Building agricultural landscapes that work for the environment and people

This event is supported by the CALS Office for Diversity and Inclusion and is part of the CALS Dean’s Inclusive Excellence Seminar Series, which highlights academic excellence through inclusive science and creates a platform for extended discussions on how our science can and should be transformative in leading to best practices and policies that support social, economic, environmental and climate justice.

The CALS Dean’s Inclusive Excellence Seminar Series and the School of Integrative Plant Science present: A conversation with Aidee Guzman, Ph.D. 

Talk abstract:

In this talk, Guzman will present her research on how on-farm diversification in an intensively managed landscape can bolster below- to above-ground biodiversity and their interactions on agroecosystems. For this work, Guzman partnered with small-scale farmers implementing diversified farming practices (e.g. increasing crop diversity) but are often invisibilized in the monoculture landscape of California's San Joaquin Valley. Guzman will share research on how crop diversification can support soil health (i.e. via beneficial microbes), pollinator communities (i.e. wild bees), and their interactions. She will also discuss how sociopolitical barriers may attenuate the adaptive capacity of small-scale farmers of color to ecological stressors.

Speaker bio:

Dr. Aidee Guzman is interested in agroecological approaches that could harness biodiversity and ecosystem functioning for improved agricultural resilience. She is currently an NSF and UC Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UC Irvine. Previously, she completed her PhD in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management at UC Berkeley. She studies how agricultural management impacts biotic interactions (e.g. between plants, insects, and microbes) across scales (e.g. shifts in community structure, cascading changes in ecosystem functioning). Her interdisciplinary research program also includes extensive collaborations with social scientists to examine the socio-political drivers and barriers inherent within agricultural systems. The overall goal of her research is to support farmers – especially those who are historically underserved – through research, education, and outreach that builds on their innovations and demonstrates ecological pathways to agricultural resilience.

Zoom link: 

https://cornell.zoom.us/j/95162455892?pwd=WVozMm9XSndBSFV5WkRleWN1UW1aUT09