Suchoff to Lead N.C. PSI’s Extension Outreach and Engagement Platform
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Collapse ▲David Suchoff will build ties to agriculture statewide to ensure that N.C. PSI delivers practical solutions for North Carolina growers. He succeeds Rachel Vann.
David Suchoff, a faculty member in North Carolina State University’s Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, will soon take the reins of the N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative’s Extension Outreach and Engagement Platform, as platform director Rachel Vann departs for a faculty position at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign at the end of November.
The platform’s role is to build connections that ensure that the N.C. PSI delivers knowledge and solutions that make a difference for farmers.
In announcing Suchoff’s appointment, N.C. PSI Executive Director Adrian Percy emphasized the critical role that NC State Extension can play, from start to finish, in research with real-world application.
“Since the N.C. PSI was conceived, NC State Extension has been a strong supporter and an integral part of our work to deliver the knowledge, tools and technologies that farmers and others in the agricultural community need,” Percy says. “Rachel succeeded in building strong connections with Extension, and David is committed to building on that, while also bringing his own ideas.”
David Suchoff brings seven years of experience as an NC State Extension specialist with NC State’s Department of Crop and Soil Sciences to the new leadership role with the N.C. PSI.
“David’s appointment marks an exciting next step for the N.C. PSI and for North Carolina agriculture,” says NC State Extension Director David Monks. “His leadership will strengthen the connection between our research and real-world application, ensuring innovation reaches the people who feed our families and fuel our future. That’s what Extension does best — transforming scientific discovery into progress for our state’s farmers.”
Suchoff begins his new role Nov. 1, overlapping with Vann until her departure on Nov. 28.
Vann: A Champion for Extension and N.C. Growers
Vann, an associate professor and Extension soybean specialist in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, will be joining her husband, Matthew Vann, at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Matthew became Illinois Extension’s director in September, and Rachel will be a cropping systems specialist with responsibilities in teaching, research and extension.
Rachel Vann will be a cropping systems specialist with teaching, research and extension responsibilities at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Rachel Vann became N.C. PSI’s extension outreach and engagement platform director in 2022.
“I’m tremendously grateful to have been part of energizing teamwork and to have championed Extension’s role in meeting the mission of the N.C. PSI and the larger university,” she says.
To connect and engage growers, other N.C. agricultural leaders, Extension agents and others with N.C. PSI’s interdisciplinary research, Vann came up with creative, diverse programs and activities.
She was instrumental in developing tours and other events that brought scientists and engineers, including ones without agricultural backgrounds, onto farmers’ fields and into agricultural communities.
Those activities gave investigators insight into the kind of everyday realities that can make a big difference in farmers’ willingness to adopt new tools and technologies.
Vann is most proud of the network of Extension agents engaged in N.C. PSI research. Today, 37 agricultural agents lend their unmatched knowledge of local farm needs to N.C. PSI research, working with 10 interdisciplinary research teams to help fine-tune new tools and technologies.
“We’ve seen that having Extension agents engaged in interdisciplinary research projects has benefited both the researchers and the agents, by connecting researchers with boots-on-the-ground connections they need and giving the agents access to cutting-edge science and resources,” she says.
Vann hopes those benefits will continue to grow as agents become even “more robustly engaged as co-creators, early on in research.”
Another way that Vann created powerful connections for the N.C. PSI was by establishing a Grower Advisory Council, with members representing different areas of the state and multiple commodities.
As Percy notes, “The council has provided fantastic insights into how we can best connect with the state’s agricultural community, and it’s challenged us to make sure that the research outcomes are relevant to North Carolina growers.”
Suchoff: ‘Eager to Get Out There’
Suchoff believes that growing the N.C. PSI’s connections to the larger agricultural community will be key in keeping research grounded in high-priority needs and focused on practical solutions.
“To follow in Rachel’s footsteps, I don’t take that lightly,” says Suchoff, an associate professor and alternative crops Extension specialist. “I’m eager to get out there, learn more from as many folks as I possibly can and understand how we at the PSI and NC State in general can better serve our community.”
When Suchoff joins the N.C. PSI’s leadership team, he will retain his faculty position in Crop and Soil Sciences.
He has been engaged with the N.C. PSI for three years, most notably through a partnership with College of Textiles to develop fiber hemp as an important N.C. crop, while strengthening the state’s textiles industry.
Suchoff got his start in agriculture after wrapping up an undergraduate degree in music performance at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. As a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in Paraguay and Costa Rica, he worked with small farmers and their families.
“I fell in love with the work that I was doing, and almost immediately knew I wanted to work in agriculture,” he said.
When he returned to North Carolina, he became an apprentice at the Center for Environmental Farming Systems’ small farm unit in Goldsboro, then earned master’s and doctoral degrees in horticulture from NC State. In 2018, he joined the faculty as an Extension organic commodities specialist, then switched to alternative crops the following year.
“One thing that I’ve learned throughout my career is how special Extension is here in North Carolina,” Suchoff says. “There are a number of factors that go into why North Carolina agriculture has been so successful, and Extension is right up there at the top as one of those drivers, ensuring that farmers are continuing to grow, literally and figuratively, and be successful.”
In his new role, Suchoff wants to continue building connections between campus researchers and Extension agents.
“We have to understand what are the challenges that our stakeholders are experiencing, and that’s where Extension fits in,” he says. “By connecting researchers across campus with farmers and other agricultural stakeholders, we can have that dialogue necessary to really pinpoint what those challenges are and, ultimately, influence the research efforts.”
About the N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative
With over 100 faculty affiliates from nine NC State University colleges, the N.C. PSI brings together the brightest minds from academia, government and industry to solve complex agricultural challenges through interdisciplinary scientific discovery and innovation, extension outreach and engagement, and education and workforce development.
About NC State Extension
NC State Extension extends research-based knowledge to all North Carolinians, helping them transform science into everyday solutions that improve their lives and grow our state. Specialists at NC State work alongside agents in 101 local N.C. Cooperative Extension centers across the state to address local needs related to agriculture and food, health and nutrition, 4-H youth development and more. Discover more at go.ncsu.edu/Extension.