Katie Lynn Cantwell Butterfield

Research Program:

Interests: Quantitative Methods, Sustainable Food Systems, Community Gardens, Food Access, Social Inequality, Rural Health, Health Disparities.

My mixed methods research takes an interdisciplinary approach to investigate unequal food systems in the United States, with an eye towards achieving greater equity and sustainability. My research emphasizes the importance of local food environments for individual food access, but also speaks to the need to dismantle broader systems of inequality within the global food system.

Publications:

Butterfield, Katie L. and Ryan E. Galt. 2026. “New estimates show the first decline in California’s organic share of cropland” California Agriculture: The Journal of UC Agriculture and Natural Resources. (doi:10.3733/001c.167210)

Abstract:
Building on the historic leadership of California farmers in organic agriculture, statewide climate mitigation goals include increasing organic production to 20% of all cropland by 2045. The focus on cropland reflects the increased opportunity to reduce synthetic additives as compared to animal production. However, existing data limitations obscure the relative contribution of crops and animal agriculture to trends in organic production in California. Using anonymized data on organic production from the State Organic Program, the USDA Census of Agriculture, and California’s top organic certifier (CCOF), we developed statewide and county-level estimates of organic cropland and animal production. These estimates show a disproportionate growth of organic animal production over time, especially since 2014, and an overall drop in organic cropland acreage share in recent years. We estimate that only 4.5% of all California cropland is organic as of 2022. To meet the statewide organic target, policy changes are needed to restart the expansion of organic cropland. Further, improving State Organic Program data is critical for evaluating progress toward this goal.

Butterfield, Katie L., Ryan E. Galt, and Houston Wilson. 2026. “Improving USDA’s public price and volume data for an equitable organic food value chain” Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development. (doi:10.5304/jafscd.2026.153.013)

Abstract:
Since 1915, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) Market News has supported a key element of our agricultural economic system: equity in access to pricing information between buyers and sellers and across operations of various sizes. Today, the privatization of agricultural information and market concentration in the food system make this public data source especially important for supporting a more fair and stable market for the growing organic sector. In this study, we use a mixed-methods approach to explore how AMS Market News organic price and volume data can be improved to better support organic agrifood system actors. Based on 26 interviews and 227 survey responses from organic producers, processors, distributors, and retailers across California, we find consistent interest in increased organic market data presented in visual formats with trend explanations, despite only limited direct reliance on Market News organic data throughout most of the sector. We also identify three main areas where Market News organic price and volume data could be improved: the data interface should be made more accessible and informative, inaccuracies and gaps in the data should be addressed or explained, and efforts to include more organic specialty crops should continue. These improvements will help the development of a more robust public source of organic market data that could especially benefit smaller-scale operations, given the increasing corporate consolidation in the agrifood system.

Butterfield, Katie L. and Katie Daniels. 2025. “Community Gardens Support Stress Coping and Health – A Comparison of Rural and Urban Perceptions of Benefits.” Wellbeing, Space and Society. (doi:10.1016/j.wss.2025.100297) (Accepted Version)

Abstract:
Community gardens provide health and stress coping benefits in various geographic settings. However, despite the different structural contexts of rural and urban areas, little work has considered how community garden health benefits may differ in these contrasting settings. We collected and analyzed in-depth interviews (N = 34) with mostly White, middle-class rural and urban community garden organizers across the United States to explore understandings of community garden health benefits within these different geographic contexts. Rural participants emphasize the holistic community orientation of their gardens, which were simultaneously embedded in, strengthening, and reliant upon their surrounding communities. In contrast, urban participants emphasize experiences of their gardens as natural spaces and emphasize community gardening as a key driver of interacting with nature. While increases in social connectedness and interactions with nature have been shown to improve health through promoting stress coping, our comparative approach demonstrates the varying impact community gardens can have in rural and urban settings.

Butterfield, Katie L., Ryan E. Galt, and Houston Wilson. 2024. Organic Data Initiative Gap Analysis – California. University of California, Davis, Agricultural Sustainability Institute & University of California Organic Agriculture Institute.

Abstract:
The USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) Market News provides free and unbiased data on prices and volumes of agricultural commodities throughout the United States. In partnership with AMS, this study explores the price and volume data needs of stakeholders in California’s organic agrifood industry. Findings from 26 interviews and 227 surveys with mostly small and mid-sized specialty-crop-focused organic agrifood system stakeholders demonstrate that the use of informal market information is widespread among these stakeholders. Direct use of organic data from AMS Market News and other more formal organic price and volume data sources was less common. We identified specific areas where AMS Market News organic data may be falling short for our research participants: data accuracy and consistency, products and geographies covered by the data, and data presentation and dissemination. Further, organic price and volume data were less often used in pricing decisions than considerations of the ability to cover business expenses, market pressures, and personal experience. Our main recommendations for improving AMS Market News organic data based on these findings are: 1) address data gaps; 2) include additional specialty crops, analyses, and trend explanation; 3) incorporate a simple item-based search process, clearer explanations of terms, and overviews of data collection processes; and 4) improve data visualizations, outreach, and email updates.

Butterfield, Katie L. 2023. “Modeling community garden participation: how locations and frames shape participant demographics” Agriculture and Human Values. (doi:10.1007/s10460-022-10406-2) (Accepted Version)

Abstract:
Ample research documents the health benefits of community gardens, but our understanding of the factors shaping gardener participation is limited. Neighborhood demographics and garden frames have each been theorized to play a role in shaping who participates in community gardens. Yet, our understanding of the interplay between these factors is underdeveloped and this body of work lacks consideration of the racial and class makeup of gardeners on a large scale. With a nation-wide survey that includes measures of gardener demographics (N = 162), the present study considers the extent to which community garden frames and locations simultaneously shape participant demographics. I combine these factors into a conceptual model explaining community garden participation as an iterative process of framing, accessibility, and representation, all situated within a garden’s surrounding community. Results show some base correlations between gardens focusing on healthy food access or symbolic food labels and gardener demographics, but ordered logistic and negative binomial regressions show stronger evidence of community demographics shaping gardener demographics. At the same time, t-tests comparing mean neighborhood and gardener demographics shows a consistent under-representation of Latinx community members among gardeners. As theorized in the model presented, community garden locations are important for shaping what demographics are represented among gardeners, but how community garden benefits are framed can limit garden accessibility, and subsequently neighborhood representation, especially for Latinx residents. This model helps illustrate the mechanisms through which garden organizers and advocates can develop more inclusive community gardens through fostering representation from people of color and the working-class.

Marin, Nefertari, Brittany Oakes, and Katie Butterfield. 2021. "Changing the World with Community Gardens: A study of community gardens and community garden nonprofits across the United States". ArcGIS Online Story Map

Abstract:
This story map outlines the historical and current context of community gardening in the United States and explores the potential of community gardens to address inequality using national-level survey and interview data of community gardeners, managers, and supporting nonprofits. Community gardens are widely loved for the many benefits they bring. Community gardens have a long history of use by institutional actors to address hunger and as sites of resistance to structural inequality. Over the past few decades, the number of community gardens has grown across the United States, along with other ‘alternative food programs’. Funding for these efforts has expanded, alongside the mainstreaming of discourse around food deserts, food security, and food justice. Broader institutional support has also expanded: a growing nonprofit sector facilitates the growth of community gardens; advocates drive policy changes to support community gardens and urban food growing; academics, authors, and journalists write more about community gardens; and cities have supplied public land for garden use.
How are community gardens contributing to their local communities, and how might this increase in community gardens contribute to wider systemic change? To answer these questions, we explore findings from a survey of community gardeners across the United States and interviews with community gardeners and staff at nonprofits supporting community gardens. These findings offer insight into the impact and role of community gardens in effecting change, as well as the growth of nonprofits supporting community gardens today.

Butterfield, Katie L. and A. Susana Ramírez. 2021. "Framing Food Access: Do Community Gardens Inadvertently Reproduce Inequality?" Health Education and Behavior. (doi.org/10.1177/1090198120950617) (Accepted Version)

Abstract:
Background. Alternative food programs have been proposed as solutions to food insecurity and diet-related health issues. However, some of the most popular programs—farmers markets and community-supported agriculture—overwhelmingly serve White and upper-middle-class individuals, exacerbating food security and health disparities. One explanation for the mismatch is the way in which alternative food programs are framed: Language used to encourage participation may reflect priorities of upper-middle-class and White populations who create and run these programs while lacking resonance with food-insecure populations. This literature, however, lacks consideration of how lower-cost, more participatory programs—community gardens—are framed. We therefore explore the framing of community gardens through a quantitative content analysis of the descriptions, missions, and goals provided by community garden managers across Minnesota (N = 411).
Results. Six frames were consistently present in the community garden statements: greater good, community orientation, healthy food access, food donation, self-empowerment, and symbolic food labels. Greater good and community orientation were significantly more likely to be used than any other frames.
Conclusions. Taken together, our findings suggest that community gardens may be welcoming toward a diversity of participants but still have room to improve the inclusivity of their frames. The common use of a community orientation suggests the unique ability of community gardens among alternative food programs to benefit Black, Latino, and working-class populations. However, the most common frame observed was “greater good,” suggesting one mechanism through which community gardens, like other types of alternative food programs, may be reproducing inequality through alienation of food-insecure populations.

Butterfield, Katie L. 2020. “Neighborhood Composition and Community Garden Locations: The Effect of Ethnicity, Income, and Education” Sociological Perspectives. (doi.org/10.1177/0731121420908902) (Accepted Version)

Abstract:
Community gardens provide food, health, and sustainability benefits to surrounding communities. Research demonstrates that low-income or ethnic-minority communities develop gardens to resist divestment and provide access to healthy food, whereas white or highly-educated communities develop gardens to address local sustainability concerns. Missing from this discussion is a comprehensive picture of the relationship between neighborhood composition and community garden locations. Using GrowNYC and GreenThumb’s 2014 survey of New York City community gardens, this study employs negative binomial and spatial regression methods to examine this relationship. Findings reveal increased numbers of gardens in communities with higher aggregate concentrations of: 1. black and/or Latino residents, 2. lower-income residents, and 3. well-educated residents, regardless of ethnicity or income. In keeping with qualitative research on motivations for garden development, this study provides crucial quantitative metrics suggesting the diversity of neighborhoods with community gardens and supports their inclusion in urban public policy and city planning.

Manuscripts in Progress:

Butterfield, Katie L., Ryan E. Galt, and Houston Wilson. "Pricing Decisions and Power Dynamics in California’s Organic Agrifood Industry."

Butterfield, Katie L. “Fundamental Cause Theory & Community Gardens: Evidence of Countervailing Mechanisms.”

Butterfield, Katie L., Ryan E. Galt, and Houston Wilson. "Data-Informed Decision-Making in California’s Organic Agrifood System."

Butterfield, Katie L. with Brittany Oakes and Zulema Valdez. All Things to All People: Community Gardens in the United States. (monograph)

Presentations:

2026 - “Tracking organic agriculture is easier said than done” with Ryan E. Galt, 2026 American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting

2026 - “Data & Democracy” with Ryan E. Galt, Soledad Castro, & Santiago Alvarez, 2026 American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting, organized paper session

2025 - “Pricing Decisions and Power Dynamics in California’s Organic Agrifood Industry” with Ryan E. Galt and Houston Wilson, Annual Conference of the Agriculture, Food & Human Values Society

2025 - “California Organic, Agroecological, and Regenerative (COAR) Transitions Project: Trends in Organic Agriculture in California, 1992-2022” with Ryan E. Galt, Jahalel Lee Tuil, and Kase Wheatley, EcoFarm, poster presentation

2024 - “California Organic, Agroecological, and Regenerative (COAR) Transitions Project: Trends in Organic Agriculture in California, 1992-2022” with Ryan E. Galt, Jahalel Lee Tuil, & Kase Wheatley, California Climate & Agriculture Summit, poster presentation

2024 - “All Things to All People: Community Gardens in the United States” with Brittany Oakes & Zulema Valdez, Annual Conference of the Agriculture, Food & Human Values Society, poster presentation

2024 - “California Organic Data Collection Gap Analysis” with Ryan E. Galt & Houston Wilson, Annual Conference of the Agriculture, Food & Human Values Society

2021 - “Community Gardening in the United States” with Brittany Oakes & Zulema Valdez, Grow Grant Conference

2021 - “Community Garden Accessibility: Impacts of Frames and Locations” Annual Conference of the Agriculture, Food & Human Values Society

2021 - “Community Gardening in the United States” with Brittany Oakes & Zulema Valdez, Annual Conference of the Agriculture, Food & Human Values Society

2019 - “Community Gardens, Investments, and Health Outcomes” American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, Round Table 26. Places, Housing, & Health

2019 - “Health Benefits of Urban Vs. Rural Community Gardens” Annual Meeting of the Rural Sociology Society

2019 - “Community Gardens, Structural Inequalities, and Health: Urban Vs. Rural Community Gardens” Annual Conference of the Agriculture, Food & Human Values Society

2016 - “The Effects of Racial and Class Neighborhood Composition on Community Garden Outcomes” Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association, poster presentation

2016 - “Straddling Two Worlds: Does Visiting Home Help or Harm First Generation Students' College Engagement?,” with Irenee Beattie & Wendy Puquirre. Annual Conference of the Sociology of Education Association

2015 - “The Effects of Race and Class on Community Garden Locations.” Annual Meeting of the Pacific Sociological Association

Invited Talks:

2026 - “Improving USDA’s Public Price & Volume Data for an Equitable Organic Food Value Chain” with Ryan E. Galt & Houston Wilson, Organic Pricing Data webinar, Rodale Institute

2026 - “Organic Data Recommendations” with Ryan E. Galt, Krista Marshall, Neha Sanghera. & Vivian Wauters, California Organic Products Advisory Committee Sep 2026 meeting

2026 - “Careers Beyond Academia Panel” University of California, Merced, Sociology Graduate Student Committee, Professional Development Panel

2018 - “Community Gardens, Inequality, and Health” UC Merced Blum Center Summer Institute

2017 - “Race, Class, and Community Garden Locations” Lyceum Lunchtime Speaker Series, UC Merced Health Sciences Research Institute