- Phone:
- (812) 856-7290
- Email:
- yoderl@indiana.edu
- Room Number:
- 441A
- Areas of Interest:
- Human dimensions of environmental change ,
- Institutional analysis and collective action ,
- Farmer adoption of conservation practices ,
- Collaborative watershed governance
Education
- PhD, Department of Geography, Indiana University, 2017
- MPA, Economic Development and Policy Analysis, O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University, 2013
- BA, History, Goshen College, 2004
Courses
- V499 Honors Thesis
- E543 Environmental Management
- E183 Environment and People
Biography
Landon Yoder joined the O’Neill School as an assistant professor in 2019 after two years as a post-doctoral fellow on intensively managed landscapes at IU. He is trained as a human-environment geographer and focuses on how farmers, government, and society cooperate to navigate tradeoffs between agricultural production and conservation, with a focus on water quality. His work combines both social and natural science data and spatial analysis to examine how biophysical conditions, social dynamics, and institutional arrangements jointly influence environmental change.
His research has demonstrated the important effects of joint legal compliance and public monitoring data in promoting knowledge exchanges and drawing on social norms to promote the adoption of conservation practices in farming communities. His current research is focused on collaborative watershed governance among local governments in Iowa and cover crop adoption by farmers in Indiana.
Prior to pursuing an academic career, Yoder worked as an editor with the Environmental Law Institute in Washington, D.C., and volunteered with the Peace Corps as a community development worker in St. Lucia.
Yoder earned his Ph.D. in geography and his MPA with a focus on economic development and policy analysis from Indiana University. At the undergraduate level, he studied history at Goshen College.
Highlights
- Dissertation Completion Fellowship, Indiana University, 2017-18
- USDA SARE-funded grant: Participatory farmer monitoring on nitrate loss: Using farm-scale data to improve nutrient management and water quality
- Indiana Water Resources Research Center-funded grant: Mapping the spatial and temporal distribution of cover crops to model water quality outcomes
- Policy Brief published by the IU Public Policy Institute: Watershed governance to protect communities from flood risks and water quality degradation
In the News
- "When do social norms matter for farming?" - The Current webinar series, USDA SAR North Central Regional Water Network, June 11, 2021
- “Dead orangutans and burnt forests: Nature lovers see the ravages of climate change up close” - Salon Magazine, January 19, 2021
- “Ep.11: The Key to Finding Your Success” - Major Choices Podcast, November 5, 2020
Selected Works
- "Are climate risks encouraging cover crop adoption among farmers in the Lower Wabash River Basin?" (with M. Houser, A. Bruce, A. Sullivan, and J. Farmer), Land Use Policy (March 2021)
- "Watershed restoration in the Florida Everglades: Agricultural water management and long-term trends in nutrient outcomes in the Everglades Agricultural Area" (with R. Chowdhury, C. Hauck) Agriculture, Ecosystems, and Environment (2020)
- "Local government perspectives on collaborative watershed governance: A comparative approach of Iowa's watershed management authorities" (with A. Ward, S. Spak, and K. Dalrymple) Policy Studies Journal (2020)
- “Compelling collective action: Does a shared pollution cap incentivize farmer cooperation to restore water quality?”International Journal of the Commons (2019)
- “An analysis of conservation practice adoption studies in agricultural human-natural systems,” (with A. Ward, K. Dalrymple, S. Spak, and R. Lave), Journal of Environmental Management (2019)
- “Tracing social capital: How stakeholder group interactions shape agricultural water quality restoration in the Florida Everglades,” (with R. Chowdhury), Land Use Policy (2018)
- “Middle-range theories of land system change,” (with P. Meyfroidt, A. Heinimann, P. Verburg, A. de Bremond, G. Peterson, E. Karl-Heinz, C. Kull, J. Grove, Y. le Polain de Waroux, B. L. Turner II, V. Rodriguez Garcia, J. Nielsen, R. Garrett, R. Roy Chowdhury, E. F. Lambin, T. Kuemmerle, E. Ellis, P. Messerli, M. Schluter, T. Filatova, and D. Mueller), Global Environmental Change (2018)
- “Anthropogenic drivers of mangrove loss: Geographic patterns and implications for livelihoods,” (with R. Chowdhury, E. Uchida, C. Giri, L. Chen, V. Osorio),Mangrove ecosystems: A global biogeographic perspective—Structure, function, and ecosystem services, Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer (2017)