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Christian J Peters
Assistant Professor, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy
Education:

Ph.D. in Soil and Crop Sciences, Cornell University

Curriculum Vitae:
application/pdf iconPetersChristian.pdf
Contact Information
Phone: 
(617) 636-6908
Email: 
christian.peters@tufts.edu
Research
General Research: 

Understanding the potential to increase the ecological sustainability of human societies through changes to the food system. Areas of particular interest include: local and regional food systems, impact of dietary preferences on land use, production potential of land for food and bio-energy, human carrying capacity, and drivers and implications of land use change.

Current Research: 

Modeling the capacity of land to provide human food needs. Current work involves the development of methodologies to 1) estimate the agricultural land requirements, or "foodprints," of complete diets and the capacity of farmland to feed human populations, and 2) evaluate the capacity for population centers to provide their food needs from local and regional land resources and map potential "foodsheds."

Past Research: 

Contributor to an analysis of the capacity for sustainable production of biofuel feedstock in New York State; contributor to a study of the factors contributing to the sales value of agricultural land in New York’s southern tier.

Professional Affiliations

Member of the American Society of Agronomy; Crop Science Society of America; Soil Science Society of America; American Academy for the Advancement of Science

Select Recent Publications
Lewis CB, Peters CJ. A capacity assessment of New England's large animal slaughter facilities as relative to meat production for the regional food system. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems. 2011;FirstView:1-8. Abstract
Peters CJ, Bills NL, Wilkins JL, Fick GW. Foodshed analysis and its relevance to sustainability. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems. 2009;24:1-7.
Peters CJ, Bills NL, Lembo AJ, Wilkins JL, Fick GW. Mapping potential foodsheds in New York State: A spatial model for evaluating the capacity to localize food production. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems. 2009;24:72-84.
Wilkins JL, Peters CJ, Hamm MW, Reinhardt EL. Increasing Acres to Decrease Inches: Comparing the Agricultural Land Requirements of a Low-Carbohydrate, High-Protein Diet with a MyPyramid Diet. Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition. 2008;3:3-16.
Peters CJ, Wilkins JL, Fick GW. Testing a complete-diet model for estimating the land resource requirements of food consumption and agricultural carrying capacity: The New York State example. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems. 2007;22:145-53.
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