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Jennifer Blesh
Adjust Associate Professor
Ecosystem Science and Management
Food Systems
Websites
About
Jennifer Blesh, PhD, is a Professor of Ecosystem Ecology at Michigan State University’s W.K. Kellogg Biological Station and the Department of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences. Prior to her position at MSU, Blesh was an Associate Professor in SEAS and a founding member of UM’s Sustainable Food Systems Initiative. As a broadly trained agroecologist, Blesh uses interdisciplinary research approaches to understand the ecological and social outcomes of agroecosystems and food systems. Her ecological research focuses on diversified farming systems, soil nitrogen and carbon biogeochemical cycles, ecological nutrient management, and legume nitrogen fixation. She also studies social processes that lead to food system transformation, from food production through consumption. Blesh’s research program is guided by a pragmatic motivation to support transitions to more ecologically sustainable and socially just food systems.
Publications
Sutton, E., Jain, M., Connell, R.K., Wang, H., Zhou, W., Deshpande, M., and J. Blesh. 2025. Increasing crop rotation diversity with cover crops builds climate resilience on working farms. Environmental Research Letters 20: 124025. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ae1c53.
Connell, R.K., James, T.Y., and J. Blesh. 2025. A legume-grass cover crop builds mineral-associated organic matter across variable agricultural soils. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 203: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2025.109726.
Blesh, J., Mehrabi, Z., Wittman, H., Bezner Kerr, R., James, D., Madsen, S., Smith, O.M., Snapp, S.S., Stratton, A.E., Bakkar, M., Bicksler, A.J., Galt, R.E., Garibaldi, L.A., Gemmill-Herren, B., Grass, I., Isaac, M.E., John, I., Jones, S.K., Kennedy, C.M., Klassen, S., Levers, C., Vang Rasmussen, L. and C. Kremen, C. 2023. Against the odds: network and institutional pathways enabling agricultural diversification. One Earth. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2023.03.004.
Blesh, J., Isaac, M., Schipanski, M.E. and S.J. Vanek. 2022. Editorial: Ecological nutrient management as a pathway to Zero Hunger. Special Issue in Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2022.10799.
Research
- Managing functional diversity (e.g., cover cropping, intercropping, perennial grains) in agroecosystems to increase soil carbon storage, enhance internal nutrient cycling capacity, and reduce environmental impacts
- Understanding variation in legume nitrogen fixation in agroecosystems
- Identifying social and ecological factors that support or constrain adaptive, ecosystem-based management and social-ecological resilience of food systems
- Understanding linkages between agrobiodiversity, dietary diversity, and human and ecosystem health
Education
PhD, Cornell University (Soil and Crop Sciences)
MS, Cornell University (Soil and Crop Sciences)
BS, University of Georgia (Ecology)
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