Tara Watkins joined the UK extension team in 2022 and is the Commercial Ornamentals Extension Associate, covering Nursery Crops, Christmas Trees, and Cut Flower.

A native to the Commonwealth, Tara attended Western Kentucky University where she dual B.S. degrees in Agriculture (emphasis in Plant and Soil Sciences) and Biochemistry. She then attended Michigan State University and received an M.S. degree in Plant Pathology. After leaving MSU, Tara moved back to central KY where she now lives and farms beef cattle and cut flowers.

Tara’s areas of expertise include plant physiology, plant pathology diagnostics, and IPM implementation. She is available to provide assistance to commercial growers in nursery crops, Christmas trees, and cut flowers across the state in subject areas such as starting an operation, fertility, irrigation, disease and pest management, cover cropping, and more. Tara is excited to continue to get to know and to work with KY growers to move these specialty crop areas of the Bluegrass forward!