Kortni Blalock and Alaina Boyd Poised to Make a Difference to State’s Agricultural Community
COLUMBIA, Tenn. – 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.
Boyd, a lifelong native of Lawrenceburg, grew up on her family’s diversified farming operation in the West End community of Lawrence County. She holds a master’s degree in communication and information from UT Knoxville and a bachelor’s degree in animal science from Middle Tennessee State University. She is currently enrolled in the master of business administration program with the Haslam College of Business at UT Knoxville. She began working with the CPA in 2023 as an Extension assistant working primarily on a value-added dairy project. In her new role as an Extension Specialist, Boyd will expand her scope to include more value-added management and marketing work as well as being part of a new landowner education program.
The UT Center for Profitable Agriculture provides educational programming and technical assistance to Tennessee farmers interested in a value-added enterprise to improve farm income. It’s a partnership between the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture (UTIA) and the Tennessee Farm Bureau Federation. For more information about the CPA programs and educational events, visit the CPA website at cpa.tennessee.edu.
The University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture is comprised of the Herbert College of Agriculture, UT College of Veterinary Medicine, UT AgResearch and UT Extension. Through its land-grant mission of teaching, research and outreach, the Institute touches lives and provides Real. Life. Solutions. to Tennesseans and beyond. utia.tennessee.edu.