Michelle Schroeder-Moreno

Bio

Dr. Michelle Schroeder-Moreno serves as the Director at the Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS) at NC State University and an Agroecology Professor in the Department of Horticulture Science.

Over the course of her career, Dr. Schroeder-Moreno has taught more than 1,500 students and mentored numerous students in research focused in agroecology. Dr. Schroeder-Moreno provided leadership for the Agroecology Education Programs at NC State and she led the development of the Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems B.S undergraduate major, a cross departmental program between the Crop and Soil Sciences and Horticulture Science departments. Dr. Schroeder-Moreno integrated service learning and experiential learning into the courses she developed and taught listed below that provides the foundation for the major and the Agroecology Minor programs.

Courses taught/developed:

• Introduction to Agroecology (CS 230)– taught from 2004-2022
• Advanced Agroecology course and lab (CS 430/530)– taught from 2005-2022
• Sustainability of Tropical Agroecosystems in Costa Rica; (Study Abroad Course; CS 495), Co-taught with the University of Georgia, 2005-2013.
• Critical Issues in Sustainable Agriculture course (CS 595), Co-taught, graduate level, 2010 –2012.
• Agroecología (online, in Spanish), Co-developed and taught with faculty from the Universidad del Empresa in Montevideo, Uruguay through the Inter-American Institute for Coopertion on Agriculture (IICA), 2011 –2014.

In 2006, Dr. Schroeder-Moreno developed the Agroecology Education Farm at NC State in collaboration with various students and CEFS faculty. The Agroecology Education Farm is located approximately 15 minutes from main campus at the Lake Wheeler Field Station near the Historic Yates Mill Park. It is dedicated to hands-on education in agroecological production serving diverse students across NC State University and the surrounding community. The Agroecology Education Farm works in collaboration with NC State Dining to produce healthy, local and sustainable food for students in NC State cafeterias and eateries across campus. Students from the agroecology major and from the Agroecology Student Club support numerous educational events at the farm throughout the year and the Agroecology Education Farm has become a place that has built a community of students, staff and faculty around it.

Dr. Schroeder-Moreno has published diverse peer-review articles than span broad topics from research in active student-centered learning to sustainable strawberry production, soil health, and management of beneficial mycorrhizal fungi. She has led or collaborated on grants totaling over $9 million. Dr. Schroeder-Moreno was one of the founding members of the national Sustainable Agriculture Education Association (SAEA) helping to elevate agroecology and sustainable agriculture as a discipline and was recognized for her innovation in agroecology education and teaching receiving the 2019 United States Department of Agriculture APLU National Teaching Award.

Since 2022, Dr. Schroeder-Moreno has served in her current role as Director of CEFS and NC State. CEFS is a longstanding partnership among a multidisciplinary team of faculty and staff at NC State University, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (NCA&T), and the Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services.  Located in Goldsboro, North Carolina, CEFS at Cherry Farm has one of the largest facilities (2,000+ acres) of its kind nation-wide dedicated to sustainable agriculture and food systems research, education and extension programming. CEFS sustainable agriculture field research units and projects focus on long-term farming systems impacts, agriculture and climate change, soil health, weed ecology, organic grain and vegetable production, pasture-based beef and dairy systems and agroforestry to name a few. CEFS food system programs are also diverse and include understanding economic impacts of local food procurement, developing local food to school and early childcare programs, sustainable and value supply chain of local meat, increasing resiliency of farmers and food businesses in the Appalachian Mountains of Western NC, increasing education and engagement of communities and food policy councils, and understanding impacts of race and equity in the food system. Lastly, CEFS is supporting a variety of hands-on career ladder education and training programs for beginning farmers and veterans in on-farm apprentices, supporting diverse graduate students leading cutting edge sustainability research in the CEFS Fellows programs and supporting college and community college students through various summer and semester-based internship programs find their path as future food system leaders.

Publications

• Impact of Phosphorus on Cannabis sativa Reproduction, Cannabinoids, and Terpenes , APPLIED SCIENCES-BASEL (2020)
• Sustainable Practices for Plasticulture Strawberry Production in the South , (2020)
• Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi and Their Responses to Nutrient Enrichment , ROOT BIOLOGY (2018)
• Farm to childcare: An analysis of social and economic values in local food systems , JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE FOOD SYSTEMS AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT (2018)
• Soil-Test Biological Activity with the Flush of CO2: I.C and N Characteristics of Soils in Corn Production , SOIL SCIENCE SOCIETY OF AMERICA JOURNAL (2018)
• Participatory praxis for community food security education , JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE FOOD SYSTEMS AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT (2017)
• Effects of Cover Crops, Compost, and Vermicompost on Strawberry Yields and Nitrogen Availability in North Carolina , HORTTECHNOLOGY (2016)
• Environmental Influences on Growth and Reproduction of Invasive Commelina benghalensis , International Journal of Agronomy (2016)
• Economic viability and environmental impact assessment of three different strawberry production systems in the Southeastern United States , HortTechnology (2015)
• Identifying Key Characteristics for Student Farm Successes through a National Delphi Study , NACTA Journal (2015)