Speakers – Indiana Horticulture Conference and Expo

Calvin Beasley

Excerpt: Calvin Beasley is the third generation owner of Beasley’s Orchard located in Danville, IN. Beasley’s Orchard grows specialty crops on more than 200 acres, operates a year-round retail market, and hosts a variety of seasonal agritourism events, including fall festivals that are entering their 40th year. Primary crops include strawberries, raspberries, sweet corn, melons, cut >>> Read More.

David Schamber

Excerpt: David is a small farm owner, husband, and father who balances a career in technology with a passion for sustainable agriculture. Running the farm is a family effort, with everyone pitching in to help with the vegetable gardens, pastured poultry, and small-scale CSA program, connecting neighbors directly with fresh, seasonal foods. A SARE grant through >>> Read More.

Adebukola Dada

Excerpt: Adebukola Dada, PhD, is a soil and climate scientist whose work focuses on helping farmers make informed management decisions that improve soil health, maintain yields, and reduce environmental risk. Her research examines how cover crop selection, nutrient management, and field variability influence crop performance, nutrient availability, soil carbon, and greenhouse gas emissions in working agricultural >>> Read More.

Alan Bailey

Excerpt: Alan Bailey joined AFT as the Midwest Solar Specialist in November 2023, bringing more than 25 years of agricultural experience to the Midwest team. Based in Springfield, Illinois, Alan leads the implementation of AFT’s Smart Solar strategy at the intersection of solar energy production and farmland conservation. Throughout his career in Central Illinois, Alan has >>> Read More.

Brent Arnoldussen

Excerpt: Dr. Brent Arnoldussen is an Assistant Professor and State Extension Specialist at the University of Kentucky, a position he has held since 2024. Prior to joining the University of Kentucky, he completed graduate and postdoctoral training at Washington State University and Cornell University, respectively. Dr. Arnoldussen currently leads the Kentucky Fruit Extension Team and directs >>> Read More.

Don Lamb

Excerpt: Don Lamb is the Director of the Indiana State Department of Agriculture, re-appointed by Governor Mike Braun on Dec. 23, 2024. He reports directly to Lt. Governor Micah Beckwith, who serves as Indiana’s Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development. Don is a second-generation farmer for Lamb Farms in Boone County where, alongside his father, brother, >>> Read More.

Renae Swiatkowski

Excerpt: Dr. Renae Swiatkowski joined the Board of Animal Health Meat and Poultry Inspection Division in 2021. She currently serves as our Deputy Director and works alongside the Director Dr. Kerri Suhr, Labeling/Processing Manager Heath Bertsch, 2 EIAOs, 2 compliance officers, 7 area supervisors, and 41 state inspectors. It is her duty to understand and enforce >>> Read More.

Trish Dunn

Excerpt: In June 2021, Trish became the feed administrator overseeing the feed program for the Office of Indiana State Chemist. In this role, she oversees licensing and product listings, two labs, federal contracts, sampling and inspections. Trish started with OISC as an analytical chemist with the feed/fertilizer group. As an analytical chemist, she analyzed feed and >>> Read More.

Marty Travis

Excerpt: Known for his expertise in food aggregation, marketing and local supply chain logistics, Marty has helped build resilient food systems that uplift farmers, chefs and communities alike. From the documentary Sustainable to his book My Farmer, My Customer, he’s spent 20+ years helping to create more sustainable supply chains. The Power of Local Foods What >>> Read More.

Megan Ayers

Excerpt: Megan has been growing diversified small-scale produce in an urban environment since 2004, and made the leap to rural SE Indiana in 2020 to start Unvarnished Farm, a no-till market farm committed to soil, animal, and human health on 11 acres in Jefferson County. She sells at local farmers markets, to restaurants, and supports food >>> Read More.

Melanie Lewis Ivey

Excerpt: Melanie Lewis Ivey is an Extension Plant Pathologist, Extension Fresh Produce Safety Specialist, and Assistant Professor of Plant pathology at The Ohio State University CFAES-Wooster Campus. She is a native of Ontario Canada and has a Ph.D. degree in plant pathology from The Ohio State University, a MSc. degree from The University of Western Ontario >>> Read More.

Ryan Lee

Excerpt: I am a veteran farmer from North Liberty, Indiana, proudly running Lee’s Edible Acres with my family. With a background in service and a commitment to sustainable agriculture, I am now in my second year of implementing no-till garden beds to enhance soil health and productivity. At the Indiana Small Farms Conference, I will share >>> Read More.

Ella Stroh

Excerpt: Ella Stroh is an Indiana Partner Biologist with Pollinator Partnership. She received her Master’s degree in Entomology from Purdue, where she studied native bees and the pollination services they provide to specialty crops. In her current role, she provides pollinator-friendly conservation technical assistance to producers around the state, with a focus on small and specialty >>> Read More.

Brenda Hash

Excerpt: Owner and co-founder of Morning Harvest Produce in Hardinsburg. Food Safety considerations for Value-added products and byproducts usage panel. Food Safety Considerations for Value-Added Products and Byproducts Usage. This session explores key food safety considerations when developing value‑added products and incorporating agricultural byproducts such as apples. Dr. Hansel Mina will share applied examples from Purdue >>> Read More.

Hansel Mina

Excerpt: Hansel A. Mina, Ph.D., is a Research Associate and Extension Specialist for the Food Entrepreneurship and Manufacturing Institute in the Department of Food Science at Purdue University. He specializes in produce safety, food microbiology, and value-added product development, with a research focus on routes of contamination, antimicrobial interventions, and practical sanitization strategies for fresh produce >>> Read More.

Michelle Adler

Excerpt: Michelle is a graduate of Purdue University and the Indiana University Maurer School of Law. Michelle focuses her practice on agriculturally-related estate planning, long-term care planning, and farm succession planning. Michelle resides in rural Adams County with her husband and children. Presentation: Estate Planning and Asset Protection for Farmers: Michelle will discuss basic estate planning >>> Read More.

Lei Zhang

Excerpt: Dr. Lei Zhang is an Assistant Professor of Plant Nematology in the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology at Purdue University. He has extensive experience in both basic and applied research on plant-parasitic nematodes. His current research focuses on the diagnosis of plant-parasitic nematodes (PPNs), investigating the virulence of root-knot nematodes (RKN) in Indiana, and >>> Read More.

Chris Adair

Excerpt: Chris Adair earned his bachelor’s degree in biology from Purdue University and currently runs the Purdue Student Farm. He works closely with students, faculty, and staff to grow many specialty crops that are used in the farm’s CSA production, research, or extension programming. Presentation: A year in the life of a high tunnel- going beyond >>> Read More.

Tyler Gough

Excerpt: Tyler Gough oversees the planning and operation of all aspects of Indy Urban Acres, a project of the Parks Alliance of Indianapolis. Gough was in 2011 to transform eight acres of unused city park land into a sustainable, urban farm. Today, IUA is a system of four organic farms on the east, west, and south >>> Read More.

Sara Cloft

Excerpt: Sara Cloft is a Poultry Scientist working with Darrin Karcher at Purdue University Department of Animal Sciences. She is an enthusiastic advocate for solving pressing problems facing poultry producers and recruiting people to get involved in poultry. Her current research work is on understanding the impacts of heat stress experienced by laying hens and pullets >>> Read More.

Julia Wooby

Excerpt: Julia Wooby is a PhD candidate in the department of Entomology at Purdue University studying the use of entomopathogenic nematodes (EPN) to control pests in high tunnel specialty crops. Julia works exclusively with commercially available EPN products, studying their application in the unique high tunnel microclimate to inform management decisions in this system. Her project >>> Read More.

Cesar Escalante

Excerpt: Dr. Cesar Escalante is a Clinical Assistant Professor and Extension Vegetable Pathologist at Purdue University. He manages the Vegetable Pathology Lab at the Southwest Purdue Agricultural Program in Vincennes, IN. Dr. Escalante is a plant pathologist with expertise in both classical and advanced techniques for studying plant pathogens and their effects on hosts. His research >>> Read More.

Pavani Ganju

Excerpt: Pavani Ganju has been the Purdue Agroecology Lab’s manager since 2024, providing essential support to the team’s research in soil health, plant-soil-microbe interactions and sustainable cropping systems. With a background in Plant and Soil Science, she is interested in combining laboratory and field-based approaches to understand how environmental conditions and management decisions can shape soil >>> Read More.

Andrea Hatfield

Excerpt: Andrea Hatfield serves as the Purdue Extension Educator for Agriculture & Natural Resources and Community Development in Boone County. She also serves as the County Extension Director. Andrea has always enjoyed helping others learn, which led her to earning her BS in Agriculture Education and her MS in Curriculum and Instruction, both from Purdue University. >>> Read More.

Perry Kirkham

Excerpt: Perry grew up on a livestock farm in Delaware County, Indiana. He graduated from Purdue, lived in Alabama, England, and Maryland for academic pursuits, and is now in research administration at Purdue. He now lives on a 7th generation farm in Tippecanoe County where his family owns and operates a U-pick orchard. New ventures and >>> Read More.