Margarita Fernandez, Ph.D. Candidate, Dept. of Plant & Soil Science

• M.S. in Environmental Science, Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (2004)
• B.S. in Biology, Tufts University (1998)

Areas of research

Agroecology, agro-food systems, food sovereignty, food security, rural livelihoods and agrobiodiversity.

Contact Information

Email: margaritafernandez2@yahoo.com

Margarita comes to the ARLG at UVM after working for 12 years on sustainable agriculture, community development and biodiversity conservation issues in Cuba, Mexico, Nicaragua, Laos, Venezuela, Costa Rica, and the USA. She has worked long term contracts as an urban farms community organizer in New York City, organic farm manager in upstate New York, program officer for organic agriculture program in Laos, and technical reviewer for organic product certification with a focal area of Mexico, USA, and Canada. She has also worked short-term consultancies for a wide range of groups such as UNDP Cuba, Oxfam (Cuba and Laos), the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT-Mexico), Food First (Cuba and Mexico), Global Exchange (Cuba), and the Global Plant Clinic-FUNICA (Nicaragua). Her Master’s research explored social benefits and community-based management systems of urban agriculture in New York City and Havana, Cuba. Her dissertation research at UVM will explore the relationship between agrobiodiversity, food security, food sovereignty and rural livelihoods in coffee growing communities of Chiapas, Mexico and northern Nicaragua.

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