Alicyn N. Smart, holder of a Doctor of Plant Medicine degree from the University of Florida, has been named executive director of Maine Farm Bureau. She succeeds long-time Maine Farm Bureau Executive Secretary Jon Olson, who retired at the end of June.
In her new position, Dr. Smart will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of Maine Farm Bureau, including representing Farm Bureau before the public, many agricultural organizations, and the Maine Legislature.
A Massachusetts native, Dr. Smart attended Norfolk Agricultural High School in Walpole, Mass, where she was a member of Future Farmers of America showing beef animals, studied plant science, and managed the school’s greenhouse operation.
She is a 2011 graduate of Unity College in Unity, Maine, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in landscape horticulture. While studying at Unity she worked a summer and a semester at the University of Maine Insect and Plant Disease Diagnostic Lab, in Orono. She also has experience as a plant health care assistant at a commercial landscape company in Walpole, Mass.
She said she came to Maine to attend college because “I was drawn to Maine, I love trees.” She chose the University of Florida for her post-graduate work because it was first in the country in her discipline. While at the University of Florida she worked closely with farmers on diagnosing and solving a variety of plant-related problems being experienced on their farms. During her studies to earn her multi-disciplinary doctorate degree she also was a farm production and food safety worker at a 100-year-old vegetable and flower farm operated by Dr. Rich Bonanno, president of Massachusetts Farm Bureau.
“It was good to study in Florida and see that scale of agriculture and the problems they face, however I am excited to be back in Maine,” she said.
While the Farm Bureau job is more about working with people than with plants, Dr. Smart noted, “It’s agriculture. That’s what I always wanted to do. Maine Farm Bureau is the best possible place to work to effectively advocate for farmers.”
Dr. Smart was married in September, 2015 to Maine Game Warden Andrew Smart of Skowhegan.
Her first day at her new job was August 19, 2015. She may be contacted at [email protected].
