Deb Peters
Agricultural Research Service, USDA
Deb Peters is a research ecologist for the Agricultural Research Service of the USDA in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Peters works to improve the science of predicting and preventing ecological disasters. Peters’ research area is the Southern Plains, where the Dust Bowl took place. Some of her research projects include: Management Technologies for Arid Rangelands and Rangeland Management and Technologies. She has written many articles on the topics of managing grassland ecosystems, wind erosion, and the effects of climate change and the possibilities of reversing desertification.
Presenter for the Following Session
- National Youth Summit on the Dust Bowl
In the 1930s drought and intensive farming in the Great Plains brought about dust storms, crop failure, and human misery in one of the worst ecological disasters in America’s history. The 2012 National Youth Summit will unpack this story and connect it with current issues of drought, agricultural sustainability, and national and global food security. The Summit will include segments from award-winning documentary filmmaker Ken Burns’s forthcoming film The Dust Bowl, and a discussion moderated by Huffington Post science correspondent Cara Santa Maria featuring: Ken Burns; Dust Bowl survivor Cal Crabill; USDA ecologist Debra Peters; 5th generation farmer Roy Bardole from Rippey, Iowa; and Glenn Roberts, farmer and founder of Anson Mills.
