Food and the Future Environment

As an indication of the twists and turns that can lead one to contemplate food systems, I pursued physics in my undergraduate program at Cornell University, and then, through a series of volunteer and teaching experiences with rural development organizations in the developing world, I attended graduate school first in Horticulture for an MS and then a PhD in soil science. I’ve conducted basic research on the processes that allow soils to feed plants and supply food systems, but much of my work has been on understanding agriculture at an applied level and in the way it contributes to global food systems, from case studies of organic farms in the Northeast United States, to collaborations with nutritionists in studying Bolivian smallholder farming households.

Karl Zimmerer is professor of Environment and Society Geography and directs the GeoSyntheSES Lab at Pennsylvania State University. He co-chairs the Peru GEN network and the International Agrobiodiversity Workshop. Karl is involved in ongoing research and teaching activities in the U.S., Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia. His sabbatical activities in 2015-2016 included bases at Harvard and Humboldt Universities, in Peru, and with the Culture Landscapes project in Europe and Japan. Karl focuses on approaches to the transformative resilience of land use and food systems using agrobiodiversity models, spatial landscape designs, and cultural, socioeconomic, and historical analysis.