Anna Herforth is a senior researcher and consultant specializing in the links between agriculture, food systems and nutrition. She holds a Ph.D. in international nutrition from Cornell University, M.S. in food policy from Tufts University, and a B.S. in plant science from Cornell University. She is currently an adjunct Associate Research Scientist at Columbia University, and a consultant for the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and Gallup World Poll on diet quality and food system issues. She has helped shape the agriculture-nutrition conversation globally through working with a wide range of groups, including the World Bank, UN and CGIAR agencies, government aid agencies, nonprofit organizations, and academia. In Africa, South Asia, and Latin America, she has carried out research and spent considerable time with agricultural and indigenous communities. Dr. Herforth is a co-founder of the Agriculture-Nutrition Community of Practice, a professional community with members from over 90 countries.
Anna Herforth, a senior research associate at Harvard Chan School, said that while researchers can estimate what people around the world are eating, not much data exist. To help fill that gap, Herforth is working with the Gallup Global Diet Quality Project to collect data on the food and beverage choices of adults in 140 countries.
“When food prices are measured, they don’t really reflect nutritious foods,” say lead researchers Anna Herforth and Jennifer Coates. “So this very basic metric that we all kind of accept, is actually not based on what people need to eat—and that’s the very core of access to adequate food. This project is aiming to shift the concept of food prices towards a more holistic, accurate sense of complete nutritious diets.”
- Researchers Develop New Tool to Track Affordability and Availability of Nutritious Foods in Africa