If you are attending the RSS meeting in August, then you are invited to register and attend the SAFRIG mini-conference on The Neoliberal Regime in Agri-Food: Crisis, Resilience and/or Restructuring. This event will be held on July 26 (9:00 am 4:00 pm) at the Hilton Palmer House in Chicago. Discussion and paper presentations will continue throughout the SAFRIG regular RS sessions in the following conference days. Break food and coffee will be provided for those who register.

Sign up by logging into your account under Registration on the RSS Meeting page to indicate your participation.  Registration is for the mini-conference is free, but participants and attendees need to register by June 15, 2012 so that they can be counted in. 

The Neoliberal Regime in Agri-Food: Crisis, Resilience and/or Restructuring

RSS SAFRIG mini-conference

July 26, 2011

Palmer House, Chicago, Illinois

Information

For the last three decades, the Neoliberal regime has shaped production and consumption processes in agriculture and food. At present, social instability and protest, economic recessions, political uncertainties and ecological degradation and risks have prompted claims that we now confront a systemic crisis. The regulatory mechanisms and patterns of material flow that constitute the contemporary agri-food regime are implicated in contemporary global insecurities, both physical and metaphysical on an unprecedented scale.  The capacity to maintain the legitimacy and material coherence of the neoliberal regime is in doubt.  This mini-conference is devoted to an informed, constructive dialogue and debate around the thesis that we have reached some institutional and material limit.

Sociology of Agriculture and Food Research Interest Group Student Paper Award

The Sociology of Agriculture and Food Research Interest Group (SAFRIG) will present a Student Paper Award at the 2012 Rural Sociological Society meetings in Chicago, IL. Requirements for this award include that the paper: 1) is authored by a student or group of students (no faculty co-authors), 2) focuses on an agrifood topic, and 3) uses the Rural Sociology journal guidelines for style, formatting and references.  Papers will be particularly competitive if they demonstrate effective use of innovative theories and/or methods. In order to compete, all authors must be members of the Rural Sociological Society. The winner will receive a certificate and monetary award.  The winner must present the paper at the RSS Annual Meeting, and the award will be presented during the SAFRIG Business Meeting.
Submissions for this competition should be sent as an e-mail attachment by July 6, 2012 to Spencer Wood (sdwood@ksu.edu).

Post Doc Position at Iowa State University

The Department of Sociology at Iowa State University invites applications for a post doc position to conduct sociological research in agriculture, natural resources, and community with faculty in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

This position entails working with Department of Sociology faculty to conduct research including work with primary survey data and secondary data sets, analyses for social, economic, and cultural patterns applying sociological theories, and preparing manuscripts with faculty for peer reviewed journal publication and general public audience. We are looking for a self-motivated, highly-organized and self-directed person with ability to work independently and as a member of a team

Job duties and responsibilities

1. Conduct research on agriculture and conservation land management, natural resource management, and community

2. Analyze socioeconomic, perceptions, and ecological impacts of the biofuels industry at multiple scales

3. Prepare manuscripts for scientific journal publication as author/co-author

4. Participate in multidisciplinary grant proposal writing

5. Work closely with faculty to conduct research

Minimum qualifications

1. PhD in sociology with expertise in one or more areas: agriculture, natural resource management, and/or community

2. Proficiency in quantitative data analysis, working with survey data sets, combining primary and secondary data using a variety of techniques including statistical analyses, modeling and spatial representation

3. Skillful writer; demonstrated ability to communicate effectively in writing technical and professional journal articles

4. Strong sociological theory and application to natural resources, agriculture, and/or community

Preferred qualifications

1. Knowledge of federal secondary data sources, such as Census, BLS, BEA, etc.

2. Survey research experience

3. Knowledge of GIS concepts and software

4. Critical thinker, able to analyze data, connect to sociological theories

5. Grant writing experience

Salary commensurate with candidate’s academic and professional qualifications [min ~ $40,000]

Location: Iowa State University, Department of Sociology, Ames, Iowa State University

To be considered please send CV, example of writing, three letters of reference and mail to: Post-Doc Search Committee, Dr. Lois Wright Morton, Department of Sociology, 303 East Hall, Ames, Iowa 50011

Provide Input on USDA Research Priorities

USDA Seeks Public Comments on Research Priorities -- due Mar. 22

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is accepting public comments regarding future research priorities and program solicitations for the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative. A public meeting for stakeholders will be held on 22 February 2012 in Washington, D.C. Written comments will be accepted through 22 March. More information is available at http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-02-01/html/2012-2100.htm.

Submission Deadline for SAFRIG Mini-Conference Extended

The deadline for abstract submissions for the SAFRIG Mini-Conference has been extended to Wednesday, February 29.

As before, if you would like to submit an abstract to be considered for the SAFRIG mini-conference, simply include the phrase “SAFRIG mini-conference” in the title of your abstract to differentiate it from regular submissions to the RSS annual meeting.

And, please remember the corrected date for this mini-conference: Thursday, July 26.

See the Call for Papers below.

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SAFRIG Mini-Conference Call for Papers

As part of SAFRIG’s contribution to the RSS 75th anniversary celebration , we will convene a mini-conference in Chicago on July 26th, 2012. This is the day of the Presidential Address and the day before the annual meeting program begins in earnest.

The mini-conference is designed to allow us to have an extended collective dialogue on a theme that we believe will be of general interest. While we welcome astracts from people who are not SAFRIG members, we are particularly eager to attract interest from our membership in order to advance the cohesion and intellectual vibrancy of the group. The mini-conference planning committee consists of Steven Wolf, Alessandro Bonanno and Wynne Wright.

Find the call for papers below and attached, and you are invited to distribute and post widely. Looking forward to seeing you in Chicago.

Call for Papers

The Neoliberal Regime in Agri-Food: Crisis, Resilience and/or Restructuring

Mini-conference organized by the Rural Sociological Society (RSS), Sociology of Agri-food Research Interest Group (SAFRIG)

July 26, 2012

Palmer House, Chicago Illinois

For the last three decades, the Neoliberal regime has shaped production and consumption processes in agriculture and food. At present, social instability and protest, economic recessions, political uncertainties and ecological degradation and risks have prompted claims that we now confront a systemic crisis. The regulatory mechanisms and patterns of material flow that constitute the contemporary agri-food regime are implicated in contemporary global insecurities, both physical and metaphysical on an unprecedented scale. The capacity to maintain the legitimacy and material coherence of the neoliberal regime is in doubt. We propose a one-day mini-conference devoted to an informed, constructive dialogue and debate around the thesis that we have reached some institutional and material limit. Is the neoliberal regime exhausted? Are we at the outset of a new regime? And if so, what are the opportunities and risks linked to the construction of a new regime? Of course, in contemplating radical restructuring we must account for the historical capacity of agri-food governance to deflect critique, co-opt rivals and sustain the unsustainable. We seek to advance understanding of the evidence supporting claims of rupture of, or incursions to, the Neoliberal model. We also seek to encourage the submission of papers that develop programmatic outlines of pragmatic responses to these critiques including policy initiatives, social mobilization and research targeted at various scales and points of entry.

This mini-conference celebrates the 75th anniversary of the Rural Sociological Society and SAFRIG’s rich tradition of conceptualizing agriculture and food as reflecting and structuring larger developmental processes. We seek theoretical contributions that address overarching debates regarding systemic crisis, including papers that address financialization, ecological overshoot, the status of nation states, transnational agents, market logic and civil society in governance and the prospects for realization of democratic ideals. We also seek empirical contributions that explore particular aspects of crisis and responses, including the potential for continued resilience, a neo-productivist return, as well as the emergence of new alternative models and scaling up of new or existing alternative models.

We invite submission of abstracts from all interested people through the RSS Annual meeting webpage (go to http://ruralsociology.org/). Deadline for abstracts is February 29th 2012. Include the phrase “SAFRIG mini-conference” in the title of your abstract to differentiate it from regular submissions to the RSS annual meeting. Authors of papers selected for the mini-conference will contribute a 3000 word paper by June 15th, which we will post online in order enhance the quality of scholarly exchange during the mini-conference. Questions can be directed to Steven Wolf atsaw44@cornell.edu.

SAFRIG Mini-Conference Call for Papers

As part of SAFRIG’s contribution to the RSS 75^th anniversary celebration , we will convene a mini-conference in Chicago on July 26^th, 2012. This is the day of the Presidential Address and the day before the annual meeting program begins in earnest.

The mini-conference is designed to allow us to have an extended collective dialogue on a theme that we believe will be of general interest. While we welcome astracts from people who are not SAFRIG members, we are particularly eager to attract interest from our membership in order to advance the cohesion and intellectual vibrancy of the group. The mini-conference planning committee consists of Steven Wolf, Alessandro Bonanno and Wynne Wright.

Find the call for papers below, and you are invited to distribute and post widely. Looking forward to seeing you in Chicago.

Call for Papers

The Neoliberal Regime in Agri-Food: Crisis, Resilience and/or Restructuring

Mini-conference organized by the Rural Sociological Society (RSS), Sociology of Agri-food Research Interest Group (SAFRIG)

July 26, 2011

Palmer House, Chicago Illinois

For the last three decades, the Neoliberal regime has shaped production and consumption processes in agriculture and food. At present, social instability and protest, economic recessions, political uncertainties and ecological degradation and risks have prompted claims that we now confront a systemic crisis. The regulatory mechanisms and patterns of material flow that constitute the contemporary agri-food regime are implicated in contemporary global insecurities, both physical and metaphysical on an unprecedented scale. The capacity to maintain the legitimacy and material coherence of the neoliberal regime is in doubt. We propose a one-day mini-conference devoted to an informed, constructive dialogue and debate around the thesis that we have reached some institutional and material limit. Is the neoliberal regime exhausted? Are we at the outset of a new regime? And if so, what are the opportunities and risks linked to the construction of a new regime? Of course, in contemplating radical restructuring we must account for the historical capacity of agri-food governance to deflect critique, co-opt rivals and sustain the unsustainable. We seek to advance understanding of the evidence supporting claims of rupture of, or incursions to, the Neoliberal model. We also seek to encourage the submission of papers that develop programmatic outlines of pragmatic responses to these critiques including policy initiatives, social mobilization and research targeted at various scales and points of entry.

This mini-conference celebrates the 75^th anniversary of the Rural Sociological Society and SAFRIG’s rich tradition of conceptualizing agriculture and food as reflecting and structuring larger developmental processes. We seek theoretical contributions that address overarching debates regarding systemic crisis, including papers that address financialization, ecological overshoot, the status of nation states, transnational agents, market logic and civil society in governance and the prospects for realization of democratic ideals. We also seek empirical contributions that explore particular aspects of crisis and responses, including the potential for continued resilience, a neo-productivist return, as well as the emergence of new alternative models and scaling up of new or existing alternative models.

We invite submission of abstracts from all interested people through the RSS Annual meeting webpage (go to http://ruralsociology.org/). Deadline for abstracts is February 15^th 2012. Include the phrase “SAFRIG mini-conference” in the title of your abstract to differentiate it from regular submissions to the RSS annual meeting. Authors of papers selected for the mini-conference will contribute a 3000 word paper by June 15^th, which we will post online in order enhance the quality of scholarly exchange during the mini-conference. Questions can be directed to Steven Wolf at saw44@cornell.edu.

Position Announcement

EcoAgriculture Partners

Food Security and Climate Resilience Consultant

Posted December 15, 2011

EcoAgriculture Partners seeks to hire a half-time Consultant for 5-6 months, to contribute to an exciting project developing landscape scale strategies for “climate smart” agriculture that improve livelihood security and resilience of farmers and their communities while concurrently protecting and restoring ecosystem services. The Consultant will be a member of the professional team that will implement the project. The work will begin in January, 2012. The Consultant may be based in the Washington, DC area or near Ithaca, New York and Cornell University, or possibly elsewhere.

Primarily, the Consultant will prepare a paper on approaches to achieving food security and ecological resilience for at-risk households and communities engaged in agriculture and natural resource management in the face of climate change. The paper will be based principally on a comprehensive review of scholarly and grey literatures related to linkages between food security/poverty alleviation and agroecosystem/ecosystem management. The Consultant will explore economic, sociological and policy literatures as well as literatures linked to international development programs concerned with food relief, food security and poverty alleviation through agriculture and natural resource management in the context of climate resilience, adaptation and mitigation goals. The paper will suggest ways that programs and projects might be designed and implemented to deliver food security and ecosystems benefits through integrated investments and management systems.

The paper will be organized around a framework for analyzing potential interfaces between ecosystem management at farm, community and landscape scales, and food security and resilience in the face of threats from drought and natural resource degradation. Through research for the paper and interaction with other team members the consultant will help to elaborate the framework. The Consultant also will conduct interviews with strategically selected informants to inform the paper. The paper will be distributed at “Rio+20” in June 2012, and submitted to an appropriate journal for publication. A draft of the paper, in written or power point format (to be determined) will be presented for feedback and input at the Landscapes for People, Food and Nature Forum in Nairobi, in March 2011. http://landscapes.ecoagriculture.org/

Required skills and experience:

• Masters degree in natural resources, agriculture, development economics, regional planning, international development, policy, development sociology or a related field;

• Experience working on food security, disaster management and/or ecosystem resilience issues and analysis;

• Excellent analysis and writing skills;

• High level of organization and self-direction; and

• English fluency.

Desirable:

• Field work in developing countries

• Spanish and French language.

Compensation:

• $2,000 - $3,225/month for half-time work depending on experience

To apply:

Please email your curriculum vitae; a cover letter stating your interest in and qualifications for this position; a sample of your scholarly/academic writing on a topic related to this position; and, names and contact information for two references, with subject line Consultant – [your name] to Courtney Wallace, cwallace@ecoagriculture.org. Review of applications will commence as they are received and continue until this position is filled.

EcoAgriculture Partners is a non-profit organization that works to facilitate sustainable food production, rural livelihoods, and environmental conservation through integrated approaches to rural landscape management. The organization does so by providing training, research, policy solutions, and support to farmers, communities, and organizations at the local, national and international levels. To learn more about EcoAgriculture Partners, visit our website at www.ecoagriculture.org.