Dr. Kimberly “Kim” L. Morgan joined the Food and Resource Economics Department at the University of Florida in August 2020 as an Associate Professor and Extension Agricultural Economist. She is the Director of the Farm Labor Supervisor Training program, leading a team of experts who provide educational programs to protect the health and safety of Florida farm workers, supervisors, and owners, as they work 24/7/365 to provide fresh, healthy food and food products locally, regionally, nationally, and globally. Her extension program goal is to pursue multi-disciplinary, science-based, objective research that serves to inform decisions made by consumers, producers, and policymakers who are connected by Florida’s food and resources. Dr. Morgan’s research program goals are centered on measurable real-world needs communicated by Florida’s rural, natural resource, and agribusiness owners, managers and consumers. Specific research objectives include: understanding significant factors which influence specialty crop producers to adoption new technologies and/or pursue new marketing channels, determining the physical, behavioral and demographic characteristics of consumers motivated to seek out food and food products sold directly from the farm, and assessing the economic impacts of natural or man-made hazards on the private and public sectors of the state.
Dr. Kimberly Morgan earned a BS in 1993 in Animal Science, a M.S. in Food & Resource Economics in 1997, and a Ph.D. in Food & Resource Economics in 2007, all from the University of Florida. She worked with the University of Florida's Agricultural Market Research Center as an Economic Analyst from 2000-08. From July 2008-2013, Dr. Morgan was an Extension Agricultural Economist in the Agricultural Economics Department at Mississippi State University. In 2013, she joined the Agricultural and Applied Economics Department at Virginia Tech as an Assistant Professor and Extension Agricultural Economist. She was appointed to the endowed Kohl Centre Junior Faculty Fellow position from 2013-2020 by the Virginia Board of Visitors. She earned tenure and held the title of Associate Professor from June 2019 until her departure from Virginia Tech to begin her duties “back home” in Immokalee, Florida, with the University of Florida’s SW Florida Research and Extension Center.
Southwest Florida Research and Education Center (SWFREC)
2685 SR 29 North Immokalee, FL 34142
(239) 658 - 3400
kimorgan@ufl.edu | Website