COA Partridge Chair in Food and Sustainable Agriculture Systems Dr. Kourtney Collum.Collum, who holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology & Environmental Policy from the University of Maine, Orono, has focused her teaching and research on applied anthropology, agricultural policy, and environmental justice.
“As an environmental anthropologist and human ecologist, my work is highly collaborative and transdisciplinary, contributing to theory within the fields of anthropology, sociology, human ecology, and political science,” Collum said. “My scholarship focuses on the complex problems inherent in human-environment interactions within food systems, focusing particularly on farm and food policy.”
“My scholarship focuses on the complex problems inherent in human-environment interactions within food systems, focusing particularly on farm and food policy” - Dr. Kourtney Collum
Collum’s recent Ph.D. dissertation examines the social and political factors that influence the adoption of on-farm conservation practices in the lowbush blueberry industries of Maine and Prince Edward Island.
“My research compared the two regions to elucidate the complex contexts within which agricultural conservation takes place,” she said. “The work demonstrated that conservation decisions are rarely the result of farmers’ individual choices, but rather the result of the socio-political environments in which agriculture is embedded.”
Collum completed a Master of Science degree in Forest Resources at the University of Maine and a Bachelor of Science degree in Anthropology & Environmental Studies at Western Michigan University. She spent the summers during her undergraduate years working on conservation projects in New Zealand, Maine, Colorado, and Wyoming. When not in the field or the classroom, you can usually find her playing with bees or exploring the beautiful Maine landscape with her husband, Patrick Lyons, and their dog, Ophelia.
