senior director for Research and information

Ann Sorensen oversees research for American Farmland Trust (AFT), directs AFT's research center at Northern Illinois University and helps prioritize that research to meet the needs of the organization.

Sorensen previously directed AFT’s Center for Agriculture in the Environment (CAE). The center, operated jointly with Northern Illinois University's Social Science Research Institute in De Kalb, Illinois, serves as the focal point for AFT's public policy research. Work at CAE includes public opinion surveys, contingent valuation studies, fiscal impact studies, geographic information system mapping, integrated pest management implementation and targeted risk insurance to reduce the risks farmers face in switching to better management practices. The center also houses the Farmland Information Library, a digital library affiliated with USDA’s National Agricultural Library and an integral part of AFT’s Farmland Information Center.

Prior to joining AFT, Sorensen was the assistant director of the Natural and Environmental Resources Division for the American Farm Bureau Federation. At the Farm Bureau, she was responsible for agricultural production and environmental issues, including agricultural biotechnology, integrated pest management, pesticides, groundwater pollution, alternative crops, sustainable agriculture and agriculture pests.

Before joining the Farm Bureau, Sorensen was a postdoctoral fellow and research associate with Texas A&M University, she worked for the University of Georgia's Department of Entomology as a postdoctoral associate, and was an integrated pest management specialist for the Texas Department of Agriculture. Sorensen started her career as a research assistant with the University of California-Berkeley's Department of Entomology and Parasitology, where she received a Ph.D. in entomology. Her areas of research include applied insect pathology, integrated pest management, social insect behavior and recombinant DNA work with insect viruses.

Sorensen has published a large number of scholarly papers, served on numerous committees, is a past chair of the National Foundation for IPM Education and has spoken frequently on agricultural and environmental issues.