Kurt Waldman

Climate adaptation decisions

Using historical climate data, I document the presence of systematic biases about rainy season onset and the prevalence of climate related heuristics among farmers. I illustrate how these biases and heuristics influence when farmers sow their staple crop, a critical determinant of food security. This is in part a result of poorly designed policies that have institutionalized hybrid maize cultivation in Zambia with little information about new seed varieties— leading to a confusing decision-making environment for farmers. My conceptual work in this area supports my empirical findings, illustrating how predominant behavioral models of climate adaptation largely ignore the prevalence of heuristics and biases, which are common in situations of uncertainty.

Waldman, K. B., Guido, Z., Todd, P. M., Evans, T. P., Carrico, A., & Attari, S. Z. (2021). Reorienting climate decision making research for smallholder farming systems through decision science. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 52, 92–99.

Guido, Z., Lopus, S., Waldman, K.B., Hannah, C., Zimmer, A., Krell, N., Knudson, C., Estes, L., Caylor, K., & Evans, T. (2021). Perceived links between climate change and weather forecast accuracy: New barriers to tools for agricultural decision-making. Climatic Change, 168(1), 9.

Waldman, K. B., Todd, P. M., Omar, S., Blekking, J. P., Giroux, S. A., Attari, S. Z., Baylis, K., & Evans, T. P. (2020). Agricultural decision making and climate uncertainty in developing countries. Environmental Research Letters, 15(11), 113004.

Waldman, K.B., Attari, S.Z, Gower, D.B., Giroux, S.A., Caylor, K.K., and Evans, T.P. (2019). The salience of climate change in farmer decision making within smallholder semi-arid agroecosystems. Climatic Change, 156, 527-543.

Waldman, K.B., Blekking, J.P., Attari, S.Z., Evans, T.P. (2017). Perceptions of climate variability and seed choice among smallholder farmers. Global Environmental Change, 47, 51-63.

Waldman, K.B., Vergopolan, N., Estes, L.D., Attari, S.Z, Sheffield, J., Caylor, K.K., and Evans, T.P. (2019). Cognitive biases about climate variability in smallholder farming systems in Zambia. Weather, Climate and Society, 11(2), 369-383.

McCord, P.M., Waldman, K.B., Baldwin, E., Dell’Angelo, J., and Evans, T.P. (2018). Assessing multi-level drivers of adaptation to climate variability and water insecurity in smallholder irrigation systems. World Development, 108, 296-308.

sustainable Agriculture Technology adoption

Understanding preferences for sustainable agricultural technology and production methods are central to understanding design of sustainable policy. A series of publications use behavioral experiments, to quantify preferences and assess the policy implications for various pro-environment agricultural production practices, such as intercropping techniques, incorporating N cycling crops, and using water saving perennial crops for drought adaptation in Africa. These papers highlight the disconnect between preferences and policies and demonstrate how a more nuanced understanding of environmental behavior and appropriately designed policies can facilitate sustainable agricultural technology adoption.

Waldman, K. B. and Richardson, R.B. (2018). Confronting tradeoffs between agricultural ecosystem services and adaptation to climate change in Mali. Ecological Economics 150, 184-193.

Waldman, K. B., Ortega, D. L., Richardson, R.B., and Snapp, S.S. (2017). Estimating demand for perennial pigeon pea in Malawi using choice experiments. Ecological Economics, 131, 222–230.

Waldman, K. B., Ortega, D. L., Richardson, R.B., Clay, D.C., and Snapp, S.S. (2017) Preferences for legume attributes in maize-legume cropping systems in Malawi. Food Security, 8(6), 1087–1099.

Ortega, D. L., Waldman, K. B., Richardson, R. B and Snapp, S. S. (2016). Sustainable intensification and farmer preferences for crop system attributes: Evidence from Malawi’s Central and Southern Regions. World Development, 87, 139-151.

Isaacs, K. B., Snapp, S. S., Chung, K. and Waldman, K. B. (2016). The value of integrating farmer and researcher knowledge: Developing resilient bean and maize cropping systems in Rwanda. Food Security, 8, 491-506.

Waldman, K. B., Kerr, J. M. and Isaacs, K. B. (2014). Combining participatory crop trials and experimental auctions to estimate farmer preferences for improved common bean in Rwanda, Food Policy, 46, 183 - 192.

Food security decisions

This area of research broadly looks at food security and seeks to improve how we measure food insecurity, temporally and spatially. This research focuses on monitoring food security in response to shocks in both rural and urban areas, in the US and Africa. A series of papers uses weekly text message surveys and high frequency environmental sensors with farmers in Kenya and Zambia to understand intra- and inter-seasonal agricultural decision-making. Another aspect of this research looks at the critical foo security role of informal networks of food vendors in Africa. An outreach component of this work looks at how the food security of low income residents in rural Indiana have been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Giroux, S., Waldman, K., Burris, M., Valliant, J. C. D., Babb, A. M., Stafford, P., Fobi, D., Czebotar, K., & Knudsen, D. C. (2022). Food security and well-being among older, rural Americans before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. PLOS ONE, 17(9).

Valliant, J. C. D., Burris, M. E., Czebotar, K., Stafford, P. B., Giroux, S. A., Babb, A., Waldman, K., & Knudsen, D. C. (2021). Navigating Food Insecurity as a Rural Older Adult: The Importance of Congregate Meal Sites, Social Networks and Transportation Services. Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition, 1–22.

Giroux, S., Blekking, J., Waldman, K., Resnick, D., & Fobi, D. (2021). Informal vendors and food systems planning in an emerging African city. Food Policy, 103, 101997.

Waldman, K.B. Giroux, S.A, Blekking, J.P., Baylis, K., and Evans, T.P. (2020) Smallholder food storage dynamics and resilience. Food Security.

Giroux, S.A., Kouper, I., Estes, L. D., Schumacher, J., Waldman, K.B., Greenshields, J. T., … Evans, T. P. (2019). A high-frequency mobile phone data collection approach for research in social-environmental systems: Applications in climate variability and food security in sub-Saharan Africa. Environmental Modelling & Software, 119, 57–69.

Sustainable consumption and supply chains

This area of research examines the ways in which sustainable consumption behaviors are shaped by policy design and social norms. We look at this from two angles. The first is to examine consumer preferences related to sustainable food consumption and assess the ways in which policies support or limit sustainable consumption. The second is to evaluate how we can make supply chains more sustainable by aligning agricultural production practices with consumer preferences.

Waldman, K. B., Giroux, S., Blekking, J. P., Nix, E., Fobi, D., Farmer, J., & Todd, P. M. (2022). Eating sustainably: Conviction or convenience? Appetite, 180, 106335.

Waldman, K. B. and Kerr, J. M. (2018). The effect of safety information on consumer willingness to pay for pasteurized cheese. Food Quality and Preference, 64, 56-65.

Waldman, K. B. and Kerr, J. M. (2015). Is Food and Drug Administration policy governing artisan cheese consistent with consumers’ preferences? Food Policy, 55, 71- 80.

Waldman, K. B. and Kerr, J. M. (2014). Limitations of certification and supply chain standards for environmental protection in commodity crop production. Annual Review of Resource Economics, 6(1).

*For a complete list of publications download my CV from the home page or see my google scholar profile.