Ph.D. candidate: Peter Nixon
Advisor: Dr. Anu Ramaswami
Abstract: Food systems impacts in aggregate, have nationally and globally significant environmental, economic, and human health impacts. However, within the U.S., these impacts are not evenly distributed and are frequently only acutely felt in regions where geographic factors exacerbate such impacts, or alternately phrased, national or state statistics on water budgets mean little to local farmers. Despite the variable significance of the U.S. food system throughout the U.S., local-level data relating to the U.S. food system and its related impacts are difficult to attain, process, and, importantly, synthesize.
This defense will provide an overview of the methods used to overcome the difficulties of available local-level data on the U.S. food system, and also how to leverage such data to estimate the local environmental impacts of increased food localization throughout the country.