News
News
About the News Section
Keeping the public aware of the research, Extension and teaching efforts of the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture and Cooperative Extension Service is vital to our success. Our professional writers work with UK College of Agriculture and Extension professionals to produce timely and accurate news stories and features. Print stories are distributed to newspapers across the Commonwealth, as well as to local, regional and national trade publications.
Our section provides useful, timely news and educational information via print and broadcast media to improve the quality of life for Kentucky residents.
Our experience working with print, television and radio news organizations gives us insights into how mass media can help you deliver your message to special audiences. We can share with you ideas and strategies for working in a mutually-beneficial way with local newspapers and broadcast stations. We offer media training to College of Agriculture faculty and staff, Cooperative Extension specialists, and periodically to select non-profit or governmental groups. Please let us know if you’d like to schedule training or if you have general questions about media.
If you have an idea for a news story, please email our news desk at CAFENews@uky.edu
Experts at the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment
The below experts are available to speak to the news media.
Kenny Burdine
Professor
859-257-7273
Expertise: beef economics, livestock marketing and management
Professor
859-257-7288
Expertise: Trade, policy, direct government payments, tobacco and hemp economics.
Greg Halich
Associate Extension Professor
859-257-8841
Expertise: Grain crops and forage economics
Tyler Mark
Associate Professor
859-257-7283
Expertise: Hemp economics
Professor
859-257-7270
Expertise: Local foods and food cooperatives
Jordan Shockley
Associate Professor
859-218-4391
Expertise: Farm management/poultry economics
Les Anderson
Extension Professor
859-257-2856
Expertise: beef production
Katie VanValin
Assistant Extension Professor
270-365-7541 X21361
Expertise: beef production
Tony Pescatore
Extension Professor
859-257-7529
Expertise: poultry production
Jacqueline Jacob
Poultry Extension Project Manager
859-257-7613
Expertise: poultry production, small and backyard flocks
Debra Aaron
Professor
859-257-7553
Expertise: sheep production
Merlin Lindemann
Professor
859-257-7524
Expertise: swine production
Zach Bartenslager
Extension Associate
859-257-7544
Zach.bart@uky.edu
Expertise: youth livestock programs
Akinbode Adedeji
Associate Professor
859-218-4355
Expertise: food engineering
Wayne Sanderson
Professor, Director of Central Appalachian Regional Education Center, Director of Southeast Center for Agricultural Health and Injury Prevention
859-218-2227
Expertise: agricultural safety and health
Tiffany Messer
Assistant Professor
859-218-4353
Expertise: Water quality; Nutrient cycling, fate and transport; Ecosystem restoration
Sam McNeill
Extension Professor
859-562-1326
Sam.mcneill@uky.edu
Expertise: Grain bin safety and mechanics, energy audits
Michael Sama
Associate Professor
859-218-4325
Michael.sama@uky.edu
Expertise: Drones in agriculture
Rebecca McCulley
Professor
859-257-6388
Expertise: Climate change in field crop agriculture
Seth DeBolt
Director and Professor
James B. Beam Institute for Kentucky Spirits
859-257-8654
Expertise: bourbon, wine, distillation, brewing sciences
Jeffrey Wheeler
Extension Specialist
Horticulture
859- 257-1332
Expertise: enology, wine
Patsy Wilson
Extension Specialist
Horticulture
859- 257-1332
Expertise: viticulture
Alison Davis
Director
Community and Economic Development Initiative of Kentucky (CEDIK)
859-257-7260
Expertise: rural development, economic development, leadership development, community health
Jayoung Koo
Associate Extension Professor
Landscape Architecture
Community and Economic Development Initiative of Kentucky
859-257-3853
Expertise: landscape architecture, community design, urban and regional planning, environmental restoration planning, GIS
Ryan Sandwick
Extension program manager
Community and Economic Development Initiative of Kentucky (CEDIK)
Landscape Architecture
859-218-1710
Expertise: city planning, downtown revitalization, community design
Professor
859-257-4902
Expertise: mosquitos
Professor
859-257-7458
Expertise: Pollinators, Japanese Beetles
Jonathan Larson
Assistant Professor, Horticultural Entomologist
859-562-2614
Expertise: mosquitos, ticks, emerald ash borer, cicadas, garden insects, household pests, pests of trees, shrubs and turf
Zachary DeVries
Assistant Professor, Urban Entomologist
859-562-2856
Expertise: bed bugs, cockroaches, ants, residential pesticides
Ric Bessin
Extension Professor
859-257-7456
Expertise: field crop and horticultural pests
Subba Reddy Palli
Professor, Department Chair, Entomology
Co-director, Center for Arthropod Management Technologies (CAMTECH)
859-257-7450
Expertise: RNAi technology for pest management, gene switch technology, hormone regulation and gene expression in insects
Clare Rittschof
Assistant Professor
859-218-3343
Expertise: honeybee aggression, bee behavior and social interactions
Nick Teets
Assistant Professor
859-257-7459
Expertise: insect adaptability to extreme climates (Antarctica)
Christopher Barton
Professor
Forestry & Natural Resources
859-257-2099
Expertise: mountaintop removal reclamation
Chris Sass
Associate Professor
Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences program
859-257-3485
Expertise: urban forestry issues and urban stormwater systems
Stephen Higgins
Director of Environmental Compliance
Agricultural Experiment Station
Expertise: engineering for livestock systems, environmental compliance
Fernanda Camargo
Equine Extension Specialist, Asssociate Professor
Expertise: 4-H, equine Extension
Amanda Adams
Associate Professor and MARSTM Equine Scholar
Gluck Equine Research Ctr.
Expertise: Aged horse research
Camie Heleski
Lecturer
UK Equine Science and Management
Expertise: behavior, “Social License to Operate,” working equids
Roberta Dwyer
Director, Pre-Veterinary Advising Program
Professor, Department of Animal and Food Sciences,
Expertise: biosecurity
Scott Stanley
Professor of Analytical Chemistry, Gluck Equine Research Center
Director, Equine Analytical Chemistry Laboratory
Expertise: drug testing and analytical chemistry, biological passport
Jill Stowe
Associate Professor, Agricultural Economics
Expertise: economics, Kentucky Equine Survey
Kimberly Tumlin
Director, Equestrian Athlete Initiative
Assistant Professor, UK College of Public Health
kimberly.tumlin@uky.edu
859-218-2017
Expertise: Equestrian Athlete Initiative
Morgan Hayes
Assistant Extension Professor
Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering
hayesmorgan@uky.edu
Expertise: facilities, ventilation, engineering for livestock systems, environmental compliance
Bob Coleman
Associate Professor, Equine Extension Specialist
Expertise: nutrition, equine science, forages, facilities
Kathryn Graves
Director, Animal Genetic Testing and Research Laboratory
Associate Professor, Gluck Equine Research Center
Expertise: Genetic Testing Laboratory
Ernie Bailey
Professor, Gluck Equine Research Center
ebailey@uky.edu
859-218-1105
Expertise: genetics, genomics and bioinformatics
Mick Peterson
Professor
Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering
Expertise: horseracing track surfaces and sport horse surfaces
Daniel Howe
Director of Graduate Studies, Associate Chair and Professor
Gluck Equine Research Center
Expertise: infectious disease
James MacLeod
John S. and Elizabeth A. Knight Chair and Professor of Veterinary Science
Gluck Equine Research Center
UKAg Programs Director
Expertise: musculoskeletal science, genetics, genomics and bioinformatics
Mieke Holder
Assistant Professor
Department of Animal and Food Sciences
Expertise: nutrition
Laurie Lawrence
Professor
Department of Animal and Food Sciences
Expertise: nutrition
Martin Nielsen
Associate Professor
Gluck Equine Research Center
Emma Adam
Assistant Professor
Gluck Equine Research Center, UK Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory
Expertise: wide ranging topics from infectious disease to veterinary issues
Jennifer Hunter
Assistant Director
Family and Consumer Sciences
859-257-3887
Jhunter@uky.edu
Expertise: farm stress and mental health
Alex Elswick
Assistant Extension Professor
859-257-3290
Alexander.elswick@uky.edu
Expertise: substance use and prevention, addiction
Nichole Huff
Assistant Extension Professor
859-257-7753
Expertise: financial literacy
Amy Kostelic
Associate Extension Professor
859-257-1763
Amy.kostelic@uky.edu
Expertise: Healthy aging
David Weisenhorn
Senior Extension specialist
859-257-3072
Expertise: Parenting and child adolescence
Extension Professor, Director of Grain and Forage Center of Excellence
859-257-3203
Expertise: Corn, full-season soybeans and wheat
Agronomy Specialist
859-257-3144
Expertise: Hemp Extension and research
Carrie Knott
Associate Extension Professor, Director of UK Research and Education Center, Princeton
859-562-1320
Expertise: UKREC, Wheat, double-crop soybeans, corn
Extension
Professor
859-257-5110
Expertise: hemp, burley tobacco
Ray Smith
Extension Professor
859-257-3358
Expertise: Forages
Jimmy Henning
Extension Professor
College of Agriculture, Food and Environment
859-257-2877
Jimmy.henning@uky.edu
Expertise: forages, horse pasture evaluation program
Carl Bradley
Extension Professor
859-562-1306
Carl.bradley@uky.edu
Expertise: small grain, soybeans, canola diseases and disease management
Kiersten Wise
Extension Professor
859-562-1338
Kiersten.wise@uky.edu
Expertise: corn, sorghum and forage diseases and disease management
Gregg Rentfrow
Associate Extension Professor
Meat Science
859-857-7550
Expertise: beef, pork, meat education, 4-H youth food sciences
