Texas A&M Department of Agricultural Economics professor Marco Palma has been named the associate director for Responsive Agriculture at the Texas A&M AgriLife Institute for Advancing Health Through Agriculture (IHA).
IHA is the world’s first research institute to “combine precision nutrition, responsive agriculture and behavior research to reduce diet-related chronic diseases,” according to the Texas A&M AgriLife website.
Along with his professorship, Palma is also an AgriLife Research fellow, director of the Human Behavior Laboratory at Texas A&M and has served as IHA’s interim associate director since 2024.
Palma believes that Responsive Agriculture research is now “more pertinent than ever” and envisions a future that includes agriculture as the solution to a host of challenges.
“Agriculture is our core strength; it can drive meaningful change,” claims Palma. “Responsive Agriculture research empowers the agriculture industry to dynamically adapt to modern challenges, improving human health while increasing resiliency and economic prosperity for farmers and ranchers.”
IHA Director Teresa Davis praised Texas A&M AgriLife for having an “unparalleled network of researchers representing elite capabilities that allow us to engage in this strategic agricultural research.”
“With a researcher of Dr. Palma’s caliber leading this work at the IHA, we’re moving toward our goal of improving food system innovation and human health around the state, and, ultimately, the world.”