Jeff Liebert
Postdoctoral Researcher
Jeff is an NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability at UBC. As a broadly trained researcher, Jeff draws from natural and social science disciplines in the pursuit of a more sustainable, just, and equitable agri-food system.
Completing his MSc and PhD at Cornell University, Jeff’s research has spanned dairy, grain, and fruit and vegetable systems at local, regional, and national scales. Using quantitative and qualitative methodologies, this work has covered such topics as ecological weed management; forage quality trade-offs; the “conventionalization” of organic agriculture; meaningful work, labour, and mechanization in agroecology; and the sociocultural and political barriers to farmer decision-making.
In Dr. Navin Ramankutty’s Land Use and Global Environment Lab at UBC (and co-appointed in Dr. Elena Bennett’s Social-Ecological Workshop at McGill University), Jeff is exploring how different people and places have fostered multifunctional agriculture across Canada. As one component of this research, he is using machine learning models to generate spatially explicit predictions of where farmers are most likely to cultivate an array of co-benefits from cover cropping. With a broader focus on agriculture and food systems, Jeff is also assessing how co-occurring instances of lock-in can make agri-food systems resistant to change.
Google Scholar
Selected publications
Liebert J, Bezner Kerr R, Gennet S, Hart AK, Power AG, Ryan MR. Labor challenges with agroecological practices in the United States. (Under review.)
Liebert J, Cherney JH, Ketterings QM, Mirsky SB, Pelzer CJ, Ryan MR (2023) Winter cereal species, cultivar, and harvest timing affect trade-offs between forage quality and yield. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 7, 1067506. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2023.1067506.
Bezner Kerr R, Liebert J, Kansanga M, Kpienbaareh D (2022) Human and social values in agroecology: A review. Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene, 10, 00090. https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.2021.00090.
Liebert J, Benner R, Bezner Kerr R, Björkman T, De Master KT, Gennet S, Gómez MI, Hart AK, Kremen C, Power AG, Ryan MR (2022) Farm size affects the use of agroecological practices on organic farms in the United States. Nature Plants, 8, 897–905. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-022-01191-1.
Bezner Kerr R, Madsen S, Strüber M, Liebert J, Enloe S, Borghino N, Parros P, Munyao Mutyambai D, Prudhon M, Wezel A (2021) Can agroecology improve food security and nutrition? A review. Global Food Security, 29, 100540. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2021.100540.
Jeff is an NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability at UBC. As a broadly trained researcher, Jeff draws from natural and social science disciplines in the pursuit of a more sustainable, just, and equitable agri-food system.
Completing his MSc and PhD at Cornell University, Jeff’s research has spanned dairy, grain, and fruit and vegetable systems at local, regional, and national scales. Using quantitative and qualitative methodologies, this work has covered such topics as ecological weed management; forage quality trade-offs; the “conventionalization” of organic agriculture; meaningful work, labour, and mechanization in agroecology; and the sociocultural and political barriers to farmer decision-making.
In Dr. Navin Ramankutty’s Land Use and Global Environment Lab at UBC (and co-appointed in Dr. Elena Bennett’s Social-Ecological Workshop at McGill University), Jeff is exploring how different people and places have fostered multifunctional agriculture across Canada. As one component of this research, he is using machine learning models to generate spatially explicit predictions of where farmers are most likely to cultivate an array of co-benefits from cover cropping. With a broader focus on agriculture and food systems, Jeff is also assessing how co-occurring instances of lock-in can make agri-food systems resistant to change.
Google Scholar
Selected publications
Liebert J, Bezner Kerr R, Gennet S, Hart AK, Power AG, Ryan MR. Labor challenges with agroecological practices in the United States. (Under review.)
Liebert J, Cherney JH, Ketterings QM, Mirsky SB, Pelzer CJ, Ryan MR (2023) Winter cereal species, cultivar, and harvest timing affect trade-offs between forage quality and yield. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 7, 1067506. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2023.1067506.
Bezner Kerr R, Liebert J, Kansanga M, Kpienbaareh D (2022) Human and social values in agroecology: A review. Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene, 10, 00090. https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.2021.00090.
Liebert J, Benner R, Bezner Kerr R, Björkman T, De Master KT, Gennet S, Gómez MI, Hart AK, Kremen C, Power AG, Ryan MR (2022) Farm size affects the use of agroecological practices on organic farms in the United States. Nature Plants, 8, 897–905. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-022-01191-1.
Bezner Kerr R, Madsen S, Strüber M, Liebert J, Enloe S, Borghino N, Parros P, Munyao Mutyambai D, Prudhon M, Wezel A (2021) Can agroecology improve food security and nutrition? A review. Global Food Security, 29, 100540. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2021.100540.
