Speakers – Page 3 – Indiana Horticulture Conference and Expo

Amanda Bradshaw Burks

Excerpt: Amanda Bradshaw Burks has spent 20+ years growing food wherever she can with in a wide array of settings. She specializes in urban and home-scale agriculture, with a focus on solving common growing challenges without overcomplicating things. Her approach is practical, approachable, and rooted in the belief that growing food should be doable, rewarding, and >>> Read More.

Jenna Nees

Excerpt: Jenna Nees is the Purdue Extension ANR Educator in Putnam County. She is also the Adult Education Coordinator for the Putnam County SWCD. She has been with Purdue Extension for 16 years. Jenna attended Purdue University and studied farm business management. Throughout her career with Purdue Extension, she has worked with countless farm families on >>> Read More.

Jason Gearheart

Excerpt: Presentation: Optimizing Compost Use for Soil Health and Regenerative Agriculture: Compost is a cornerstone of regenerative agriculture, supporting soil health through improved plant growth and yield, enhanced water retention, weed suppression, and pH stabilization. However, no single compost product is universally effective—its performance depends on compost quality, the characteristics of the receiving soil, and the >>> Read More.

Brooke Alford

Excerpt: Presentation: Optimizing Compost Use for Soil Health and Regenerative Agriculture: Compost is a cornerstone of regenerative agriculture, supporting soil health through improved plant growth and yield, enhanced water retention, weed suppression, and pH stabilization. However, no single compost product is universally effective—its performance depends on compost quality, the characteristics of the receiving soil, and the >>> Read More.

Dan Perkins

Excerpt: Dan is owner and farmer at Perkins’ Good Earth Farm. He is known as the “Cover Crop Guy” in NW Indiana. Perkins’ Good Earth Farm utilizes no-till, permanent deep-compost beds, and is a certified organic and real organic project farm growing 18,000 bulbs of hardneck garlic and produce via a 200 member CSA, on-farm stand, >>> Read More.

Alexis Sheffield

Excerpt: Alexis is an Extension Specialist for Horticulture and the Co-Director of the Center for Crop Diversification at the University of Kentucky. Alexis focuses on diversified horticultural businesses and has experience working in greenhouse systems, organic vegetables and floriculture, with a special love of season extension and native plants. Presentation: Woodies for Cut Flower Production: Woody >>> Read More.

Caroline Patrick

Excerpt: Caroline Patrick serves as the Indiana Grown Program Director within the Indiana State Department of Agriculture. She leads statewide efforts to connect Hoosier producers with consumers, institutions, and markets, advancing local food systems through strategic outreach, measurable impact, and strong partnerships. Presentation: Cultivating Opportunity: Indiana Grown Program Advantages: Indiana Grown membership is more than a >>> Read More.

Marc Amante

Excerpt: Marc Amante is an Agriculture & Natural Resources Educator with Central State University and is currently serving as the interim program leader for CSU’s Agriculture & Natural Resources team. He is an experienced market gardener and urban farmer, raising vegetables, mushrooms, raspberries, and other crops on his quarter-acre homestead. He is committed to working with >>> Read More.

Liz Brownlee

Excerpt: Liz Brownlee is a farmer and volunteer farmer organizer with Partners IN Food and Farming (PIFF). She’s provided workshops and field days for farmers about everything from poultry to business plans. Liz and her husband, Nate, run Nightfall Farm where they raise poultry, pigs, and sheep, and sell meat directly via their CSA, farmers markets, >>> Read More.

Michelle Wallace

Excerpt: Michelle Wallace is an Agriculture and Natural Resources Extension Educator with Central State University Extension and covers northwest Ohio. Michelle primarily works with beginning small and urban farmers, specialty crop growers, and alternative agriculture. Michelle grew up on a cooperatively owned farm overseas. She worked with her dad in the kiwifruit vineyard and apple orchards. >>> Read More.

Adam Tyler

Excerpt: Adam has been with Purdue since 2019 and has a passion for helping his local community and those around the state learn And understand thew importance of mental health in the agriculture community. He has a strong background in agriculture, which helped him to see both the need and importance of mental health in our >>> Read More.

Sylvester and Sabrina Friend

Excerpt: Sylvester and Sabrina Friend are first-generation farmers based in Selma, Indiana, where they steward nine acres using diversified and regenerative practices. Their farm raises goats and lamb for both meat production and targeted grazing services, along with pasture-raised poultry, including broilers and a laying flock. They also grow produce using five hoop houses and additional >>> Read More.

Rebecca Koetz

Excerpt: Rebecca is the Urban Ag Extension Educator for Lake County Purdue Extension. She has degrees in Wildlife and Forestry and Natural Resources from Purdue. She also works with the Northwest Indiana Food Council, coordinating Indiana’s first farmer apprenticeship program. She received her Permaculture Design Course (PDC) in 2023 from Rhonda Baird of Sheltering Hills Design. >>> Read More.

Melanie Stock

Excerpt: Dr. Stock is an Associate Professor / Extension Small Farms Specialist at Utah State University. Originally from the Midwest, she graduated from the University of Wisconsin – Madison in 2018 with a degree in Soil Science and a passion for community gardening before moving to Utah, where she also became a homesteader. At work, Dr. >>> Read More.

Gowri Somasundaram

Excerpt: Speaker Bio of the Panel: Gowri Somasundaram is the founder of Eco Circle LLC, an environmental consulting firm specializing in environmental and climate education. She currently serves as the Resiliency Coordinator for the City of Carmel through Earth Charter Indiana, where she supports community-driven climate action and sustainability initiatives. She is a proponent of zero >>> Read More.

Lise Kruer

Excerpt: Lise has worked with the Huber Family on the family owned and farmed destination for 15 years. She has a degree in Communication from IU and a JD from the Maurer School of Law. Her previous careers range from Trial Attorney to Corporate Trainer for Sephora. She has worked in a variety of industries but >>> Read More.

Denise Smith

Excerpt: I love growing flowers! Prior to discovering my passion for floriculture I pounded New York City’s busy streets, marketing textiles to fashion apparel companies for a large textile mill. Honing my sales skills along with some grit I launched a small cut flower farm in Johnson County: Blooms of Hope Farm. Together with the best >>> Read More.

Kayla Wright

Excerpt: Kayla Wright is a Community Resilience Specialist with Purdue Extension, supporting the IN R-STEP Collaborative on their Department of Energy (DOE) project. She also serves as a Community Development Educator in the Marion County office, with a focus on Leadership and Civic Engagement programming. She graduated from Indiana University with a B.A. in political science >>> Read More.

Patrick Nycz

Excerpt: Lead Food Business & Marketing Administrator with the Food Entrepreneur and Manufacturing Institute (FEMI). A Forbes Agency Council contributor, quoted in the New York Times, USA Today, and Adweek, Nycz is a marketing and business strategy professional with over 38 years in CPG and business development. Presentation: Building Your Food Product and Business: This presentation >>> Read More.

Sarah Black

Excerpt: Sarah Black is the Director of Great Lakes Ag Labor Services, an affiliate company of Michigan Farm Bureau. GLALS is the largest agency in Michigan that sources temporary and seasonal labor through the federal H-2A visa program. Now entering their 12th year of operation, GLALS partners with state Farm Bureaus to provide H-2 and H-2B >>> Read More.

Adam Steckler

Excerpt: Adam Steckler is a Local Sourcing Specialist for wholesale distributor What Chefs Want and is based at company headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky. Adam sources products from local vendors with a primary focus in gourmet foods, including grains, dairy, proteins, and desserts. Adam is an ACS-certified cheese professional, with a decade of experience in retail cheese >>> Read More.

Yaohua Betty Feng

Excerpt: Dr. Yaohua Betty Feng is an associate Professor of Food Science and Extension Specialist, Department of Food Science, Purdue University. Betty is committed to reducing foodborne illness and advancing food safety through risk assessment, strategic communication, and stakeholder engagement. Her research examines how cultural, social, and environmental factors influence food safety behaviors and evaluates strategies >>> Read More.

Miranda Purcell

Excerpt: Miranda Purcell is the Viticulture Extension Specialist at Purdue University where she works with grape growers to improve the quality of Indiana grapes and ultimately Indiana wine. Miranda works with everything from backyard growers to commercial producers and on topics such as site selection, variety selection, pest & disease control, pruning, cold hardiness, etc. Presentation: >>> Read More.

Scott Monroe

Excerpt: Scott Monroe, an Indiana native, is the sixth generation in his family to be involved in vegetable production and spent most of his youth working in his family’s watermelon fields. He attended both Vincennes and Purdue Universities, earning degrees in Agriculture, Horticultural Science, and Plant Pathology. Scott has worked in various capacities in the produce >>> Read More.

Dr. Ariana Torres

Excerpt: Dr. Torres’ research focuses on the decision-making processes of specialty crop farmers along with customers’ perceptions and preferences. Her expertise includes the economic modeling of adoption of new technologies, the development of decision-making tools for specialty crop growers, and the economic impact of growers decision-making processes. Her research provides relevant research-based information to her extension >>> Read More.