Christa Court
Assistant Professor
- Gainesville FL UNITED STATES
- Institute of Food and Agricultural Services
Christa Court is director of the UF/IFAS Economic Impact Analysis Program, which focuses on disaster impacts to the state of Florida.
Contact More Open optionsBiography
Christa Court is director of the UF/IFAS Economic Impact Analysis Program, a subset of which focuses on disaster impacts to the state of Florida. Using economic modeling, the program can estimate, or contribute to estimations of, losses incurred within sectors involved in agriculture, forestry and fisheries production, which directly contribute a combined $11.3 billion in sales revenue to the state economy.
Areas of Expertise
Media Appearances
Florida Foodie: Pandemic cost state’s farmers $895 million, UF professor says
WKMG Orlando online
2022-05-31
The pandemic continues to cause issues across multiple industries, but agriculture has faced several unique challenges — from crops rotting on the vine during shutdowns to having to find new ways to sell their produce.
As climate change disrupts supply chains, American life is poised to change drastically
Salon online
2021-08-05
"Various hazard events can disrupt food supply chains by impairing production of and access to food," Christa Court, an assistant professor of regional economics at the University of Florida, told Salon by email, citing as examples calamities such as infrastructure damage, loss of capacity or direct damage to livestock and crops. "Resulting food access issues are acute in vulnerable communities with limited grocery and transportation options and can be compounded by the timing of disaster events."
University of Florida economists detail tourism revenue losses following 2018 red tide blooms
News-Press online
2021-08-05
“We did focus on the Southwest Florida region because that’s where this particular bloom was largest and lasted the longest,” Christa Court, director of the Economic Impact Analysis program at UF/IFAS said. “It’s also the region in Florida that is typically impacted more often by harmful algal blooms, specifically red tide.”
UF Economists Estimate $55-100M Hit To Florida Agriculture Due To Hurricane Sally
Urban Ag News online
2020-10-08
“Unlike most hurricanes, where wind is the driving force behind a majority of the damages, Hurricane Sally also included a lot of rainfall in a short period of time in an area that already had saturated ground,” said Christa Court, director of the program and assistant professor in the UF/IFAS food and resource economics department. “There were still impacts like pecans blown off trees, but we also have to account for significantly more water impacting crop fields and grazing lands than we usually see.”
At Stake in Sally’s Wake: $400 Million in Florida Panhandle Agricultural Products
Southeast AgNet online
2020-09-18
“These types of climate-related disasters are the most destructive to agriculture,” said Christa Court, director of the program and an assistant professor in the UF/IFAS food and resource economics department. “When we do our assessments, we’re really looking to capture the acute, short-term impacts, like losses of seasonal crops that were in the field when the storm hit, but we know that other impacts will appear in the long-term.”
UF Researchers To Study How Algae Blooms Hurt Florida’s Economy
WJCT News online
2020-05-12
Lead UF researcher Christa Court, an economist with the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, said the study will focus on the red tide event that began in 2017 and lasted through early 2019, causing then Gov. Rick Scott to declare a state of emergency. Researchers will be using data from past events as well. “In order to inform decision making related to trying to mitigate these events in the future, we’re going to have to have a better understanding of the type of impacts that they’re causing,” Court said.
Social
Articles
Towards integrated modeling of the long-term impacts of oil spills
Marine PolicyChrista D Court, et al.
2021-06-22
Although great progress has been made to advance the scientific understanding of oil spills, tools for integrated assessment modeling of the long-term impacts on ecosystems, socioeconomics and human health are lacking. The objective of this study was to develop a conceptual framework that could be used to answer stakeholder questions about oil spill impacts and to identify knowledge gaps and future integration priorities.
The impact of COVID-19 on global value chains: Disruption in nonessential goods production
Regional Science Policy & PracticeJoao‐Pedro Ferreira, et al.
2021-04-05
Public health measures enacted to mitigate the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have dampened economic activity by shuttering businesses that provide ‘nonessential’ goods and services. Not surprisingly, these actions directly impacted demand for nonessential goods and services, but the full impact of this shock on the broader economy will depend on the nature and strength of value chains.
Evaluating the regional economic contributions of US aquaculture: Case study of Florida’s shellfish aquaculture industry
Aquaculture Economics & ManagementRobert Botta, et al.
2021-01-11
Regional economic assessments (REAs), including economic contribution and impact analyses, are often used in resource-based industries to inform policymakers, elected officials, and the general public of an industry’s role within the regional economy. This paper will provide an overview of economic contribution analysis, the challenges associated with applying these analyses to U.S. aquaculture production, and techniques to overcome these challenges.
Accounting for global value chains: rising global inequality in the wake of COVID-19?
International Review of Applied EconomicsChrista D Court, et al.
2020-08-10
Production processes depend on fragmented and interdependent value chains; nowadays, a single product often includes components produced in dozens of countries. Many public health measures being implemented to prevent the spread of COVID-19 have dampened economic activity of ‘non-essential’ sectors. The decreased production affects other industries and countries that supply parts, machinery, and services via global value chains.
Understanding Perceptions and Attitudes toward Genetically Modified Organisms on Twitter
International Conference on Social Media and SocietyInyoung Jun, et al.
2020-07-22
Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and their uptake continuously generate controversial discussions among consumers, producers and policymakers. In this study, we prospectively and retrospectively collected GMO-related Twitter data, developed text classifiers to filter out irrelevant tweets, and categorized relevant tweets into organizational entities and laypeople.
