of professional research experience at Battelle Memorial Institute and the U.S. Geological Survey. Over the course of 20 years, he also has served in adjunct teaching roles at Cornell University, the Ohio State University, Auburn University, Columbus State Community College, and Cincinnati State Technical and Community College. His professional experience ranges across development of conceptual models of fate and transport of chemicals and pathogens following introduction to water and water systems, estimating public health consequences, field monitoring of water quality, research into sources of water quality impairment, and laboratory studies to improve monitoring and forensic attribution of contaminants. Don has authored 15 peer-reviewed research articles among other publications that include extension publications, government reports, review articles, and book chapters. His outreach experience includes development of technical seminars and workshops for diverse audiences across a broad spectrum of topics, in particular water quality and GAPs. Dr. Stoeckel joined the Produce Safety Alliance in August 2015 to serve as the Midwest Regional Extension Associate.

• Maggie Taylor
  Maggie Taylor is a first generation farmer and the owner of Delight Flower Farm in Champaign IL. She grew up gardening with her family, studied art and philosophy in college and went on to get a masters in library science. This seemingly diverse set of skills readily translates to the wide-range of demands that farming requires. In fact, she thinks,  the challenges of farming are what offer some of the biggest rewards.  

• Jame Theuri
  James Theuri is a Local Food Systems & Small Farms educator in Grundy, Kankakee and Will Counties (Unit 9) of University of Illinois Extension. His specialty area is integrated pest management. James’s programs target small-scale farms, which are slowly but surely coming back as local food movement continues to grow. Towards this goal, he organizes/facilitates programs in food safety (good agricultural practices); horticulture topics; raising livestock (sheep, goats, rabbits and poultry); forage (pasture) management and production; soil science (enhancing soil health by encouraging proliferation of macro- and micro-organisms in the soil); conventional and organic specialty crop (fruit and vegetable) production; lawn care and maintenance; safe pesticide application, and beekeeping. In addition, he enjoys educating youth and assisting clients with their varied and specific needs. A favorite part of James’s local food program is to organize outdoor summer events such as grazers “pasture walks”, agricultural tours to small farms, and getting involved in community and school gardens. He is actively involved in teaching Master Gardener classes – growing specialty crops, establishing and maintain lawns, plant pathology, botany and IPM. James has been involved in a long-term community blueberry restoration project in Pembroke Township of Kankakee County. He has also attended numerous trainings in leadership and community development throughout his career.

  James attended Missouri University and received crop protection (plant pathology) training (1993). He also worked as a research specialist/post-doctoral student in a maize genetics program (2005) before joining University of Illinois Extension. He initiated the “Good Agriculture Practices - GAPs” in Illinois, as well as sheep & goat classes, and beekeeping classes in the north-eastern region. 

• Elizabeth Wahle
  Elizabeth Wahle is a commercial agriculture educator for University of Illinois Extension. She received her Ph.D. from University of Illinois in Horticulture and her area of expertise is commercial fruit and vegetable production. She is an advisory member to the Illinois Specialty Growers Association board and coordinates the educational program for the Illinois Specialty Crops Conference. Elizabeth also coordinates other commercial specialty crop and green industry programs including the Gateway Green Industry Conference, the Horseradish Growers Conference and the Southern Illinois Commercial Fruit and Vegetable School. She also provides horticultural support to University of Illinois Extension Master Gardeners and Master Naturalist, and to homeowners for the Madison-Monroe St Clair Extension Unit.

• Rick Weinzierl
  Rick Weinzierl retired from the University of Illinois in 2016 after 32 years as a professor and extension specialist in entomology.  His research and extension programs addressed integrated pest management in vegetable and fruit production.  In 2016 he started Weinzierl Fruit and Consulting, LLC – a 2-acre direct-market apple and peach orchard and a consulting business that serves commercial fruit and vegetable growers.  His orchard is located in western Champaign County and is composed of roughly 450 apple trees and 115 peach trees.  

• Sam Wortman
  Dr. Sam Wortman is an assistant professor and environmental horticulturist in the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture. He has a 75 percent teaching and 25 percent research appointment. He currently teaches Plants, Landscapes, and the Environment, Plant Propagation, and Innovations for Agriculture. His research focuses on the development of novel management tactics for specialty crop farmers that increase yield and reduce labor without jeopardizing environmental quality. Particular interests include interactions between plants and the environment, local, urban, organic fruit and vegetable production, and biobased management tools for improved specialty crop farms' sustainability. 

• Audra Wyant
  Audra Wyant, along with her husband Chris, runs Finding Eminence Farm in Lexington, IL. Since 2015, they have grown cut-flowers and microgreens on a windy hilltop surrounded by corn and soybean fields. Prior to the farm, Audra worked as a corporate graphic designer for 10 years. She continues to work with small businesses to help develop their branding.