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).