Grant McCarty is a Local Foods and Small Farms Educator, covering Jo Daviess, Stephenson, and Winnebago counties in Northern Illinois. He works with commercial specialty growers that directly market tree fruits (apples, pears, cherry), small fruits (brambles, strawberries, blueberries), and vegetables. His programming and expert assistance focuses on tree fruit pruning-training, soil health, insects-diseases, new and emerging crops, and general production related to these specialty crops.

Additionally, he collaborates on the Stateline Fruit and Vegetable Growers Conference, a yearly day-long program that provides sessions delivered by University of Illinois Extension educators and specialists with support from other Midwestern Extension systems (Michigan State University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Minnesota).

He further addresses the needs of livestock producers via the Beginning Livestock Production and Principles webinar series.

From 2022-2024, he conducted on-farm research on day-neutral strawberries, supported by a USDA Specialty Crops Block Grant.

Originally from East Tennessee, Grant McCarty received a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Maryville College and a Master of Science in Plant Sciences from University of Tennessee.

Program Offerings:

Stateline Fruit and Vegetable Growers 
Conference Every winter, this conference for commercial fruit and vegetable growers in Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin is held in Rockford that delivers sessions based on production updates, insect/disease management, and new and emerging crops.

Fruit Tree Pruning 
Offered multiple times in the winter, this class is designed for growers dealing with old and neglected fruit trees that have not been pruned for some years. Combining photos of participants’ trees, this workshop gives attendees a road map to pruning their trees in that growing season. Fruit trees include apple, peach, pears, and others.

Livestock Production and Principles Webinar Series
This monthly webinar series provides topics relevant to those who are just getting started in livestock production and are interested in incorporating better practices. Previous topics have included manure management, fencing, horse pasture management, meat goat production, swine, selling meat in Illinois, and grazing. All webinars are archived on YouTube.

Day-Neutral Strawberry Research
Day-neutral strawberries are an annual strawberry that is planted in late spring with harvest beginning end of August to Halloween in the Midwest. With positive results from other Universities, this study was conducted to determine the feasibility of recommending this crop, challenges growers would face, and considerations that should be taken if grown at their farms. This 2 year research study was conducted on farms in Jo Daviess and Stephenson counties, examining the varieties of ‘Albion’, ‘Seascape’, and ‘Mara des bois’. The results of this study have been shared on our YouTube Channel with a playlist of videos. Visit go.illinois.edu/strawberryYoutube