"Nutrition champion" Mitcham retires after three decades

Cooperative Extension specialist Elizabeth Mitcham has retired after working with the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences since 1992.

Growers know Mitcham for her work in tree fruits and nuts, berries, tomatoes, grapes and pest management. Her specialty has been produce after harvest, working on new ways to maintain flavor quality and reduce food loss. From storage to processing, marketing, policy and trade, she has striven to secure better returns for farmers and more nutritious food for consumers – at home and around the world. She has been active in the UC Agriculture and Natural Resources workgroup associations to share her knowledge.

Mitcham was the director of the UC Davis Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Horticulture since 2009.

In the course of her career, Mitcham found that food waste contributes to poverty and poor nutrition: Nearly one-third of all the food produced in the world is never eaten. In developed countries, an estimated 20 percent of food is wasted on the farm or from improper or inadequate drying, storage, packaging and transportation; while more is lost after consumers buy it.

“Unfortunately, the costs are so low that sometimes it's cheaper to buy way more than you need than it is to buy a reasonable quantity, so it tends to drive consumer behavior in that direction,” Mitcham explained in a 2020 interview.

Mitcham linked complex mechanisms including marketing, large-scale retailers and consumer behavior to shocking levels of food waste: An estimated 40 percent of all the food produced in the United States gets thrown out, according to the food rescue organization Feeding America. Much of that waste occurs after consumers buy their food.

Mitcham retired effective June 30. Succeeding her at the Feed the Future Innovation Lab is new Director Erin J. McGuire and Associate Director Archie Jarman. Both have been with the lab for several years.

A nutrition “champion”

Under her visionary leadership, the lab has achieved significant milestones. Her contributions include work in emerging economies to make horticulture a profitable business for smallholder farmers. She was director of the UC Postharvest Technology Center, also on the Davis campus, from 2009 to 2016.

In 2022, she received the H. Marc Cathey Award  from the American Horticultural Society for “outstanding scientific research that has enriched horticulture and plant science.” The award recognized her “tireless advocacy” in championing the power of fruit and vegetables to increase nutrition and income for poor people.

Mitcham’s academic work was recognized in 2018 with the UC Davis Chancellor's International Engagement Achievement Award. In 2015, she received the Outstanding International Horticulturist Award from the American Society for Horticultural Science; and she served as ASHS vice president for the international division from 2017 to 2019.

Mitcham started out studying Christmas trees, she said, and eventually came to focus on fruit ripening and nutrition. All her degrees are in horticulture: She earned a bachelor of science degree from the University of Maryland in 1984; a master’s from North Carolina State University in 1986; and a doctorate from the University of Maryland in 1990.

Mitcham announced her retirement plans in May during a Feed the Future Innovation Lab meeting with regional partners in Nairobi, Kenya, hosted by the United States Agency for International Development. “We're so grateful to all of you for the leadership of your lab,” said Rob Bertram, chief scientist in USAID’s Bureau for Resilience and Food Security.

Related links

More about Elizabeth Mitcham here.

Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Horticulture info here.

More about the new leadership at the lab is here.

UC Postharvest Technology Center info here.