Assistant Professor of Agriculture, Society, and Environment
Assistant Professor of Agriculture, Society, and Environment
PhD Environment and Resources, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 2009
MS Land Resources, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 2003
BA Cross Cultural Studies and English (Honors), Seattle Pacific University, 1988
Sociology of agriculture, rural livelihoods, land access and tenure, farmland financialization, the agriculture of the middle, agroecological/diversified farming systems, terroir, participatory mapping
Selected Grants and Funded Research
• National Science Foundation (2018–2021); “Investigating the grand challenge solutions of agro-food tech,” Co-PI, with Julie Guthman (UC Santa Cruz), Charlotte Biltekoff (UC Davis), and Madeleine Fairbairn (UC Santa Cruz)
• USDA-AFRI, Small and Mid-sized Farms Seed Grant (2017-2019); “The Financialization of U.S. Farmland: Effects of changing landownership on small and mid-sized farms,” Co-PI, with Madeleine Fairbairn (UC Santa Cruz) and Loka Ashwood (Auburn Univ.)
• Hellman Fellows Faculty Award, (2016-2017); “Buying the Farm: The Financialization of Rural America,” PI
• National Science Foundation (2018-2021); “How conflicting policies and supply chain pressures influence farmers’ decisions and tradeoffs in biodiversity, profitability, and sustainability," Senior Personnel, with PI Timothy Bowles and co PIs Claire Kremen, Alastair Iles, Kremen, Carl Boettiger, and Daniel Karp. CNH-L
• USDA-NIFA, Bioenergy, Natural Resources, and Environment (BNRE) 2017-2020; “Managing Wild Birds for Improved Strawberry Production, Pest Control, and Food Safety Outcomes in the California Central Coast, Co-PI with PD Daniel Karp (UC Davis)
• USDA-AFRI, Renewable Energy, Natural Resources, and Environment (RENRE) (2015-2017); “Assessing benefits, costs and tradeoffs of biologically-diversified farming systems in California’s Central Coast,” co-PI, with PD Claire Kremen (UC Berkeley)
• University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources (2013-2016); “Integrating Urban Agriculture with Youth Development Through Community Tours,” with PIs Gail Feenstra (UC Davis) and Rachel Surls (UC Cooperative Extension)
• Berkeley Food Institute Multidisciplinary Action Research (2014-2017); “Making the Road by Mapping: Informing Food System Transformation through Participatory Mapmaking,” PI, Co-PIs: Adam Calo, Tapan Parikh, Maggi Kelly, Darin Jensen, and Sarah Van Wart (UC Berkeley)
• USDA-NIFA Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (2011-2014); “Fostering Resilience: Integrating Territory and Heritage into Emerging Agricultural Clusters in the United States,” Co-PI with Sarah Bowen (North Carolina State University)
• De Master, Kathryn and Jess Daniels. “Desert Wonderings: Reimagining Food Access Mapping,” forthcoming, Agriculture and Human Values.
• De Master, Kathryn. 2018. “New Inquiries into the Agri-Cultures of the Middle,” Culture, Agriculture, Food and Environment 40(2): 130-135.
• Ostrom, Marcia, Kathryn De Master, Egon Noe, and Markus Schermer. 2017. “Values Based Food Chains from a Transatlantic Perspective: Exploring a Middle Tier of Regional Agrifood System Development,” International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food 24: No 1: 1-14.
• Ostrom, Marcia, Kathryn De Master, Egon Noe, and Markus Schermer, Special Issue Co-editors. 2017. “Evolutions in the Middle: Transnational Perspectives on Values Based Food Chains,” International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food 24: No 1.
• Malin, Stephanie and Kathryn De Master. 2016. “A Devil’s Bargain: Rural Environmental Injustices and Hydraulic Fracturing on Pennsylvania’s Farms,” Journal of Rural Studies 47, Part A: 1-386, special issue “Rurality as Environmental Injustice.”
• Calo, Adam and Kathryn De Master. 2016. “Incubating Transitions? How Land Access Barriers Complicate the Path From Farmworker to Proprietor,” Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development 6: No. 2: 111-127.
• Karp, Daniel S., Patrick Baur, Edward R. Atwill, Kathryn De Master, Sasha Gennet, Alastair Iles, Joanna L. Nelson, Amber R. Sciligo, and Claire Kremen. 2015. “Unintended ecological and social impacts of food safety regulations in California's Central Coast,” BioScience 65: No 12: 1173-1183.
• Bowen, Sarah* and De Master, Kathryn.* 2014 “Wisconsin's Happy Cows? Articulating Heritage and Territory as New Dimensions of Locality,” Agriculture and Human Values. 31: 549-562. *Both authors contribute equally to this publication.
• De Master, Kathryn. 2013. "Navigating De- and Re-Peasantization: Potential Limitations of a Universal Food Sovereignty Approach for Polish Smallholders," Yale Food Sovereignty Conference Paper #81.
• De Master, Kathryn. 2012. “Designing Dreams or Constructing Contradictions? European Union Ecological Agriculture and Polish Organic Farming,” Rural Sociology, 77(1): 89-109.
• Bowen, Sarah* and De Master, Kathryn.* 2011. “New Rural Livelihoods or Museums of Production? Quality Food Initiatives in Practice,” Journal of Rural Studies, 27(1): 73-82. *Both authors contributed equally to this publication.
• De Master, Kathryn Patrice. 2005. “Sowing the Mustard Green Seed: Hmong Gardeners Cultivate Knowledge, Land, and Culture,” in Discourses and Silences: Indigenous Peoples, Risks and Resistances, G. Cant, A. Goodall, & J. Inns, eds., Canterbury University Press, Canterbury, NZ.
• Kloppenburg, Jack Jr., Sharon Lezberg, Kathy DeMaster, G. W. Stevenson, and John Hendrickson. 2000. “Tasting Food, Tasting Sustainability: Defining the Attributes of an Alternative Food System with Competent, Ordinary People,” Human Organization, 59(2): 177-185.
Published Website and Public Installation
• Providence Food Justice Mapping Project public installation, May 17-27, 2013, Granoff Center, Creative Arts Council, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island. Faculty director for interactive public installation presenting work from a three-and-a-half year course-based participatory mapping research project conducted in collaboration with approximately three hundred Brown University student researchers and community partners. Published Providence Food Justice Mapping website: http://pvdfoodshedjusticemapping.org/
Additional Publications and Research Reports
• Kathryn De Master and Melina Packer. 2016. “Youth Garden Tour Guiding” and "Urban Agriculture Youth-Led Garden Tours Workshop Curriculum," California Natural Resources Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (UC SAREP): “Integrating Urban Agriculture with Youth Development through Community Tours.”
• Sarah Bowen and Kathryn De Master. 2014. “Cultivating Terroir: Voices And Visions of the Wisconsin Artisanal Cheese Sector.” Research brief for community extension, USDA-NIFA Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (2011-2014).
• LaChance, James, Kathryn De Master, and Sarah Bowen. 2014. “Cultivating Merroir: Voices and Visions of New England Oyster Aquaculture.” Research brief for community extension, USDA-NIFA Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (2011-2014).
• Hamrick, Danny, Sarah Bowen, and Kathryn De Master. 2014. “Voices and Visions of the Fishing Industry in Carteret County.” Research brief for community extension, USDA-NIFA Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (2011-2014).
• Hellman Fellow (2016-17), UC Berkeley
• Outstanding Mentorship of Graduate Student Instructors (2016), UC Berkeley
• Engaged Scholars Fellow (2010-13), Swearer Center for Public Service, Brown Univ.
• Royce Faculty Fellow (2010-13), Brown University
• Nominee, Karen T. Romer Prize for Advising (2013), Brown University
• PhD Capstone in Teaching Award (2009), Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison
• Honorary Research Fellow (2008-9), Land Tenure Center, Univ. of Wisconsin
• Graduate Teaching Fellow Award (2008), Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison
• Innovation in Teaching Award (2007), Univ. of Wisconsin Madison
• Honorable Mention (2005), Society for the Anthropology of Europe Fellowship
Teaching Interests: Engaged scholarship, experiential and place-based education, critical pedagogy
- • ESPM 155AC, "Sustenance and Sustainability." Fall semesters, 2013-ongoing
- • ESPM 230, "Sociology of Agriculture" graduate seminar. Fall semesters, 2013-ongoing
- • ESPM 290, "Qualitative Methods." Fall 2016, ongoing.
- • ESPM 24, "Diversified Farming Systems" freshman seminar, Spring 2014
- • ESPM H196 Honors research
- • ESPM 99, 199 Supervised independent study
- • ESPM 299 Individual research
- • ESPM 98, 198 Student-led organic gardening DeCAL
- • Berkeley Food Institute Faculty Seminar, co-conducted with Saru Jayaraman: "Corporate Consolidation in Food Systems and Policy Interventions to Address It," Spring 2014, Spring 2015
Contact details
Kathryn De Master
By appointment:
Department of Environmental Science, Policy & Management
University of California-Berkeley
130 Mulford Hall #3114
Office location: 121 Giannini Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720
