Claudia Schmidt, assistant professor of marketing and local/regional food systems in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, received this year's Northeast Region Excellence in Extension Award for an Individual, presented by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the Cooperative Extension System's Extension Committee on Organization and Policy.
The award recognized Schmidt for her development of a research-based agritourism extension program in Pennsylvania, which explores practical strategies to enhance the sustainability and success of agritourism ventures. She received the award during a ceremony held Nov. 10 in Orlando, Florida.
"When Claudia started at Penn State in 2018, there were very few resources available to commonwealth farmers interested in starting an agritourism enterprise," said Jeffrey Hyde, associate dean of the college and director of Penn State Extension. "In a relatively short time period, she has secured more than $800,000 in funding to support her research and extension efforts, which include developing and leading the Penn State Agritourism program."
Schmidt is credited with broadening the understanding of opportunities and challenges facing small- to medium-sized agricultural producers and processors within local food networks, as well as women farmers. As an extension economist, she also collaborates with production specialists on various specialty-crop initiatives. She has shared these findings with agricultural producers and others through dozens of presentations and outreach publications.
In addition to her focus on Pennsylvania producers, Schmidt works with national and international partners to improve the support ecosystem for agritourism entrepreneurs. She is a member of the National Extension Tourism Network, which recognized her with its 2023 Emerging Leader Award.
She also is a founding member of the International Agritourism Research Network; a member of the Global Agritourism Network; and a member of the Agritourism Research and Extension Collaborative, a network of individuals from 11 land-grant universities and two partner organizations spanning more than a dozen states that was recently recognized with a USDA-NIFA Partnership Award.
As a faculty affiliate of the Penn State-based Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development, Schmidt has collaborated on several analyses focused on food systems issues, including the role of women farmers in the United States, food security issues and craft beverage tourism.
Before joining Penn State in 2018, Schmidt worked for more than a decade in the Canadian private agricultural research sector. She earned both her master's and doctoral degrees from the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada.
