Our Team
Tamara Benjamin, Purdue Extension
Tamara Benjamin works with small scale and beginning farmers helping them find ways to produce more sustainably through on farm planning tools.
DFFS Team: Assistant Program Leader, Agriculture and Natural Resources
Wenjing Guan, Horticulture and Landscape Architecture
Wenjing Guan is a horticultural specialist. Her research and extension programs focus on developing and delivering sustainable production practice for vegetable, melon, and strawberry production. She is an expert in vegetable grafting.
DFFS Team: Clinical Engagement Assistant Professor
Sarah Hanson, Purdue Extension - Johnson County
DFFS Team: Extension Educator
Mark Kepler, Purdue Extension - Fulton County
Mark Kepler is the Extension Educator in Fulton County. He is involved in livestock production both personally and professionally. He does programming for beginning livestock farmers in the area of beef, swine, goats and general pasture management.
DFFS Team: Extension Educator
Liz Maynard, Horticulture and Landscape Architecture
Liz Maynard works with vegetable farmers on production issues in the field and high tunnel, including stand establishment, transplant production, cultural practices, irrigation, soil fertility and plant mineral nutrition, and variety selection.
DFFS Team: Clinical Engagement Assistant Professor
Karen Mitchell, Purdue Extension - Tippecanoe County
Karen Mitchell is the Agriculture and Natural Resources Educator for Purdue Extension – Tippecanoe County. Karen is active in statewide extension programming for small farms, beginning farmers, farmers markets, community gardens, and home horticulture.
DFFS Team: Extension Educator
Amanda Moisman, Purdue Extension - Warrick County
Amanda Mosiman, Amanda’s DFFS expertise is aiding farm market masters and direct marketing vendors to understand proper food safety protocols and state / county regulations. She also enjoys aiding small livestock producers.
DFFS Team: Extension Educator
Michael O'Donnell, Purdue Extension - Organic and Diversified Agriculture Educator
Michael O’Donnell works with farmers of all scales and enterprises looking to shift acres into certified organic production. He works closely with Indiana grain farmers transitioning acreage into organic grain production, and offers educational programs on organic field crop/grain production for farmers and other agricultural professionals. He is also passionate about the application of regenerative agriculture principles in all types of farming systems.
DFFS Team: Organic and Diversified Agriculture Educator
Bob Rode, Forestry and Natural Resources
DFFS Team: Aquaculture Research Lab Manager
Andrew Westfall, Purdue Extension - White County
Andrew Westfall is the Agriculture & Natural Resources Educator in White County. He helps large and mid-sized farmers who are interested in diversifying their operation, as well as beginning farmers who are getting started with small scale production.
DFFS Team: Extension Educator
Miranda Edge, Purdue Extension - Harrison County
Miranda Edge, is an ANR Extension Educator and will have worked in Harrison County for 9 years this October (2019). I work with farmers markets and am considered an expert in market management and food safety.
DFFS Team: Extension Educator
James Wolff, Purdue Extension - Allen County
James Wolff is the Agriculture and Natural Resources Educator in Allen County. He works with a variety of agricultural issues and focuses on beginning farmers, farmers markets, urban agriculture, site assessment, and hops production.
DFFS Team: Extension Educator
Steve Engleking, Purdue Extension - LaGrange County
DFFS Team: Extension Educator
Ashley Adair, Purdue Extension - Montgomery County
Ashley Adair is the Ag and Natural Resources Educator in Montgomery County. Her areas of interest include cover crops, small farms, local food, UAVs, and native plants. Recently she has been working on farm to school and school garden projects in the Crawfordsville area.
DFFS Team: Extension Educator
Petrus Langenhoven, Horticulture and Landscape Architecture
Petrus Langenhoven is Horticulture and Hydroponics Crops Specialist at Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN. His strong background in horticulture production research and Extension allows him to leverage research and Extension programming around new technologies and expertise in high tunnel and greenhouse management, and open field vegetable production. His skills propel him to engage in new crop development activities such as microgreens, personalized specialty cantaloupe, leafy amaranth, summer squash, sweet colored and chili pepper, and peppermint production.
DFFS Team: Horticulture and Hydroponic Crop Specialist
Terri Theisen, Purdue Extension - Allen County
Terri Theisen, is an Urban Agriculture Educator for Purdue Extension – Allen County. Terri has experience with a variety of small-scale, diversified farming operations in urban and rural environments and has a passion for local foods.
DFFS Team: Urban Agriculture
Phillip Cox, Purdue Extension - Vermillion County
Phillip Cox is the Agriculture & Natural Resources Educator in Vermillion County. He is on the Indiana Small Farm Conference team and has served on the Trade Show subcommittee for the past several years. He also coordinates programming that includes such topics as pesticide safety, native plants, invasive species, gardening, natural resources, farming, wildlife management, and forestry.
DFFS Team: Extension Educator
Nathan Shoaf, Urban Agriculture State Coordinator
Nathan Shoaf, has worked on soil, groundwater and vapor intrusion contamination issues for remediation sites as a field technician, consultant and regulatory agency project manager. In addition, he has worked with community gardens and urban agricultural projects on improving soil health and safety using organic amendments such as composts, biosolids and biochar.
DFFS Team: Urban Agriculture
Amy Thompson, Purdue Extension - Monroe County
DFFS Team: Extension Educator
John Hawley, Purdue Extension - Dearborn County
John Hawley is based in Dearborn County and serves statewide as a Farm to School specialist. He also coordinates programming that includes such topics as agricultural communications, backyard poultry, pest control, and gardening.
DFFS Team: Extension Educator
Alex Pettigrew, Purdue Extension - Marion County
Alex Pettigrew, has a passion for urban agriculture and hopes to help more people see the different ways agriculture is used daily. She will focus on urban livestock, including poultry and bees.
DFFS Team: Extension Educator
Brooke Alford, Purdue Extension - Harrison County
Brooke Alford co-teaches the Urban Agriculture Certificate Program, Rainscaping and the Beginner’s Guide to Grant Writing.
DFFS Team: Extension Educator
Sara Dzimianski, Purdue Extension - Perry County
Sara Dzimianski is the Purdue Extension Educator for Agriculture and Natural Resources based in Perry County, and serves statewide as a sheep and goat specialist. Her primary areas of interest are dairy goat management, and parasite management in sheep and goat production. She also coordinates programming that includes such topics as pesticide safety, beekeeping, beef production, invasive species management, and gardening.
DFFS Team: Extension Educator
Dana Gadeken, Purdue Extension - Vigo County
Dana Gadeken is based in Vigo County. She coordinates programming that includes such topics as field crops, backyard poultry, tree disease, and gardening.
DFFS Team: Extension Educator
Mathias Ingle, Purdue Extension - Howard County
Mathias Ingle is the Ag & Natural Resources Extension Educator in Howard County (Kokomo, IN). Mathias is a newer educator to the group, starting in April of 2019. He coordinates the local programing on a local level to serve the community.
DFFS Team: Extension Educator
Amanda Baird, Purdue Extension - Tipton County
Amanda Baird is based in Hamilton County. Her program areas includes farmers markets, small farms, backyard poultry, and gardening.
DFFS Team: Extension Educator
Michele Jones, Purdue Extension - Morgan County
Michele Jones is based in Morgan County and is relatively new to Extension. She has a background in dairy farming and coordinates programming that includes gardening, vermicomposting, and soil health.
Beth Vansickle, Purdue Extension - Madison County
Beth Vansickle is based in Madison County. She coordinates programming that includes such topics on gardening, beginning livestock and production livestock.
DFFS Team: Extension Educator
Jeffery Pell, Purdue Extension - Hendricks County
Jeffery Pell is serving on the Exhibitors committee and the Content committee. He is working on planning an animal marketing tour for the first day of the conference and assisting in recruiting presenters for the youth track. In addition, He is working on the logistics of the Exhibitors part of the conference and serve as the liaison for non-stationed items for the booth.
DFFS Team: Extension Educator
Laurynn Thieme, Purdue Extension - Delaware County
Laurynn Thieme serves as the Agricultural & Natural Resource Educator in Delaware County, providing programming, expertise, and researched based knowledge to the local community and community agencies focusing on the areas of natural resource conservation, urban agriculture, horticulture, and environmental stewardship.
DFFS Team: Extension Educator