Gary Sheppard

As a Penn State Cooperative Extension educator, Gary Sheppard has provided educational programming to farmers throughout southwest Pennsylvania since 1985.  He holds a MBA degree from Youngstown State University and a BS in Agricultural Mechanization from Penn State.  His work has focused on initiatives that increase farm profitability with a considerable emphasis on strategic business planning.  Gary has worked internationally in this arena to train colleagues in Poland and Serbia and most recently has been exploring opportunities for Pennsylvania farms in the growing agri-energy industry.  Current projects in this regard include educating landowners on the opportunities and challenges of natural gas development, biogas production and organic recycling through manure digesters, and the evaluation of alternative energy sources through a hybrid wind/solar electric generation system at the Penn State Extension Office in Greensburg, Pennsylvania.  In addition to his programmatic work, he serves as the County Extension Director in Westmoreland County, a position he has held since 1997.