Partners

Principal Investigators

Kokoasse Kpomblekou (PD): Dr. Joe Kokoasse Kpomblekou-A holds a Ph.D. from Iowa State University in Soil Science and is Professor, Director of Organic Agriculture and Biogas Production Programs at Tuskegee University. He conducts research in organic agriculture and anaerobic digestion using animal waste and energy crops. He holds a patent for his work on Recovery of Phosphorous from Poultry Litter that helps farmers manage animal waste in compliance with new USDA rules. His present research emphasis is on fate and kinetics of nitrogen, sulfur and phosphorus in the ecosystem, chemistry and biochemistry of nitrogen and sulfur in animal waste-amended soils. The ultimate goal of his research is to gain fundamental knowledge that aids in development of management practices that prevent accumulation of contaminants in the ecosystem. Together with scientists throughout the southeast, he is focusing on developing a vibrant organic production market in the Southeast.

Olufemi Ajayi: Olufemi Ajayi graduated in 2020 from Auburn University where he obtained a PhD in Entomology. Upon graduation, he conducted research at Alabama State University on plant-insect interactions with focus on industrial hemp and corn earworm. He joined Tuskegee University as a Post-Doctoral Research Associate in 2021. His dissertation was on management of urban insect pests of economic importance. In his research, he utilizes techniques in biological control, insect physiology, and chemical ecology. His research is published in peer-reviewed journals, and he serves as a reviewer for peer-reviewed journals in the Entomology discipline. He has received awards from the Entomological Society of America. On a personal note, Olufemi is a soccer enthusiast. He enjoys gardening and playing card games with his wife.

T. Casey Barickman: Dr. Barickman is an Assistant Research and Extension Professor at Mississippi State University’s North Mississippi Research and Extension Center (75% research, 25% extension) specializing in sustainable and organic vegetable production systems. Dr. Barickman has over 12 years of experience in horticulture research studying plant physiology. His research focuses on environmental stress and genetic interactions that affect plant growth and development, plant hormone interaction, and vegetable nutritional quality. For this project, Dr. Barickman will provide organic growers in Mississippi site specific recommendation on vegetable crops and help to build a database for organic information for the benefit of organic farmers.

Adelia Bovell-Benjamin Adelia C. Bovell-Benjamin: Dr. Adelia C. Bovell-Benjamin is a Professor in the Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences at Tuskegee University. Her research focuses on product development (emphasis on sweetpotato), sensory science; and diet and nutrition issues, the food environment and cancer prevention in African Americans. She has worked extensively with the sweetpotato in terms of postharvest technology, cultural aspects, sensory and nutritional aspects.She has also written extensively on the sweetpotato.

Joel Cuffey: Dr Joel Cuffey is an Assistant Professor of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology at Auburn University. He is interested in how consumers interact with food markets, and the implications of this for food and agriculture marketing, agribusiness, retail strategy, and public health.

Jeanine Davis: Dr. Jeanine Davis is an associate professor and extension specialist in the Department of Horticultural Science at NC State University. She is located at a center in western NC near Asheville. For over 25 years, she has researched and taught farmers about new crops, vegetables, and organic agriculture. Current efforts are on woodland botanicals, hops, truffles, broccoli, organic tomatoes, industrial hemp, and biodynamics. She is the lead author of the book “Growing and Marketing Ginseng, Goldenseal and Other Woodland Medicinals”. Jeanine and her family operate Our Tiny Farm where they raise garlic, honey, pastured beef, horses, and mini-donkeys.

Alice Evans: Alice Evans is the Executive Director of the Alabama Sustainable Agriculture Network, a grassroots nonprofit network of sustainable farmers and others who want to build a thriving local food system in Alabama. Alice was born and raised in Huntsville, AL, and began working part-time for ASAN after graduating from Swarthmore College (Swarthmore, PA). During that time she also worked on several farms, both in eastern North Carolina and then back home in North Alabama. She currently lives in Birmingham, where in her free time she is involved in several activist groups, and tends a perpetually expanding backyard garden.

Alice Formiga is an Asistant Professor of Practice in the Department of Horticulture at Oregon State University and the Director of eOrganic. She partners with many organic farming research projects to make their findings available to the public through articles and webinars at http://www.extension.org/organic_production. For this project, she will coordinate the review and publication of publicly available articles and webinars about organic farming in the southeast.

Dr. Desmond Mortley is a Research Professor of Horticulture and Coordinator, Environmental, Natural Resource & Plant Sciences Program, Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. He works with other coordinators within the department to enhance teaching, research, recruitment and overall quality of instruction to improve student learning. He is a member of the Graduate Faculty and teaches vegetable crop production, physiology of plant growth and development, plant propagation and plant botany. He researches organic and conventional production of vegetables, small fruits; specialty crops popular among Asian immigrants as potential crops for limited resource farmers in the Alabama Black Belt, and renewable energy from biomass.

Franklin Quarcoo: Dr. Franklin Quarcoo is a Research Assistant Professor of Entomology in the Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at Tuskegee University. He is also the Extension Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Specialist for the Tuskegee University Cooperative Extension (TUCE). He received a B.S. in Agricultural Science from the University of Science and Technology (Ghana) in 2000, an M.S. in Plant and Soil Sciences from Tuskegee University in 2006, and a Ph.D in Entomology from Auburn University in 2009. His peer-reviewed publications, book, and book chapter cover behavior-based control of insect pests, non-chemical pest management methods, and the environmental impact of pesticides.