Karen Jetter is a research economist at the University of California Agricultural Issues Center.  She received her bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of California, San Diego.  Upon completion she found herself in the Republic of Cameroon, working as a Peace Corps volunteer in agricultural cooperative development.  She received her Ph.D. in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of California, Davis.  Her research specialties include valuing the impacts of invasive species, evaluating the benefits of biological pest controls, agricultural policy analysis, and the food environment.  Her current projects include bioeconomic modeling of invasive pests of urban, wilderness, agricultural and aquatic systems, evaluating costs and benefits of increasing the demand for fruits and vegetables, and why some agritourism enterprises are more profitable than others. 

“There are many levels at which I am excited about this project.  My main interest is in learning how this funding affects how producers shift their production practices and market their crops.  I am also interested in learning to what extent this type of project has the capacity to improve the quality of food offered to school age children.”

Dr. Jetter will be responsible for socioeconomic data collection from schools and farms. She will co-lead  the design and implementation of the field work, and complete the economic modeling and data analysis, including the  preparation of a farm-partial budget analysis based on the adoption of the climate friendly cultural practices.