UT Center for Profitable Agriculture Welcomes Two New Specialists

Aug 14, 2025

The University of Tennessee Center for Profitable Agriculture has welcomed two new UT Extension Specialists. Kortni Blalock and Alaina Boyd began their new roles with the CPA last month, and both will provide leadership to various programs and topics to assist farmers and farm families with value-added farm enterprise development.

Boyd has been with the CPA in a different role since 2023, and Blalock is already becoming a familiar figure within the Tennessee agricultural community.

Blalock hails from Covington, Georgia, about thirty minutes outside of Atlanta. She earned her bachelor’s degree in agribusiness from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. In May 2025, she graduated from UT Knoxville with a master’s degree in agricultural and resource economics. Forever a Volunteer, she now joins the CPA in Columbia. She brings valuable experience from her time as an international agricultural trade analyst, having completed federal internships in both Washington, D.C., and Hanoi, Vietnam. Her strong academic background and international perspective make her a valuable addition to the Center and UT Extension as a whole.

Source : tennessee.edu

Video: A chain harrow is a game changer

Utilizing a rotational grazing method on our farmstead with our sheep helps to let the pasture/paddocks rest. We also just invested in a chain harrow to allow us to drag the paddocks our sheep just left to break up and spread their manure around, dethatch thicker grass areas, and to rough up bare dirt areas to all for a better seed to soil contact if we overseed that paddock. This was our first time really using the chain harrow besides initially testing it out. We are very impressed with the work it did and how and area that was majority dirt, could be roughed up before reseeding.

Did you know we also operate a small business on the homestead. We make homemade, handcrafted soaps, shampoo bars, hair and beard products in addition to offering our pasture raised pork, lamb, and 100% raw honey. You can find out more about our products and ingredients by visiting our website at www.mimiandpoppysplace.com. There you can shop our products and sign up for our monthly newsletter that highlights a soap or ingredient, gives monthly updates about the homestead, and also lists the markets, festivals, and events we’ll be attending that month.