For Jennifer Jo Thompson, finding solutions to meet the increasing global demands for healthy, affordable and accessible food requires an un-siloed approach in higher education and leadership. To both conserve natural resources and equitably sustain communities, Thompson’s approach draws from a diversity of backgrounds, disciplines and expertise.
An associate research scientist in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences at the University of Georgia, Thompson is director of the Sustainable Food Systems Initiative and leads the Social Sustainability of Agrifood Systems Laboratory in UGA’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES).
Representation and equitability are important to addressing the food system challenges that are disproportionately shouldered by nonwhite communities, Thompson said. According to the 2021 U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) census, Black households experienced food insecurity at nearly twice the rate of white, non-Hispanic communities. The census also showed that Black-operated farms make up only 1.7% of U.S. farms, 0.5% of U.S. farmland and 0.4% of U.S. agricultural sales.
Despite the pressing need for diversity and equitability, Thompson said there is a notable lack of diverse talent in the nation’s leading food and agricultural science programs. The National Center for Education Statistics reported that only 3% of agricultural degrees awarded in 2019 went to Black students, a statistic that parallels a gap in diverse employment among faculty at land-grant universities. And while predominantly white land-grant universities struggle to diversify faculty and student enrollment, historically Black colleges and universities and minority-serving institutions have been identified as two of America’s greatest underutilized resources for strengthening the scientific workforce.
“Together, the ‘wicked problems’ of food system inequality and student underrepresentation point to the need to rethink and recast…
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