Ashley McCarthy is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences. Her interdisciplinary research focuses on meeting the food and nutrition needs of the growing population while improving sustainability and resiliency to disruptions in the food system. She’s particularly interested in the role that regional food systems could play in food system resilience and sustainability. We are excited to feature
Ashley as our April Food Systems Researcher of the Month, a monthly series from the ¶¶Òõ̽̽ Food Systems Research Center.
1. What current food systems research are you conducting?
As part of the , I’m currently focused on understanding how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted food security and food access in Vermont and other parts of the country. Our team has conducted several surveys to gather information on changes in food purchasing behavior, food security status, use of food assistance programs, and more since the pandemic began. We recently started a new project focused on food and healthcare access in rural Vermont and Maine. As someone who grew up in a rural area, I’m particularly excited to focus on these communities and the unique challenges they face when shopping for food and utilizing food assistance programs. In the long-term, I hope that our work will help us understand how people react to disruptions in the food system so we can be better prepared to respond to future disruptions and minimize the number of people experiencing food insecurity in these situations.
2. What got you interested in food systems research?
After college, I served as an AmeriCorps volunteer working on a variety of projects related to community food security and food waste reduction and then worked at a food bank for a couple of years. These experiences were the start of my interest in food policy and food security, and I ultimately went back to school to focus on these topics. Shortly after starting grad school, I was invited to participate in a research project on enhancing food security through a stronger regional food system in the Northeast. My work on that project fueled my overarching interest in regional food systems as a strategy to build resiliency towards food system disruptions and improve food and nutrition security.
3. How is your FSRC-funded research impacting Vermonters?
Our FSRC-funded research has helped quantify the increase in Vermonters experiencing food insecurity throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and demonstrated that certain socio-demographic groups are more likely to experience food insecurity (such as BIPOC/Hispanic Vermonters and households with children). Our work has been used by local organizations and state government as they develop policies and programs to address the challenges that Vermonters have faced throughout the pandemic. In addition to publishing the results of our research in academic journals, we’ve published several aimed at sharing the results of our research with the general public, policymakers, and the media to make our work accessible to everyone.
4. Where do you see the role of your field in expanding research on food systems at ¶¶Òõ̽̽ and beyond?
My training has been highly interdisciplinary and my expertise is at the intersection of agriculture, sustainability, nutrition, and economics so I feel I’m uniquely positioned to integrate knowledge, data, and research methods from different fields in order to study food systems in a holistic and comprehensive manner. As we try to address the big challenges facing the food system, it’s increasingly important to have researchers who can work across traditional disciplines and apply discipline-specific knowledge to big picture problems.
5. What is something about you people would be surprised to learn?
I have a (very) long-term goal to read a book set in every country/territory of the world. I enjoy learning about the history and culture of different places, and I’ve found reading books written by native-born authors a really accessible way do so.
7. What’s your favorite thing about living in Vermont?
I’ve a newcomer to Vermont and so far my favorite things about living here are the beautiful summer and fall weather and easy access to outdoor recreation. And I’ll never get tired of the mountain and lake views.
8. What TV show, band/artist, podcast, video game, book, and/or anything are you most obsessed with right now?
I really enjoy puzzles of all types so I’m currently obsessed with Wordle and all the variations that keep coming out (Heardle, Worldle, Quizl, etc.).