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.