Carmen Flamini, Agronomist, Alabama Cooperative Extension

By Gina Lanaux

What is an Agronomist? - an expert in the science of soil management and crop production. 

Carmen Flamini is an agronomist working for the Alabama Cooperative Extension System as an agent specializing in home grounds, gardens, and pests. She serves Baldwin, Butler, Conecuh, and Escambia Counties. The Alabama Cooperative Extension System provides educational outreach to the citizens of Alabama on behalf of the state's two land grant Universities: Alabama A&M University and Auburn University.

A native of Chile, she came to America in 1999 to visit a cousin in Dalton, Georgia. It was July, winter in South America, so she had a week's vacation. In this short time, she met Pete, and one week turned into six months.  She returned to Chile, and Pete traveled to Chile to marry her and they eventually settled in Dalton, where her husband owned an Italian Restaurant. 

While raising her two children, she realized there was no hands-on learning of science principles outside of the classroom during their elementary school years. Passionate about science, Carmen started the first STEM ( Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) program in an elementary school outside of Atlanta. “Agronomy encompasses math, biology, chemistry, and life science, and I used gardening and greenhouses to teach these principles,“ Carmen explains. “I also taught environmental science and life science at Dalton State College.”

Her children are also passionate about science and learned that Auburn University has educational opportunities they want to pursue. The family decided to relocate to Alabama to take advantage of in-state tuition, so they traveled around the state, looking for the perfect place. 

“We chose Daphne because it had farms, beaches, and restaurants in the area.” A lifelong learner, Carmen got her master of agricultural science degree from Auburn and began her work at ACES in August of 2023. Her children are both students at Auburn and of course, studying science! 

Carmen is involved with training and guiding gardeners all around the Scenic 98 Coastal area. She teaches the 13-week Master Gardeners Program and tells me she has a 2-year waiting list for the class. She advises the Hope Community for their Anna T. Jeanes School Teaching Garden Project and is training volunteers at the Fairhope Rotary Youth Club for a large community garden that they plan to make. 

At the Pelican’s Nest in Fairhope, she will be working with volunteers to maintain its native milkweed and pollinator gardens, and in Montrose, she is working at the Nature Connect School to create an erosion control garden along with vegetable and pollinator gardens. At Fairhope West Elementary School, she is designing and collaborating on a STEM/ reading garden and has many other projects around Baldwin County.

”Teachers make a change in the world, and it is important to enable kids to be inquisitive and feel passionate about nature and science at an early age, ” she says. She encourages schools to start small and to focus on specific kinds of gardens. “There are many kinds of gardens; rain, pollinator, erosion, decomposition, vegetable, and life cycle. Any of these can enhance the core curriculum and provide hands-on activities.”

I am excited to know about Carmen and her gardening expertise. As part of her job, backyard gardeners can email her with horticulture or pest management questions. She will try to solve problems and give advice. I couldn’t help but ask her gardening questions during our interview and left with four soil test kits to send to Auburn for PH analysis, because I learned if your soil isn’t balanced, nothing will grow. 

Look for more classes in backyard gardening offered by Carmen at Alabama Cooperative Extension System and get her email for advice. I know I will!