PhD, Veterans’ Liaison and Agricultural EntomologistMichigan State University Extension
Adam Ingrao is a fourth generation Army soldier who served following the 9/11 attacks, as a Patriot Missile Fire Controller in the US Army until 2004, before suffering a career ending injury that has left him a disabled veteran. With the assistance of his Post 9/11 GI Bill, he completed his BS in Agriculture and Environmental Plant Science at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, before completing his PhD at Michigan State University in Agricultural Entomology in 2018. His excellence in research and farming has resulted in several awards, including the MSU Plant Science Recruitment Fellowship and the prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. He also received a Fruit + Vegetable 40 Under 40 award.
Adam currently serves as the Veterans’ Liaison and Agricultural Entomologist for Michigan State University Extension where he runs the Heroes to Hives program, a nationally recognized beekeeping education program for veterans. He also serves as Michigan State Co-Coordinator for the USDA’s North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program. His research is primarily focused on the management of beneficial insects in agro-ecosystems to drive ecosystem services that support farmers.
Adam is also a nationally recognized advocate for veterans entering the agricultural industry and has testified numerous times to both the US Congress and Michigan Legislature on the benefits of careers in agriculture for the personal and financial well-being of America’s veterans. Adam helped start the Michigan Food and Farming Systems’ (MIFFS) Veterans in Agriculture Network and the Farmer Veteran Coalition of Michigan. He also has served as the Board Vice President of MIFFS from 2015 – 2019.
In his spare time, Adam works with his wife at their farm, Bee Wise Farms, where they produce honey, cut flowers, herbs. and industrial hemp on their 2-acre urban farm in Lansing, Michigan and 40-acre farm in Newberry, Michigan.