Improving the American agriculture supply chain through TXST research
Emily Garcia | February 2, 2023
Graduate student wins prestigious national award
Sarah Smith, a Texas State University master’s student in the Integrated Agricultural Sciences program, was named a Farm Foundation® 2023 Agricultural Scholars recipient. Only 15 graduate students working in agricultural economics or related agricultural policy work from across the United States were selected to join the program.
Smith was nominated for the program by Jaime Chahin, dean of the College of Applied Arts. The program gives Smith the opportunity to represent Texas State at round table meetings, develop working relationships with the U.S. Department of Agricultural Economic Research Service (ERS) and present her research to ERS economists during a capstone research presentation event.
Research with relevance
Smith’s research looks to improve agricultural supply chain transparency and traceability while finding ways for producers to utilize technology that could be adopted in an affordable manner. Her research strives to understand what traits consumers want to see in the production of their agricultural products, such as if the production is carbon-friendly, organic or produced using regenerative agriculture practices, and how much more money a consumer would be willing to pay for products that are produced like this.
“Regenerative agriculture kind of strays away from the conventional systems [of agriculture production] like tillage, chemical fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, things like that,” Smith said. “Regenerative agriculture utilizes biological processes, decreases reliance on chemicals, and is more environmentally friendly…it’s stepping away from conventional practices and relying more on biological practices that nature naturally does.”
The inspiration behind Smith’s research stems from a course she took as an undergraduate at Texas State while studying general agriculture with Jesse Backstrom, assistant professor of agricultural sciences, whom she is working with on her current research.
“In undergrad, I had Dr. Backstrom, and he assigned us a paper about the use of blockchain technology in agriculture…Farmers would get paid a premium for environmentally friendly practices, including whichever practices the consumer says they are willing to pay extra for. It is a way to benefit the producers, farmers, ranchers, whoever is producing our food, in a way that is healthier environmentally,” Smith said.
The main goal Smith said she hopes to achieve with her research is to reward farmers and ranchers who are conducting environmentally friendly farming and bring awareness to consumers of these practices.
Smith could continue her research in a Ph.D. program or become an extension agent to help implement healthy farming practices in the agriculture industry, but for now, she is grateful to be named a 2023 Agricultural Scholar.
“It is a pretty big honor,” Smith said. “I am just blown away to be able to travel and represent Texas State. We already had one round table meeting so far, and I met some of the most amazing people and got to be among people who have really made it in agriculture. It is just such an honor to be surrounded by those people and hear their stories and how they got there.”
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