United States | Agricultural decision-making

2026 Top Agri-food Pioneers: Corinne Scown

Corinne Scown is a leader in advancing sustainable agrifood systems through rigorous, systems-level science and advanced modeling. Trained as an environmental engineer, her research integrates life-cycle assessment, techno-economic analysis and systems modeling to evaluate emerging biobased technologies and agricultural innovations. Her work emphasizes quantitative decision-making, identifying which biomass feedstocks, conversion pathways and land-use strategies can deliver climate, environmental and economic benefits at scale. Scown spearheaded the design and development of CalBioScape, a publicly accessible web-based platform enabling stakeholders to visualize, integrate and analyze data critical to the bioeconomy of California’s North San Joaquin Valley. It provides agricultural producers, businesses, community groups and researchers with a powerful tool to make informed decisions. She has developed frameworks connecting agricultural production, biomass supply chains and biomanufacturing pathways, clarifying how underutilized biomass can support a circular bioeconomy without undermining food security or ecological integrity.