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Gund Institute for Ecological Economics
University of Vermont
617 Main Street
Burlington, VT 05405
Meryl Richards is an agroecologist who is currently supporting research on Pro-Poor Climate Change Mitigation with the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS, www.ccafs.cgiar.org). This research, one of four themes within the CCAFS program, investigates how smallholder farmers in developing countries can improve their livelihoods while reducing their impact on climate change. Her research experience and interests center around synergies and trade-offs between food security and environmental conservation in smallholder agriculture, as well as measurement of GHG emissions from agriculture. She has a particular interest in agroforestry systems and has conducted research in Central America and West Africa.
B.A. (2005) and B.E. (2006), Environmental Engineering, Dartmouth College
Ph.D. research in the Agroecology and Rural Livelihoods Group at the University of Vermont is titled "Agrobiodiversity, conservation, and food security among small-scale coffee farmers in El Salvador."
Richards, M.B. & Méndez, V.E. Changes in shade tree biodiversity and above-ground carbon stocks in a smallholder coffee cooperative of El Salvador. Submitted to Conservation Biology.
Olson, M.B., Morris, K.S., & Méndez, V.E. Cultivation of maize landraces by small-scale shade coffee farmers in western El Salvador (2012). Agricultural Systems, 111, 63-74.
Olson, M.B., Peyser, R., Méndez, V.E., Fujisaka, S., Oberthür, T., Seville, D. & Georgeoglou, M.U. (2012). Measuring impact at origin. In Specialty Coffee: Managing Quality, eds. T. Oberthür, P. Läderach, H. A. Jürgen Pohlan, & J. Cock, Northcross, Georgia: International Plant Nutrition Institute.
Méndez, V. E., Bacon, C.M., Olson, M., Petchers, S., Herrador, D., Carranza, C., Trujillo, L., Guadarrama-Zugasti, C., Cordón, A. & Mendoza, A. (2010). Effects of Fair Trade and organic certifications on small-scale coffee farmer households in Central America and Mexico. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems, 25, 236-251.
Méndez, V. E., Bacon, C., Olson, M. B., Morris, K. S., & Shattuck, A. (2010). Agrobiodiversity and shade coffee smallholder livelihoods: Synthesis of ten years of research in Central America. Professional Geographer, 62, 357-376.
