Vice President of Programs & Chief Economist

Katherine “Kitty” Smith joined American Farmland Trust in August 2011 as Vice President of Programs & Chief Economist. She oversees research and policy development and administers programs concerning farmland protection, agriculture and the environment.

Prior to joining American Farmland Trust, Smith served as Administrator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service (ERS), which provides high quality, objective, peer-reviewed research. Smith held numerous other leadership positions within the ERS, including Director of Resource Economics and Market and Trade Economics Divisions. Smith was the first Director of Policy Studies from 1993 to 1996, pioneering cutting-edge concepts such as “green payments” and whole farm conservation planning with the Henry A. Wallace Institution for Alternative Agriculture.

Smith has served on several United Nations Expert Panels and chaired the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Joint Working Party on Agriculture and Environment. Her work has been published in books and scholarly journals throughout her career. She is also a fellow of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, and a recipient of that association’s Quality in Communications Award. While working at the ERS, she was also awarded the Presidential Rank Award for Meritorious Executives in 2001.

Kitty earned her B.S. with an emphasis in the biological sciences and a M.S. and Ph.D. in agricultural and resource economics from the University of Maryland.

Contact Information
1200 18th St. NW, Suite 800
Washington, DC 20036
(202) 378-1209
ksmith@farmland.org