Meet the AC Members

The Administrative Council, often called the AC, is the governing body for the Southern SARE region. The AC appoints the host institution and coordinator, oversees the general budget, guides programming, and reviews and evaluates grant proposals. The term of membership on the AC is normally three years, with the opportunity to serve two terms.

Say hello to the AC members for 2011-2012:

Adell Brown

Adell Brown Jr. is serving as the Southern SARE AC 1890 Research representative. Brown is executive vice chancellor and vice chancellor for research at Southern University Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Baton Rouge, La. His vision is for Southern University Ag Center to become a major partner in providing innovative new discoveries to help drive the economic development in the state of Louisiana. Brown has served on the Southern SARE AC in the past.

Douglas Constance

Douglas Constance is professor of sociology at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas. His degrees are in Forest Management (BS), Community Development (MS) and Rural Sociology (PhD), all from the University of Missouri. His research area is the community impacts of the globalization of the agrifood system and alternative agrifood systems. He has numerous journal articles, book chapters, and books on these topics. He is past president of the Southern Rural Sociological Association and the Agriculture, Food, and Human Values Society. Constance has been a USDA/SARE Principal Investigator in the NorthCentral Region and the Southern Region. He currently serves as the Quality of Life Representative on the Southern SARE, as well as Chair of the Administrative Council.

Tim Cross

Tim Cross serves as Dean of University of Tennessee Extension. Cross, an agricultural economist by training, has served as a faculty member at UT and other institutions. He received his undergraduate and graduate degrees at Oklahoma State University in 1980 and 1982, respectively, and served as an instructor of agricultural economics, marketing and policy at Fort Hayes State University before pursuing his doctoral degree at Oregon State University. After receiving his PhD from Oregon State in 1991, Cross continued to serve on the faculty of that institution until 1994, when he came to UT as an associate professor of agricultural economics with the UT Agricultural Extension Service.

Annie Donoghue

Annie Donoghue is a research leader for the Poultry Production and Product Safety Research Unit, USDA-ARS, at the Center of Excellence for Poultry Science at the University of Arkansas and is acting Research Leader for the Dale Bumpers Small Farm Research Unit in Booneville, AR. Her research has focused on developing alternatives to antibiotic use in poultry and developing strategies to reduce or eliminate pathogen contamination.

Christine Fortuin

Christine Fortuin is a life scientist with the US Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4 Pesticides Section, where she has been since 2003.  She is a graduate of Florida International University (FIU) with a MS in Environmental Sciences.  Prior to EPA she worked as a research assistant for FIU’s Community Tropical Ecosystem Management Project. Her area of research focused on honeybee management and the effects of Africanized honeybees in Mayan farming communities of Mexico.  Her work with EPA Pesticides Section has been focused on agricultural worker safety including outreach to Hispanic farmworker communities, certification and training of pesticide applicators, agricultural inspector training, as well as endangered species protection and pollinator protection.

Ana Maria Garcia

Ana Maria García has been a hydrologist with the USGS North Carolina Water Science Center since 2007. Her research interests include modeling the fate and transport of nutrients across landscapes as well as in-stream dynamics. She is currently working on a spatially-explicit regression model that tracks phosphorus in the southeast. She is also working on modeling enrichment processes for the Roanoke River in eastern North Carolina.

Rob Hedberg

Rob Hedberg was appointed USDA-NIFA National Program Leader for Sustainable Agriculture in November 2010 after serving in an interim capacity since January 2009. In this role he also serves as the National Director of the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program (SARE) which operates across the country through four independent regional programs. Hedberg has worked at USDA-NIFA since 2005, focusing on science policy, legislative and inter-governmental affairs.

Kim Kroll

Kim Kroll was appointed as the associate national director of the USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program on April 1, 1996. Before his appointment as associate director, Kroll spent nine years at the Rodale Institute Research Center as a cropping systems agronomist. His research focused on investigating plant and soil responses to changes in resource management. He was an assistant professor in the Soils and Crops Department at Rutgers University and a post-doctoral fellow at Cornell University after receiving his PhD from Purdue University.

Sandi Kronick

Sandi Kronick is a co-founder and CEO of Eastern Carolina Organics (ECO), whose mission is to cultivate a sustainable food system by providing a viable production and distribution network to customers and farmers.  Prior to launching ECO in 2004, Kronick has worked for many years building sustainable business relationships between organic growers and buyers, starting off in the sustainable food scene as the Local Food Coordinator for a 700-member cooperative in Ohio and later working as Sustainable Foods Consultant to restaurants in Cleveland, Ohio.  In 2010, Kronick received a “40 Under 40” regional business leadership award and traveled to Chile on behalf of the Chilean Trade Commission to speak to farmers about the U.S. organic marketplace.

Tammy Gray-Steele

Tammy Gray-Steele is executive director for the National Women In Ag. Association. Steele is an active SARE Advisory Main Council Member, an Obama Administration appointed USDA-NASS Advisory Councilwoman; and was an appointed USDA Strategic Action Team Leader. Steele was born and raised on a farm and received her secondary education in the rural community of Wewoka, Oklahoma.  After graduating high school, Steele left Oklahoma to pursue her business career in Urban in New York City, New York.  After receiving her legal degree at New York University Law School and acquiring legal business experience on Wall Street, she returned home to Oklahoma to give back to Oklahoma rural communities and her family farm.  Coupling her education and business experiences, she worked full-time in the Oklahoma corporate legal arena and obtained a Masters degree in Business Administration.

Ray McKinnie

M. Ray McKinnie is Associate Dean and Administrator for the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Program at North Carolina A&T State University. He received his B. S. degree in Animal Science from North Carolina A&T State University in 1976 and holds the Master's and PhD degree in Animal Science/Reproductive Physiology from The Ohio State University (1978) and North Carolina State University (1987), respectively. As an Extension Administrator, he has committed himself to building a solid Cooperative Extension Program and organization focused on hiring productive people, developing high quality/top tier educational programs/products and the utilization of cutting edge technology in the design and delivery of them. He currently serves as the 2009/2010 Chair of ECOP, a role he assumed at the Annual Meeting of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) in November 2009.

Martha Mewbourne

Martha Mewbourne waited until she was 50 years old to discover her real passion -- farming.  After a lengthy career in healthcare, a job transfer for husband, Tom, created an opportunity for a new life. The couple bought some land, built a house, and got some cows. Unhappy with the traditional sale barns, they began direct selling “healthy beef”. Later hair sheep were added, primarily for weed control and manure distribution, and the lamb market developed. To assist hair sheep producers in the area looking for educational information and marketing opportunities, Mewbourne and a colleague organized the Scott County Hair Sheep Association and created a partnership with Food City, a 100 store retail grocery chain, to provide lamb for their stores. Today, Food City purchases approximately $1 million per year in lamb from local producers in TN, VA, NC and KY.

Kathy Moore

Kathy Moore owns Anichini-Moore Ranch & Farm. Her primary focus is preserving wildlife habitat, and rebuilding soil and water holding capacity by recycling grass, leaves, paper, cardboard, and other natural materials otherwise destined for the local landfill. Part of the farm mission is to restore soil (health), as well as to produce foods with increasing nutritional food density. Moore is also a founding partner of the Oklahoma Composting Council, writing articles advocating for recycling organic materials, composting or mulching and guest lecture.

Saied Mostaghimi

Saied Mostaghimi is director of the Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station, and associate dean for research and graduate studies in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Virginia Tech. In 2010, he was reappointed as the H.E. and Elizabeth F. Alphin Professor of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Mostaghimi's research career focuses on the conservation of natural resources and the minimization of non-point-source pollution. He serves as the 1862 Research representative of the Southern SARE Administrative Council.

Louis Petersen, Jr.

Louis Petersen, Jr. is Commissioner of the Virgin Islands Department of Agriculture. A graduate of Tuskegee University with a bachelor’s degree in plant and soil science, he earned the master’s in horticulture from Oklahoma State University and his doctorate in horticulture and plant genetics from the University of Minnesota. His February 2007 appointment as Agriculture Commissioner follows 16 years as a district supervisor for the USVI Cooperative Extension Service, and four years as Assistant Commissioner from 1995 to 1999. As Commissioner, Petersen conducts territory-wide oversight and development of programs and policies to support and promote local sustainable agriculture. His vision is to increase the Department’s resources through partnerships, grant writing and strategic initiatives to enhance delivery of services and programs to the farming community.

Carey Robertson

Carey Robertson and her husband, Bill, own a forage-based livestock farm in northeast Arkansas.  Robertson manages the day-to-day activities of the farm producing commercial cattle, purebred Herefords, Katahdin hair sheep, meat goats, heritage poultry (chickens, ducks and turkeys), and working dogs.  Roberston graduated from the University of Arkansas with a BS in Animal Science/ Business and a MS in Poultry Genetics.  After having served as an Extension agent for 14 years, Robertson is enjoying full-time farming.  The couple has three sons and two grandchildren, whom they are very proud of.

Nancy Roe

Nancy Roe has B.S. and M.S. degrees in Horticulture from the University of Arizona and a PhD in Vegetable Crops from the University of Florida. For 11 years, she and her husband have owned Farming Systems Research, a small farm in Florida, which raises vegetables for sale through a 400 member CSA and to local restaurants, and conducts research in sustainable agriculture.

Brad Stufflebeam

Brad Stufflebeam has been described as "A pioneer of the local food movement in the Lone Star State" by Texas Agriculture Magazine. Stufflebeam has been a professional organic horticulturist in Texas since 1991, the past President of the Texas Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (TOFGA), current Board Member for the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance, the Brazos Valley chapter leader for the Westin A. Price Foundation and a full-time farmer in Washington County, Texas. His small family farm serves his local community and the Houston area through a unique Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program along with a Market Day hosted on his farm.  Featured in numerous articles and books, his enthusiasm and passion for local food has inspired others in their quest for the small family farm.

Pauline Thiessen

Pauline Thiessen serves on the AC as a producer. She is the produce manager of Ozark Natural Foods, a co-op in Fayetteville, Ark. Pauline has worked at the co-op for over 10 years and is very active in supporting local food producers. She acts as the liaison between local farmers and Ozark Natural Foods.

Frank Taylor

Frank Taylor serves as team leader of the Winston County Self Help Cooperative, based in Louisville, Mississippi. This organization is committed to helping rural America by empowering landowners and farmers with the necessary skills to achieve sustainability from their natural resources.

Brennan Washington

Brennan Washington serves on the AC as an NGO. He handles all of the farm planning and operations of Phoenix Gardens in Lawrenceville, Ga. He presided over the construction of the gardens and takes care of the planing, care and harvesting of the crops. Brennan is a member of Southern University's Small Farmer Agricultural Leadership Institute and is currently acting as a mentor in the Georgia Organics New Farmer Mentoring program.

Ron Young

Ron Young operates a 250-acre farm located in Moore County, Tennessee. Young has been actively raising beef cattle for 30 years. His ancestors settled in the area in the early 1800s. Young holds a B.S. Degree in Food Science from the University of Tennessee, and a PhD in Molecular Biology (through the Animal Science Department) from Iowa State University. He has worked as a university professor and a NASA research scientist. In 2004, he resigned his "paying job" and devoted himself full-time to raising beef.