John M. Antle

Throughout my career I have been engaged in teaching and research aimed at improving our understanding of agricultural and food systems, and using that knowledge to improve private and public decision making by communicating research to stakeholders in government and civil society. Another theme of my work has been the development of trans-disciplinary research to improve our understanding of the sustainability of agricultural systems – by this I mean deep collaboration that changes the way we do disciplinary science. I have worked collaboratively with other economists and social scientists, as well as disciplines ranging from entomology, soil science, agronomy, animal and veterinary science, to climate sciences, ecology and geology, to medical sciences and public health. As part of this integrative research, I led the development of an analytical tool for “multi-dimensional impact assessment” (the TOA-MD model). This model is being used by a wide array of national and international research programs to assess the sustainability of agricultural systems, to assess the provision of ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes, to assess the impacts of climate change on agricultural systems and households, and to assess the impacts of agricultural policies. In addition to my own research projects, I am a co-founder of AgMIP, the Agricultural Model Inter-Comparison and Improvement Project – a new “community of science” that is exploring new ways to do trans-disciplinary agricultural science. Through this new approach to science we hope to raise the understanding of agricultural systems and food systems to the level that true sustainability can be achieved.