Meet Our Executive Committee
Dr. Audrey Gamble
Past-Chair
Audrey is an Assistant Professor & Extension Specialist in the Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences Department at Auburn University. She specializes in Agronomic Crops; Animal Sciences & Forages and Commercial Horticulture. Audrey was the Chair of the Conference committee and host of the 2019 Southern Cover Crops Conference. Audrey does research in field evaluation of conservation cropping systems/cover crops to improve soil health and sustainability.
Dr. Danielle Treadwell
Chair
University of Florida
Danielle Treadwell is Associate Professor and State Extension Specialist, Horticultural Sciences at the University of Florida in Gainesville with research and Extension responsibilities for organic and sustainable vegetable production. Her research is focused on the integration of summer and winter cover crops into farming systems to reduce off-farm inputs and enhance agro-ecological benefits.
Dr. Virginia Sykes
Chair-Elect
University of Tennessee-Knoxville
Virginia Sykes is an Assistant Professor at the University of Tennessee Knoxville. Virginia specializes in variety evaluation with a focus on improving methods and data dissemination and determining best management practices to optimize conservation agriculture and its benefits.
Rachel Stout Evans
Secretary
USDA-NRCS
Rachel is a Resource Soil Scientist with USDA-NRCS in Louisiana, with 17 years of field experience in soil survey, ecological site inventory, and soil health in rowcrop agriculture in the Lower Mississippi Valley. She tries to educate farmers, landowners, soil conservationists, and the general public about soil health and how cover crops are a tool to stop erosion and rebuild healthy soils.
Nathan Lowder
Grower Representative
USDA-NRCS
Nathan Lowder is the Southeast Regional Soil Health Specialist with the USDA-NRCS. Nathan provides training on soil conservation practices to build and maintain soil health. He has been a cover crop adopter for decades on his own farm Folk L. Farm, Inc in North Carolina. Nathan raises corn, wheat, soybeans, and cotton on his 500-acre farm. All of his crops are no-till and he incorporates pasture into his operation to add nutrients to the soil.
Dr. TJ Bradford
Member-At-Large
T.J. is the president and senior agronomist of Bradford Agricultural Consulting and a fifth-generation farmer in the Mississippi Delta. He specializes in providing growers nationwide with sustainable solutions to enhance productivity and profitability while optimizing resources and implementing innovative strategies to meet the challenges of modern agriculture for farming operations. Their farm has a long history of growing corn, cotton, and soybean, as well as specialty crops.