Biography

Dr. Catherine Campbell is an Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist of Community Food Systems. She joined Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences in October 2019. Her appointment is 60% Extension and 40% research. Before joining the department, she held three positions in IFAS: Research Associate in Food Systems and Community Health in Program for Resource Efficient Communities, Postdoctoral Associate in the Family Nutrition Program, and State Food Systems Curriculum Developer in Horticultural Sciences. Prior to that, she spent seven years at Georgetown University in the Kennedy Institute of Ethics, where she taught ethical theory and was Managing Editor for the journal Ethics: An International Journal of Social, Political and Legal Philosophy. 

Research Interests:

Dr. Campbell is a sociologist specializing in behavioral research that examines the values, motivations, and decision making of food systems stakeholders. Catherine’s primary focus is research into human motivation and behavior, particularly as it relates farmers’ adoption of new technologies and practices, to individuals’ and communities’ interactions with food systems, and issues at the intersection of food systems and public health, such as food security and health outcomes. The ultimate goal of her research is to understand how policies and systems can be leveraged to foster a more equitable, sustainable, and resilient food system from producer to consumer.

Her current funded projects involve work with interdisciplinary teams to address issues in urban food systems, examine implications of emerging technologies, and support the development of new opportunities in food systems, including:

• Conducing citizen science research in the drivers of household food waste to inform the development of agent-based models to predict food waste and guide policy adoption to mitigate food waste.
• Applied research on the impact of local food, health and wellness education programs and interventions in workplace settings to improve dietary patterns and increase purchasing of local food.
• Development of a relational database using artificial intelligence (AI) as a way to monitor and evaluate the impact of the adoption of a values-based institutional food procurement policy.
• Social, ethical, and practical considerations related to cellular (lab grown) meat as a sustainable alternative for animal feed and human consumption.

Extension Program:

Dr. Campbell’s Extension program is informed by her research and focuses on educating county Extension faculty, policymakers, and the private sector about how to develop and implement policies and programs to increase incentives and reduce barriers to entrepreneurial, profitable, healthy, local food production and consumption that builds communities. This program has two primary foci.

Local Food Production and Food Policy

Dr. Campbell conducts educational activities for UF/IFAS Extension faculty; policymakers, including institutional and organizational leaders, local government staff, and elected officials; and agricultural industry groups, leaders, and farmers, with a focus on urban farms, small farms, and alternative enterprises to foster the adoption of policies to support resilient community food systems, including policies to protect existing farmland, allow urban agriculture, and commit to values-based institutional food purchasing. To date, Dr. Campbell’s Extension impacts have yielded a commitment of $241.4 million dollars of sales for Florida farms and food businesses, more than 60,000 acres that can be used for urban agriculture where it formerly was not allowed, and an estimated savings of more than $1 million dollars annually for Florida farmers.

Health, Wellness, and Local Fruit and Vegetable Consumption

Dr. Campbell’s Extension program connects consumers with fresh fruits and vegetables grown on local farms to support local farmers, increase community food system resilience, and improve residents’ dietary patterns. Dr. Campbell’s Extension program has resulted in two public private partnerships to support access to local food, with private sector support of more than $45,000 to promote employee and community residents’ health. Through local food, gardening, and health and wellness education, Dr. Campbell’s Extension program has increased fruit and vegetable consumption and local food purchasing in more than 500 Florida residents in 7 counties.