Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

A 2022 Assessment Of Food Security And Health Outcomes During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Ashley C. Mccarthy, Farryl Bertmann, Emily H. Belarmino, Sam Bliss, Jennifer Laurent, Jonathan Malacarne, Scott Merrill, Rachel E. Schattman, Kathryn Yerxa, Meredith T. Niles

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications

We conducted a Northern New England survey to understand the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on food security, food access, home food production, health behaviors, and health outcomes. The surveys were conducted in the spring of 2022 (April-May) with a total of 1,013 adults (598 in Maine and 415 in Vermont) responding to the survey. Key findings include:1. The prevalence of food insecurity remains similarly high to early points in the pandemic, likely driven by inflation and food prices, and long-term impacts from the pandemic. 2. The majority (62%) indicated the recent rise in food prices affected their food purchasing, …

Food Security And Assistance Programs In Vermont Before And During Covid-19, Madeleine Burke, Ashley C. Mccarthy, Emily H. Belarmino, Farryl Bertmann, Meredith T. Niles

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications

Here we surveyed a cohort of Vermonters at three time points over the first year of the pandemic. The surveys were conducted in March/ April 2020, June 2020, and March/April 2021. The demographics of the 441 Vermonters who responded to all three surveys are comparable to average Vermont demographics on income, but the respondents were more likely to have a college degree and to identify as female. This brief explores how the use of food assistance programs varied within this population and changed over the course of the pandemic. Key findings include: 1. The number of Vermonters using food assistance …

Climate Impacts Associated With Reduced Diet Diversity In Children Across Nineteen Countries, Meredith T. Niles, Benjamin F. Emery, Serge Wiltshire, Molly E. Brown, Brendan Fisher, Taylor H. Ricketts

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications

It is widely anticipated that climate change will negatively affect both food security and diet diversity. Diet diversity is especially critical for children as it correlates with macro and micronutrient intake important for child development. Despite these anticipated links, little empirical evidence has demonstrated a relationship between diet diversity and climate change, especially across large datasets spanning multiple global regions and with more recent climate data. Here we use survey data from 19 countries and more than 107 000 children, coupled with 30 years of precipitation and temperature data, to explore the relationship of climate to child diet diversity while …

Healthy Diets Can Create Environmental Trade-Offs, Depending On How Diet Quality Is Measured, Zach Conrad, Nicole Tichenor Blackstone, Eric D. Roy

Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

Background: There is an urgent need to assess the linkages between diet patterns and environmental sustainability in order to meet global targets for reducing premature mortality and improving sustainable management of natural resources. This study fills an important research gap by evaluating the relationship between incremental differences in diet quality and multiple environmental burdens, while also accounting for the separate contributions of retail losses, inedible portions, and consumer waste. Methods: Cross sectional, nationally-representative data on food intake in the United States were acquired from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2005–2016), and were linked with nationally-representative data on food …

Covid-19 Impacts On Food Security And Systems: A Third Survey Of Vermonters, Meredith T. Niles, Emily H. Belarmino, Farryl Bertmann

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications

This brief report highlights the findings from a third survey of Vermonters since COVID-19. We surveyed 600 Vermonters, representative on Vermont demographics on race, ethnicity and income in August and September 2020. We find that nearly 30% of Vermont respondent households were food insecure between March and September, with households experiencing a job disruption, households with children, and respondents without a college degree at greater odds for food insecurity. One-third of respondents used some type of food assistance program since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Concerns about food access and challenges had largely gone down, on average since March …

Perspective Article: Actions To Reconfigure Food Systems, Ana Maria Loboguerrero, Philip Thornton, Jonathan Wadsworth, Bruce M. Campbell, Mario Herrero, Daniel Mason-D'Croz, Dhanush Dinesh, Sophia Huyer, Andy Jarvis, Alberto Millan, Eva Wollenberg, Stephen Zebiak

Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

There is broad agreement that current food systems are not on a sustainable trajectory that will enable us to reach the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, particularly in the face of anthropogenic climate change. Guided by a consideration of some food system reconfigurations in the past, we outline an agenda of work around four action areas: rerouting old systems into new trajectories; reducing risks; minimising the environmental footprint of food systems; and realigning the enablers of change needed to make new food systems function. Here we highlight food systems levers that, along with activities within these four action areas, may …

Covid-19 And Food Insecurity Impacts: A Follow Up Vermont Study, Meredith T. Niles, Anna L. Josephson, Farryl Bertmann, Emily H. Belarmino, Roni Neff

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications

This brief report details the results from a follow-up survey of 1,236 Vermonters in June 2020, after an initial survey in March/April 2020 focused on the impact of COVID-19 on food access and security. The key results include: 1) Nearly 1 in 4 respondents (23%) were classified as food insecure in June, a reported 22% decrease since March, but higher than before COVID-19. 2) People of color, those without a college degree, those with a job loss, households with children, women, and younger people had greater odds of experiencing food insecurity. 3) The majority of respondent households had experienced some …

Food Access Through School Meals And Food Pantries During Covid-19: Early Findings From Vermont, Farryl Bertmann, Emily H. Belarmino, Thomas Wentworth, Erin Biehl, Roni Neff, Meredith T. Niles

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has affected people worldwide, disrupting food access, and security. To understand how food systems and security are impacted during this pandemic, an online survey was launched in Vermont from March 29 - April 12, 2020 (less than a week after the “Stay Home/Stay Safe” order). A total of 3,219 Vermonters responded with 182 providing a written answer specifically about food pantries and 828 of the respondents providing written comments to the open-ended question at the end of the survey. This brief summarizes survey findings and respondent comments about experiences with two programs during the early …

Environment And Global Health: Investments In Natural Capital Can Improve Human Health, Stephen Posner, Taylor Ricketts

Reports and Policy Briefs

Gund Fellows led several key “big data” studies on how investments in nature can benefit people’s health and economic prosperity in developing countries. This policy brief summarized research evidence on links between health and the environment for stakeholders and partners, including the Biodiversity Results and Integrated Development Gains Enhanced Project (BRIDGE) managed by USAID’s Forestry and Biodiversity Office.

The Impact Of Coronavirus On Vermonters Experiencing Food Insecurity, Meredith T. Niles, Farryl Bertmann, Emily H. Morgan, Thomas Wentworth, Erin Biehl, Roni Neff

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications

Key Findings

1. Respondents experiencing food insecurity were more likely to be people of color, female, live in households with children, and live in larger households.

2. 84.2% of respondents who experienced food insecurity at some point in the year before the coronavirus pandemic remained food insecure during the early days of the outbreak.

3. The majority of respondents experiencing food insecurity are not utilizing food assistance programs.

4. ⅔ of respondents experiencing food insecurity are already buying different, cheaper foods or eating less to make their food last.

5. ⅔ of respondents experiencing food insecurity with a job had …

Food Access And Security During Coronavirus: A Vermont Study, Meredith T. Niles, Farryl Bertmann, Emily H. Morgan, Thomas Wentworth, Erin Biehl, Roni Neff

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications

Key Findings

1. Respondents reported a 33% increase in food insecurity since the coronavirus outbreak began in Vermont (from 18% to 24%).

2. 45% of respondents with jobs experienced a job disruption or loss.

3. Respondents said the most helpful actions for meeting their food needs would be increased trust in the safety of going to stores and more food in stores.

4. Respondents worried most about food becoming unaffordable and running out of food if they were unable to go out.

5. Vermonters are using a variety of strategies to adapt: a majority of respondents are at least somewhat …

Employment And Food During Coronavirus, Meredith T. Niles, Farryl Bertmann, Emily H. Morgan, Thomas Wentworth, Erin Biehl, Roni Neff

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications

Key Findings

1. 45% of respondents with jobs experienced some type of job disruption or loss. 19.7% had a reduction in hours or income, 9.3% had been furloughed, and 15.5% had lost their job since the coronavirus outbreak.

2. 38.5% of respondents experiencing job loss or disruption since the outbreak were classified as food insecure.

3. Respondents experiencing job disruption or loss were significantly more likely to be already implementing food purchasing or eating changes and concerned about food access compared to those who did not experience a change in employment.

4. Respondents with job disruption or loss were significantly …

Effects Of Social Cues On Biosecurity Compliance In Livestock Facilities: Evidence From Experimental Simulations, Luke Trinity, Scott C. Merrill, Eric M. Clark, Christopher J. Koliba, Asim Zia, Gabriela Bucini, Julia M. Smith

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications

Disease outbreaks in U.S. animal livestock industries have economic impacts measured in hundreds of millions of dollars per year. Biosecurity, or procedures intended to protect animals against disease, is known to be effective at reducing infection risk at facilities. Yet, to the detriment of animal health, humans do not always follow biosecurity protocols. Human behavioral factors have been shown to influence willingness to follow biosecurity protocols. Here we show how social cues may affect cooperation with a biosecurity practice. Participants were immersed in a simulated swine production facility through a graphical user interface and prompted to make a decision that …

Looking Into The Dragons Of Cultural Ecosystem Services, Rachelle K. Gould, Alison Adams, Luis Vivanco

Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

Cultural ecosystem services research is in a somewhat tumultuous state. The cultural ecosystem services (CES) idea is seen simultaneously as a welcoming, expansive addition to conservation policy-making and as a strange, square-peg-in-a-round-hole concept that should be replaced by a more appropriate metaphor or conceptual structure. This confluence of interest and skepticism suggests an opportune moment to take stock of CES, both as a concept and growing scholarly field. Here, we focus on dilemmas that characterize and constitute CES as a field of empirical inquiry and practice. We describe five tensions that characterize the field (and mirror tensions in interdisciplinary work …

The Woods Around The Ivory Tower: A Systematic Review Examining The Value And Relevance Of School Forests In The United States, Kimberly J. Coleman, Elizabeth E. Perry, Dominik Thom, Tatiana M. Gladkikh, William S. Keeton, Peter W. Clark, Ralph E. Tursini, Kimberly F. Wallin

Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

Throughout the United States, many institutions of higher education own forested tracts, often called school forests, which they use for teaching, research, and demonstration purposes. These school forests provide a range of benefits to the communities in which they are located. However, because administration is often decoupled from research and teaching, those benefits might not always be evident to the individuals who make decisions about the management and use of school forests, which may undervalue their services and put these areas at risk for sale, development, or over-harvesting to generate revenue. To understand what messages are being conveyed about the …

Using Experimental Gaming Simulations To Elicit Risk Mitigation Behavioral Strategies For Agricultural Disease Management, Eric M. Clark, Scott C. Merrill, Luke Trinity, Gabriela Bucini, Nicholas Cheney, Ollin Langle-Chimal, Trisha Shrum, Christopher Koliba, Asim Zia, Julia M. Smith

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications

Failing to mitigate propagation of disease spread can result in dire economic consequences for agricultural networks. Pathogens like Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus, can quickly spread among producers. Biosecurity is designed to prevent infection transmission. When considering biosecurity investments, management must balance the cost of protection versus the consequences of contracting an infection. Thus, an examination of the decision making processes associated with investment in biosecurity is important for enhancing system wide biosecurity. Data gathered from experimental gaming simulations can provide insights into behavioral strategies and inform the development of decision support systems. We created an online digital experiment to simulate …

Scale And Sense Of Place Among Urban Dwellers, Nicole M. Ardoin, Rachelle K. Gould, Heather Lukacs, Carly C. Sponarski, Janel S. Schuh

Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

Place connections are core to being human: Every person lives in, and thus has direct experience of, at least one place and likely of numerous places throughout a lifetime. Sense of place—or the meanings, knowledge, and bonds that arise from the biophysical, social, and political–economic aspects of places—in turn influences people's interactions with those places. Of particular interest to researchers, practitioners, and policymakers, such interactions can impact place-protective, stewardship, or conservation behaviors. However, how sense of place develops and what it represents is shifting in today's rapidly urbanizing, globalizing world. Especially when considering the integrated social–ecological context, questions related to …

Effects Of Human Demand On Conservation Planning For Biodiversity And Ecosystem Services, Keri B. Watson, Gillian L. Galford, Laura J. Sonter, Insu Koh, Taylor H. Ricketts

Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

Safeguarding ecosystem services and biodiversity is critical to achieving sustainable development. To date, ecosystem services quantification has focused on the biophysical supply of services with less emphasis on human beneficiaries (i.e., demand). Only when both occur do ecosystems benefit people, but demand may shift ecosystem service priorities toward human-dominated landscapes that support less biodiversity. We quantified how accounting for demand affects the efficiency of conservation in capturing both human benefits and biodiversity by comparing conservation priorities identified with and without accounting for demand. We mapped supply and benefit for 3 ecosystem services (flood mitigation, crop pollination, and nature-based recreation) by …

Smallholder Farmers Spend Credit Primarily On Food: Gender Differences And Food Security Implications In A Changing Climate, Marissa Carranza, Meredith T. Niles

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications

In many low-income nations agriculture is used as the primary source of income, which in the face of a changing climate, is known to be at considerable risk for the smallholder farmers that rely on it. Financial resources may enable smallholder farmers to implement adaptation practices and diversify income and investments, which has the potential to affect household income and food security. Here we explore relationships between access to different types of financial resources among male and female-headed households and women vs. men, use of financial resources, and its relationship to food security. We use data from the CGIAR Climate …

Reimagining The Potential Of Earth Observations For Ecosystem Service Assessments, Carlos Ramirez-Reyes, Kate A. Brauman, Rebecca Chaplin-Kramer, Gillian L. Galford, Susana B. Adamo, Christopher B. Anderson, Clarissa Anderson, Ginger R.H. Allington, Kenneth J. Bagstad, Michael T. Coe, Anna F. Cord, Laura E. Dee, Rachelle K. Gould, Meha Jain, Virginia A. Kowal, Frank E. Muller-Karger, Jessica Norriss, Peter Potapov, Jiangxiao Qiu, Jesse T. Rieb, Brian E. Robinson, Leah H. Samberg, Nagendra Singh, Sabrina H. Szeto, Brian Voigt, Keri Watson, T. Maxwell Wright

Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

The benefits nature provides to people, called ecosystem services, are increasingly recognized and accounted for in assessments of infrastructure development, agricultural management, conservation prioritization, and sustainable sourcing. These assessments are often limited by data, however, a gap with tremendous potential to be filled through Earth observations (EO), which produce a variety of data across spatial and temporal extents and resolutions. Despite widespread recognition of this potential, in practice few ecosystem service studies use EO. Here, we identify challenges and opportunities to using EO in ecosystem service modeling and assessment. Some challenges are technical, related to data awareness, processing, and access. …

Cities Are Hungry For Actionable Ecological Knowledge, Weiqi Zhou, Brendan Fisher, Steward T.A. Pickett

Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Decision-Making In Livestock Biosecurity Practices Amidst Environmental And Social Uncertainty: Evidence From An Experimental Game, Scott C. Merrill, Christopher J. Koliba, Susan M. Moegenburg, Asim Zia, Jason Parker, Timothy Sellnow, Serge Wiltshire, Gabriela Bucini, Caitlin Danehy, Julia M. Smith

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications

Livestock industries are vulnerable to disease threats, which can cost billions of dollars and have substantial negative social ramifications. Losses are mitigated through increased use of disease-related biosecurity practices, making increased biosecurity an industry goal. Currently, there is no industry-wide standard for sharing information about disease incidence or on-site biosecurity strategies, resulting in uncertainty regarding disease prevalence and biosecurity strategies employed by industry stakeholders. Using an experimental simulation game, with primarily student participants, we examined willingness to invest in biosecurity when confronted with disease outbreak scenarios. We varied the scenarios by changing the information provided about 1) disease incidence and …

Network Meta-Metrics: Using Evolutionary Computation To Identify Effective Indicators Of Epidemiological Vulnerability In A Livestock Production System Model, Serge Wiltshire, Asim Zia, Christopher Koliba, Gabriela Buccini, Eric Clark, Scott Merrill, Julie Smith, Susan Moegenburg

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications

We developed an agent-based susceptible / infective model which simulates disease incursions in the hog production chain networks of three U.S. states. Agent parameters, contact network data, and epidemiological spread patterns are output after each model run. Key network metrics are then calculated, some of which pertain to overall network structure, and others to each node’s positionality within the network. We run statistical tests to evaluate the extent to which each network metric predicts epidemiological vulnerability, finding significant correlations in some cases, but no individual metric that serves as a reliable risk indicator. To investigate the complex interactions between network …

Towards Globally Customizable Ecosystem Service Models, Javier Martínez-López, Kenneth J. Bagstad, Stefano Balbi, Ainhoa Magrach, Brian Voigt, Ioannis Athanasiadis, Marta Pascual, Simon Willcock, Ferdinando Villa

Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

Scientists, stakeholders and decision makers face trade-offs between adopting simple or complex approaches when modeling ecosystem services (ES). Complex approaches may be time- and data-intensive, making them more challenging to implement and difficult to scale, but can produce more accurate and locally specific results. In contrast, simple approaches allow for faster assessments but may sacrifice accuracy and credibility. The ARtificial Intelligence for Ecosystem Services (ARIES) modeling platform has endeavored to provide a spectrum of simple to complex ES models that are readily accessible to a broad range of users. In this paper, we describe a series of five “Tier 1” …

Risk Attitudes Affect Livestock Biosecurity Decisions With Ramifications For Disease Control In A Simulated Production System, Gabriela Bucini, Scott C. Merrill, Eric Clark, Susan M. Moegenburg, Asim Zia, Christopher J. Koliba, Serge Wiltshire, Luke Trinity, Julia M. Smith

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications

HOG producers' operational decisions can be informed by an awareness of risks associated with emergent and endemic diseases. Outbreaks of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDv) have been re-occurring every year since the first onset in 2013 with substantial losses across the hog production supply chain. Interestingly, a decreasing trend in PEDv incidence is visible. We assert that changes in human behaviors may underlie this trend. Disease prevention using biosecurity practices is used to minimize risk of infection but its efficacy is conditional on human behavior and risk attitude. Standard epidemiological models bring important insights into disease dynamics but have limited …

Willingness To Comply With Biosecurity In Livestock Facilities: Evidence From Experimental Simulations, Scott C. Merrill, Susan Moegenburg, Christopher J. Koliba, Asim Zia, Luke Trinity, Eric Clark, Gabriela Bucini, Serge Wiltshire, Timothy Sellnow, Deanna Sellnow, Julia M. Smith

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. Disease in U.S. animal livestock industries annually costs over a billion dollars. Adoption and compliance with biosecurity practices is necessary to successfully reduce the risk of disease introduction or spread. Yet, a variety …

The Natural Capital Accounting Opportunity: Let’S Really Do The Numbers, James W. Boyd, Kenneth J. Bagstad, Jane Carter Ingram, Carl D. Shapiro, Jeffery E. Adkins, C. Frank Casey, Clifford S. Duke, Pierre D. Glynn, Erica Goldman

Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Machine Learning For Ecosystem Services, Simon Willcock, Javier Martínez-López, Danny A.P. Hooftman, Kenneth J. Bagstad, Stefano Balbi, Alessia Marzo, Carlo Prato, Saverio Sciandrello, Giovanni Signorello

Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

Recent developments in machine learning have expanded data-driven modelling (DDM) capabilities, allowing artificial intelligence to infer the behaviour of a system by computing and exploiting correlations between observed variables within it. Machine learning algorithms may enable the use of increasingly available ‘big data’ and assist applying ecosystem service models across scales, analysing and predicting the flows of these services to disaggregated beneficiaries. We use the Weka and ARIES software to produce two examples of DDM: firewood use in South Africa and biodiversity value in Sicily, respectively. Our South African example demonstrates that DDM (64–91% accuracy) can identify the areas where …

The Perceived Influence Of Cost-Offset Community-Supported Agriculture On Food Access Among Low-Income Families, Michelle J. White, Stephanie B. Jilcott Pitts, Jared T. Mcguirt, Karla L. Hanson, Emily H. Morgan, Jane Kolodinsky, Weiwei Wang, Marilyn Sitaker, Alice S. Ammerman, Rebecca A. Seguin

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications

Objective To examine perspectives on food access among low-income families participating in a cost-offset community-supported agriculture (CO-CSA) programme.Design Farm Fresh Foods for Healthy Kids (F3HK) is a multicentre randomized intervention trial assessing the effect of CO-CSA on dietary intake and quality among children from low-income families. Focus groups were conducted at the end of the first CO-CSA season. Participants were interviewed about programme experiences, framed by five dimensions of food access: Availability, accessibility, affordability, acceptability and accommodation. Transcribed data were coded on these dimensions plus emergent themes.Setting Nine communities in the US states of New York, North Carolina, Washington and …

Relationship Between Food Waste, Diet Quality, And Environmental Sustainability, Zach Conrad, Meredith T. Niles, Deborah A. Neher, Eric D. Roy, Nicole E. Tichenor, Lisa Jahns

Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

Improving diet quality while simultaneously reducing environmental impact is a critical focus globally. Metrics linking diet quality and sustainability have typically focused on a limited suite of indicators, and have not included food waste. To address this important research gap, we examine the relationship between food waste, diet quality, nutrient waste, and multiple measures of sustainability: use of cropland, irrigation water, pesticides, and fertilizers. Data on food intake, food waste, and application rates of agricultural amendments were collected from diverse US government sources. Diet quality was assessed using the Healthy Eating Index-2015. A biophysical simulation model was used to estimate …