North American Manure Expo
July 13-14, 2022
Chambersburg, PA

Andy helps Pennsylvania’s residents, businesses, and local governments find answers to water related questions to protect the Commonwealth’s shared natural resources. His current focus areas include drinking water protection, testing and treatment, and urban stormwater education. His work highlights the important ways land use and water quality are connected within the geographic boundaries of Pennsylvania’s watersheds.

Chryseis Modderman is an extension educator with the University of Minnesota where she focuses on manure management as a crop nutrient source. She is originally from a farm family in west-central Minnesota, and prior to working at UMN, she was a research technician at North Dakota State University. When she’s not elbow-deep in her work, she enjoys time at the lake, gardening, and reading.

Danielle is a statewide water resources educator for Penn State Extension, based in Jefferson County. She provides educational programming and products related to private drinking water, pond management, agriculture and water, stormwater management, and watershed protection and restoration. Danielle is a certified Act 38 Nutrient Management Planner/Reviewer and holds a Master of Science degree from Duquesne University in Environmental Science and Management.

Glen Arnold is a Professor with The Ohio State University and serves as an extension Field Specialists in the area of Manure Nutrient Management Application. His research efforts have been to move livestock producers and commercial manure applicators toward applying manure to wheat and corn during the growing season to capture more of the manure nutrients. His work with emerged corn involves using three 12-row manure side-dress toolbars to subsurface apply swine and dairy manure through the V4 stage of growth.

Jered Birkbeck joined Herbruck’s in 2018 and is the Director of Feed Manufacturing and Fertilizer Processing. In this role, he is responsible for leading the fertilizer departments in four of Herbruck’s facilities to process litter into value-added fertilizer, overseeing the three company feed mills to produce feed for our hens and pullets, and leading capital projects in those areas. Jered holds a B.S. in Feed Science from Kansas State University and has 25 years of experience in Feed Mill Management.

Kevin Beer has served the commonwealth through his work with Pa Department of Environmental Protection for the past eleven years. In his current role as Compliance and Technical Support Section Chief in the Bureau of Waste Management, Kevin strives to protect people and the environment by promoting safe and effective handling practices in materials management, including effective processing of waste streams for beneficial use. He leverages his knowledge of chemistry and the environment with extensive environmental health and safety experience in providing sound guidance to the regulated community relevant to implementation of materials management best practices. Kevin has a M.S. in chemistry from the University of Pittsburgh.

Kevin Erb is the director of the Conservation Professional Training Program at University of Wisconsin-Madison-Extension. Erb has more than 30 years experience with Extension, focusing on manure management, nutrient management plan implementation and training of conservation professionals. Kevin initiated one of the nation’s first manure spill response training using actual manure, and has created more than 20 live spill response demonstrations around the US and Canada.

Leslie is the crop manager at Lesher’s Poultry Farm, Inc. His job duties include directing manure application and sales. He has nutrient management plan writer, odor management, and manure broker certifications. He has over 25 years of experience with precision farming.

Melissa Wilson is an associate professor and manure nutrient management specialist at the University of Minnesota with appointments in both research and extension. Her research focuses on filling knowledge gaps about manure nutrient cycling as farming practices, weather, and technologies change. She is also currently evaluating techniques for opening up the window of opportunity for manure application.

Michael Aucoin graduated from Delaware Valley University with an Agronomy Degree in 1995 then started his career at the Bucks County Conservation District as a Resource Conservationist. In 1999 Michael was hired as a Conservation Program Specialist with the PA Dept of Agriculture/ State Conservation Commission in which he administers the state’s Nutrient Management, Commercial Manure Hauler and Broker and Odor Certification Programs.

Nick Hepfl is the Agricultural Technician with Clearfield County Conservation District. After growing up on a small family dairy farm in western Pennsylvania, Nick began working on several thousand-acre grain and beef farm while attending college at Clarion University for Environmental Biology. Nick has been with the Conservation District for six years and works with approximately 500 farmers to implement programs and promote soil health.

Ric Herrera joined Herbruck’s in 2019 as the Vice President of Marketing. In this role, he is responsible for managing the direction of Herbruck’s brand, consumer and customer marketing, and branded retail sales. Ric holds a B.S.P9:P17 in Business Management and Marketing from SUNY. He has over 30 years of Marketing, Sales, and Management experience in the food industry.

Rich has been an Extension Educator at UConn for 34 years, since receiving his Master’s Degree from Penn State in Dairy Science.  His duties include dairy and livestock production, nutrient management planning, and crop production.  He wrote his first Nutrient Management Plan for a dairy in 1989 as part of the original Long Island Sound Water Quality Study.

Rob Buiter is is the owner of Fastrack Fertilizer, a custom manure application service in northwest Indiana that runs drag line, truck tankers, and tractors with tank for swine and dairy manure.

Russell Phenicie joined Herbruck’s in June of 2021 as the Production Manager at Blue Springs Egg Farm, Herbruck’s newest farm opening in Mercersburg, PA. In this role, he is responsible for the care of the birds and fertilizer processing. Russell holds a B.S. in Poultry Science and an M.B.A. from Penn State University. Russell has been involved in agriculture his entire life, has over 10 years of experience in the agriculture industry, and operates his family’s beef farm.

Sailesh Sigdel is currently a Ph.D. Candidate in Agricultural and Environmental Plant Science at Pennsylvania State University. His research explores improving nitrogen management and amendment in no-till dairy cropping systems. 

Stephanie Kulesza is the Nutrient Management and Animal Waste Specialist in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences at NC State University. Her research focuses on the use of animal manures in the wide range of cropping systems found in North Carolina, focusing on barriers to adoption of manure in fertility programs.

Susan Boser is a Water Resources Educator with Penn State Extension based in Beaver County, Pennsylvania. She is a graduate of West Virginia University where she earned her Bachelor of Science in Agriculture with a major in Environmental Protection. Susan interacts with clientele throughout Western Pennsylvania via educational programs focusing on the areas of private water supply education, pond management, stormwater, youth water education and pesticide education.

Dr. Vempalli S. Varma is an Environmental Engineer with a research focus on manure management and modeling GHG emissions. He holds a doctoral degree from IIT Guwahati, India. Later he joined Agricultural Research Organization, Israel as Post Doc and worked on “Process control, GHG emissions, odors, sanitary and agronomics aspects” during composting of livestock manure and industrial sludge. Currently, he works with Dr. Greg Thoma’s research group at the University of Arkansas on the “Decision support system for dairy and swine manure management”. Further, he is coordinating model development for dairy manure management systems for the RuFaS project at Cornell University.

Vince Herbruck is a third-generation egg farmer with Herbruck’s. He is currently the Manager of Poultry Living Systems at Herbruck’s. In this role, he is responsible for all the layer aviary equipment and systems engineering dealing directly with the birds. Vince has worked in nearly every department at Herbruck’s in some capacity for the last 15 years.