My Research

My research examines the social and ecological dimensions of agricultural risk, focusing on how inequality, environmental variability, and emerging technologies shape farmers’ exposure and resilience. My dissertation comprises three essays: one investigates racial disparities in crop insurance outcomes for Black farmers, another explores how gender influences resilience to climate shocks, and a third models the value of ecosystem services provided by mycorrhizal fungi in soil nutrient management. Together, these projects advance scholarship on risk, resource allocation, and social justice in agriculture while utilizing a diverse set of methodological instruments such as spatial econometrics, causal mediation analysis, and bioeconomic modeling.

Hauling crates of peaches from the orchard to the shipping shed, Delta County, Colo. by Russell Lee, 1940.

Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Projects

Racial Inequities in Crop Insurance

My analysis uses spatial econometric models to show how historical and structural inequities contribute to racial disparities in crop insurance outcomes for Black farmers.

Gender and Climate Resilience

I find that women farmers often take more proactive steps to manage climate risks when they have access to adequate resources, challenging assumptions that gender alone predicts lower adoption of climate-smart practices.

Soil Health

Through dynamic bioeconomic modeling, I provide the first economic valuation of mycorrhizal fungi, highlighting their vital role in agricultural sustainability and resilience.

Specialty Crops

I collaborate with plant scientists to evaluate how farmers value sweet potato traits, linking crop breeding efforts to producer preferences and on-the-ground adoption.

Writing Samples

Peer-Reviewed Article

Abstract: Willingness-to-pay (WTP) estimates help agribusinesses estimate whether a new product is likely to be profitable. For produce, new products, such as new fruit varieties, need to be adopted by producers before they can be sold to consumers. The study of ex ante fruit and vegetable producer preferences is relatively new. This study uses meta-regression analysis to compare the estimated WTP premium between U.S. producers and consumers to determine whether they differ. After controlling for differences in study methods, product attributes, and potential publication bias, the producer WTP was between 14.16 and 27.73 percentage points higher. Subject to several caveats and limitations, this suggests that consumer WTP can be a sufficient metric for the profitability of new produce products.

Read the Paper Here