Dr. Leslie Cooperband is an Extension Specialist of Sustainable Agriculture and Community Development in the University of Illinois' Dept. of Human and Community Development. She is a former Associate Professor in Soil Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has been providing outreach and teaching programs about composting, compost use and building soil fertility for over ten years. She taught introductory soils in the School for Beginning Market Growers (UW-Madison) for six years, and has been teaching workshops and short courses for composters and compost users for seven years at the Midwest Compost School and the Washington State Organic Recycling Council's Compost Operator Training Program. Her current extension programs include developing local food systems in central Illinois and on-farm composting. She and her husband currently are starting a small organic fruit farm and goat dairy in Champaign, Illinois. She works closely with Deborah Cavanaugh Grant and Dan Anderson on outreach programs related to building local food systems in rural IL. She is also working with Deborah Cavanaugh Grant on implementing a pilot beginning farmer training program called "Farm Beginnings."

Curriculum Vitae (PDF)

Please contact me at lcooperb@ad.uiuc.edu

Human and Community Development Department
222 Bevier Hall, 905 S. Goodwin Ave.
Urbana, IL 61801
Tel: 217-244-2743
Fax: 217-244-7877

Areas of Interest and Expertise
Soil chemistry, soil ecology, use of byproducts in crop production

Leslie Cooperband instructing at a workshop