Nicole Civita, JD, LL.M. is a food systems innovator, educator, ethicist and attorney. Her approach to fostering change in and through food is grounded in systems thinking and ecological knowledge, attentive to relationships of care and reciprocity, and framed by comprehensive law and policy knowledge. She has extensive experience leading multi-stakeholder, community-based projects to support the development of vibrant and resilient place-based agroecological food systems and systems-aware policies. Nicole’s scholarship and service identify ethical values and explore dilemmas across the food chain, with particular attention to the well-being of workers, producers, their families and communities. Through this work, she produces ethics guidance, actionable policy and programmatic recommendations, and truth-telling tools that enable nourishing, informed, and values-aligned choices about food. Nicole is nationally recognized for her work on food waste and conservation and harnessing the hidden power of food systems to address the climate crisis.
As a “pracademic” and higher education administrator, Nicole’s work spans education, organizing, and professional practice. Prior to her appointment as Sterling College’s Vice President for Strategic Initiatives, Nicole served the college as Senior Advisor to the President, Faculty in Sustainable Food Systems, and the Assistant Director of the Rian Fried Center for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems. She was instrumental in establishing the School of the New American Farmstead and developing undergraduate curriculum in sustainable food systems. Nicole has also held faculty appointments as: Sustainable Food Systems Specialization Lead in the Masters of the Environment professional graduate program at the University of Colorado Boulder (where she provided experiential, service-oriented education and close mentorship to the next generation of changemakers in the food system); an affiliated professor with the LL.M. Program in Agricultural and Food Law at the University of Arkansas School of Law; and as a research scholar with the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics and its Global Food Ethics and Policy Program.
Nicole is honored to be a founding co-convener and policy director for Project Protect Food Systems, a diverse coalition of immigrants, farmers, scholars, activists, unions, public health officials, and workers across Colorado that works to identify, elevate and address the needs of the people who contribute their labor to all parts of the food system. Nicole has also served as a member of the Colorado Food Systems Coalition and its COVID-19 Rapid Response & Vision teams. She is a co-director of Business Unusual: The Essential Workers Project and was a core member of the Choose Food project team. In 2019, she was appointed by Governor Jared Polis to serve on the Colorado Food Systems Advisory Council.
Internationally, in collaboration with Gopikabai Sitaram Gawande (GSG) College in Umarkhed, India, Nicole spearheaded the development of the Maati-Paani-Asha vision, which points the way toward a regenerative and relational agricultural system capable of reducing farmer suicide, developing resilience against drought and extreme heat, and improving health.
Profile
Award | Institution |
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LL.M. in Agricultural and Food Law | University of Arkansas School of Law |
J.D., magna cum laude, Order of the Coif | Georgetown University Law Center |
A.B. in American Studies and Creative Writing | Columbia University |
Presentations |
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An Introduction to Essential Workers, Food, Law, and COVID-19, University of Arkansas School of Law (Virtual, September 18, 2020) |
Localized Impact: The Crucial Role of Socially & Environmentally Responsible Supply Chains, Building a Resilient Future Through Responsible Business - Changemakers Coalition of Colorado (September 15, 2020, Virtual) |
From Rapid Response to Enduring Inclusion: Farmworker Protections During & Beyond the COVID Crisis, Blueprint to End Hunger Convening (July 21, 2020, Virtual) |
Structural Change for a Valued Workforce, Denver Good Food Purchasing Coalition (July 10, 2020, Virtual) |
Trends and Opportunities to Elevate Regenerative Agriculture in Colorado, 350 Colorado (June 24, 2020, Virtual) |
Food Security, Justice, Sovereignty, and Resilience, Danone Institute North America One Planet One Health Initiative Training (October 16, 2019, Boulder, CO) |
Regenerative and Responsible Sourcing, Naturally Boulder Morning Mingle (September 25, 2019, Boulder, CO) |
Talking Food Waste – Moving the Conversation Forward, Food Waste Awareness Week (Septem-ber 13, 2019, Boulder, CO) |
Participatory Workshop on Urban Wasted Food and Sustainability (Invited Expert), Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future (September 9-10, 2019, Baltimore, MD) |
The Future of Food (Panel Moderator & Discussant), The Vail Symposium (August 8, 2019, Vail, CO) |
Wasted Opportunity: Conservation of & Through Food, Colorado Food Waste Summit (June 5, 2019, Centennial, CO) |
The Power & Limits of Market-Based Change in the Food System, Choose Food Symposium (November 8, 2018, Baltimore, MD) |
Core Ethical Commitments Presentation & Stakeholder Engagement, (November 6-7, 2018, Baltimore, MD) |
Ethics Over Exploitation: Moral Issues in Food System Labor, Choose Food Symposium (November 5, 2018, Baltimore, MD) |
Pathways for Ethical Improvement of the Food System: Market-Oriented & Policy-Driven Change, Ethics & the Common Good Symposium at Hampshire College (April 27, 2018, Amherst, MA) |
Food Waste Measurement Gaps—Identifying Research Needs Across the Food System Based on Re-search Findings To-Date, FFAR Convening on Food Waste (November 16, 2017, Arlington, VA) |
Food Security, Justice, Sovereignty, or Resilience: Distinguishing Paradigms & Honing Advocacy Strategies, Berman Institute for Bioethics Seminar Series (October 23, 2017, Baltimore, MD) |
Choose Food: Empowering Eaters to Make Ethically Based Food Choices, Google (June 29, 2017, Mountain View, CA) |
Ethics Over Exploitation: Moral Mapping of Food System Labor, Just Food? Forum on Labor in the Food System at Harvard Law School (April 1, 2017, Cambridge, MA) |
How We Use Law & Policy to Reduce Food Waste and Promote Food Recovery, Waste Expo: Organics Recycling Conference and Food Recovery Forum (May 8, 2017, New Orleans, LA) |
Repurposing Food, Reducing Risk: Legal & Practical Dimensions of Putting Excess Food to its Highest & Best Use, Coffee Talk Webinar - Chesapeake Foodshed Network (January 19, 2017, virtual) |
Food Recovery at Large Institutions, Reduce & Recover: Save Food For People at Harvard Law School (June 28, 2016, Cambridge, MA) |
Shaping a Federal Food Conservation Policy Agenda, Food Waste & Hunger Summit – Campus Kitchens Project (April 17, 2016, Fayetteville, AR) |
Food Security & Climate Change, Association of American Law Schools Annual Meeting - Food & Agricultural Law Section Educational Session (January 2, 2015, Washington, DC) |
Planting Justice: Feeding Equality Through Sustainable Cultivation, OK-AR Horticulture Industries Show (January 11, 2015, Fort Smith, AR) |
Old McDonald Comes to Town: Urban Agriculture Planning Tools & Legal Considerations, American Planning Association’s 2015 National Conference (April 18-22, 2015, Seattle, WA) |
The Law of Food Waste & Recovery, The Last Food Mile: An International Summit on Food Waste (Dec. 8-9, 2014, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA) |
Planning for Food, Preparing for Disaster, Promoting Public Health, Nat’l Assoc. of City & County Health Organizations Working Group Meeting, (Dec. 2, 2014, Virtual) |
Choosing Food Justice, Keynote Lecture – Consumer Issues Conference 2014: Food - Perceptions, Practices & Policies, University of Wyoming School of Law (October 9, 2014, Laramie, WY) |
Food Recovery & the Law, Food Waste & Hunger Summit (April 6, 2014, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL) |
Publications |
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Civita, N., Ethics Over Exploitation: Urgent Moral Issues Associated with Labor & Communities in the Food System in Feeding the World Well: A Framework for Ethical Food Systems, ed. Goldberg, A. (JHU Press, 2020) |
Barnhill, A., Civita, N., and Faden, R. The Ethical Basis for Choose Food in Feeding the World Well: A Framework for Ethical Food Systems, ed. Goldberg, A. (JHU Press, 2020) |
Barnhill, A., Civita, N., and Faden, R. The Core Ethical Commitments in Feeding the World Well: A Framework for Ethical Food Systems, ed. Goldberg, A. (JHU Press, 2020) |
Barnhill, A. and Civita, N., Ethics of Healthy Eating (Chapter 91:1) in the Handbook of Eating and Drinking: Interdisciplinary Perspectives (Springer, July 2019) |
Civita, N., Food Recovery, Donation, and the Law (Chapter 19) in Food Waste Across the Supply Chain: A U.S. Perspective on a Global Problem (CAST, 2016) |
Schneider, S., Civita, N., and Bernadett, L., Ch. 3 – Local Food Policies & Ch. 16 – Agricultural Ur-banism in Fayetteville, Arkansas: The Food City Scenario, URBAN AGRICULTURE: POLICY, LAW, STRATEGY, & IMPLEMENTATION, American Bar Association (2015) |
Newton, P., Civita, N., Frankel-Goldwater, L., Bartel, K., and Johns, C., What is regenerative ag-riculture? A review of scholar and practitioner definitions based on processes and outcomes, Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems (October 2020) |
Brunet Marks, A. Knapp, H. and Civita, N., Project Protect Food Systems' Colorado Coronavirus Crisis Essential Food System Worker Policy Response Agenda(Version II), U. Colo. L. Rev. Forum (Aug. 20, 2020) |
Barnhill, A. and Civita, N., Food Waste: Ethical Imperatives & Complexities, Physiology & Behavior, Special Issue (May 2020) |
Stoll, Garrett and Civita, N., Resilient Food Systems, Entrepreneurship, and Experiential Education (Colorado Business Review, 2020) |
Barnhill, A. and Civita, N., Aligning Ethics & Information to Strengthen Market-Based Change of the Food System in EurSafe Congress 2019: Sustainable governance and management of food sys-tems: ethical perspectives (Wageningen Academic Publishers, 2019) |
Civita, N., How Should Physicians Help Patients Who Are Ill Because They Work in Agriculture?, AMA Journal of Ethics (October 2018) |
Civita, N., Resilience: The Food Policy Imperative for a Volatile Future, 45 Environmental Law Re-porter 10663 (July 2015) |
Civita, N., Agrarians Feeding Communities: Reconnecting Federal Farm Policy and Nutrition Assistance for a More Just Agri-food System, 7 Northwestern Interdisciplinary Law Review 1, 69 (2014) |
Civita, N., 2012 Developments in Food Law & Policy, 18 Drake J. Agric. L. 1, 39 (2013) |
Interests:
Sewing, pottery, photography, cooking, gardening, herbalismAccomplishments
Chase Faculty Community Service Award – 2020 Nominee
Colorado Food Systems Advisory Council
Governor-appointed member of statewide food policy body (2019-2021)
University of Colorado Boulder – CU Engage Fellowship
Faculty Fellow in Community Based Learning (2019-20)
University of Michigan – Bergstrom Child Welfare Law Fellowship
Bergstrom Fellow (2005)
SIGNIFICANT PROJECTS
Project Protect Food Systems (March 2020-present)
Business Unusual: Addressing Essential Workers’ Needs During and After the COVID-19 Pandemic (March 2020-December 2020)
Maati-Paani-Asha: Regeneration of Land, Health & Hope in the Face of Extreme Poverty & Climate Crisis, Food System Vision Prize entry & Center Development (2019-present)
Delta-Montrose County Regional Food System Assessment (2019)
Choose Food / Consumers, Certifications and Labels: Ethically Benchmarking Food Systems project (2016-2020)
Food Recovery Project (2013-2020)
Food Resilience Initiative (2014-2015)
Fayetteville 2030: Food City Scenario (2013-2015)
LAW PRACTICE
Of Counsel, Handel Food Law, LLC, Bedminster, NJ
Associate Attorney, Hogan Lovells US LLP, New York, NY & Los Angeles, CA
Student Attorney, Georgetown Juvenile Justice Clinic, Washington, DC
Fellow, Lawyers for Children America, Washington DC
NATIONAL SERVICE
AmeriCorps VISTA, Sitka Community Schools, Sitka, AK (2002-2003)
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Senior Advisor to the President, Sterling College, VT (late 2020-early 2021)
Sustainable Food Systems Specialization Lead & Graduate Faculty, University of Colorado Boulder Masters of the Environment Graduate Program (2018-2021)
Research Scholar & Adjunct Faculty, Johns Hopkins University
Global Food Ethics & Policy Program – Berman Institute of Bioethics (2017-2020)
Assistant Director, Rian Fried Center for Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems & Faculty in Sustainable Food Systems, Sterling College, VT (2015-2017)
Director, Food Recovery Project & Affiliated Professor of Law, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville LL.M. Program in Agricultural & Food Law (2013-present, in various capacities)
Three Books You Recommend?
Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer
The Fifth Season, N.K. Jemesin
Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land by Leah Penniman
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