Thomas Patrick Tomich (born September 8, 1956) is an American researcher in the field of sustainable agriculture. He researches a variety of subjects, including

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

natural resource management Natural resource management (NRM) is the management of natural resources such as land, water, soil, plants and animals, with a particular focus on how management affects the quality of life for both present and future generations ( stewardship) ...

food policy Food policy is the area of public policy concerning how food is produced, processed, distributed, purchased, or provided. Food policies are designed to influence the operation of the food and agriculture system balanced with ensuring human health ...

, and

economic development In the economics study of the public sector, economic and social development is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and o ...

. He is the founding director of the Agricultural Sustainability Institute at

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...

and an elected fellow of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

. Tomich advocates for immediate and strategic action on the part of the research community to apply current scientific knowledge to address world-wide issues relating to

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

Education

Thomas Patrick Tomich was born on September 8, 1956, in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...

, to parents Lillian and Thomas Tomich. His family owned a fruit orchard in Orangevale, established by Thomas P. Tomich's great-grandparents in 1897. Tomich graduated from

with a

bachelor's A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ye ...

in economics in 1979. He attended

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

for his

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

degree, graduating in 1982. He also received a PhD in agricultural and

food system The term food system describes the interconnected systems and processes that influence nutrition Nutrition is the biochemical and physiological process by which an organism uses food to support its life. It provides organisms with nutrients ...

economics from Stanford, graduating in 1984.

Career

Tomich worked for the

Harvard Institute for International Development The Harvard Institute for International Development (HIID) was a think-tank dedicated to helping nations join the global economy, operating between 1974 and 2000. It was a center within Harvard University, United States. Foundation and leadership ...

for ten years as a policy advisor and institute associate. From 1994-2006, he worked for the

World Agroforestry Centre World Agroforestry (a brand name used by the International Centre for Research in Agroforestry, ICRAF) is an international institute headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, and founded in 1978 as "International Council for Research in Agroforestry". T ...

as principal economist and global coordinator of the ASB Partnership for the Tropical Forest Margins. He has been a professor at UC Davis since 2007. There, he is the founding director of the Agricultural Sustainability Institute. He was also the first holder of the WK Kellogg Endowed Chair in Sustainable Food Systems. He researches a variety of subjects, including

, and

. As of 2015, he is the co-

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...

of the journal the ''

Annual Review of Environment and Resources The ''Annual Review of Environment and Resources'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal that publishes review articles about environmental science and environmental engineering. It was first published in 1976 under the name the ''Annual Review ...

''.

Awards and honors

In 2019, Tomich was elected as a fellow to the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tomich, Thomas 1956 births People from San Jose, California University of California, Davis alumni Stanford University alumni Harvard Institute for International Development University of California, Davis faculty Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Living people Annual Reviews (publisher) editors