Ashley Spalding is a research agricultural economist in the Farm Economy Branch of the Resource and Rural Economics Division at the USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS).

Ashley joined ERS in 2022, after completing her PhD in Agricultural and Resource Economics at University of California, Davis and working as a postdoctoral researcher in the same department. Her graduate research focused on the effect of information on consumer and producer behavior, as it relates to food products and agricultural commodities. This research included information about both credence attributes—specifically transitional organic and local production—and food-safety incidents. Her work on local production largely focused on marketing strategies and opportunities for local, value-added or processed food products. Prior to obtaining her PhD, she worked as an energy analyst for an environmental consulting firm.

PhD in Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of California at Davis
MS in Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of California at Davis
BS in Environmental Economics and Policy, University of California at Berkeley

Agricultural and Applied Economics Association

Spalding, A., R.E. Goodhue, K. Kiesel, and R.J. Sexton. 2022. "Economic Impacts of Food Safety Incidents in a Modern Supply Chain: E. coli in the Romaine Lettuce Industry," American Journal of Agricultural Economics.

Kiesel, K. and A. Spalding. 2019. New Marketing Opportunities for Local Food Producers, ARE Update 23(1): 1–4, University of California Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics.

Spalding, A. and S. Villas-Boas. 2011. Investigating Price Pass-Through in Local Milk Markets, ARE Update 14(3): 1–3, University of California Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics.