Tamara J. Benjamin

Tamara’s research has concentrated primarily on the biophysical, social, and economic implications of agroecosystem diversification, the impact of agroecosystems on ecological communities, and the management of agroforestry planning.

She has written proposals on topics pertaining to agroforestry systems in Latin America such as biodiversity conservation, integrated farms, and international agribusiness. 

Some of her interests are finding ways to design agroforestry systems to meet the needs of local farmers or the agenda of national governments in Latin America. The design of sound agroforestry systems that have high adoption rates takes into account a myriad of factors that include social, economic, physical, biological, ecological, and cultural aspects.

Through this focus, she has developed, prepared, and conducted farm diversification and home garden seminars to local community groups in Latin America. She developed the agroforestry diversification component of a USDA-Purdue-Cornell project that was implemented in the Upper Humuya Region of Honduras. 

Tamara has played an integral role in the ornamental working group at CATIE that has linked with the Entomology Department at Purdue University to write the first Clean Stock Program with USDA-APHIS and the Ministry of Agriculture in Costa Rica. This as well as another project funded by USDA-FAS helped reduce pest incidence in exported tropical flowers and indoor house plants intended for the USA.

Tamara is also interested in the interface of the agricultural landscape and its impact on biodiversity conservation as well as water and soil conservation. Her main focus has been on developing indices for biodiversity conservation and sustainability to better design agricultural systems taking these factors into account. She was involved with a World Bank project that helped write the policy for payment for environmental services within silvopastoral systems for Latin America. 

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She has also been interested in biofuel production that has been impacting large areas of Latin America. She has led the working group to write proposals for the sustainable production of biofuels within the current agricultural practices to reduce competition between food and energy production. She has served as a reviewer for the criteria being established for the sustainable production of biofuels through the international initiative, Roundtable for the Sustainable Production of Biofuels.