How do we know what we know about food systems?
I'm currently developing a new research area focus that analyzes the politics of knowledge around food and agricultural systems in the United States. We ask, how do past food systems priorities determine the limits of what is knowable about agriculture today, how do data histories and data assumptions shape food system possibilities, and where are the levers for change? Publications: Rissing, A., Burchfield, E. K., Spangler, K. A., & Schumacher, B. L. (2023). Implications of US agricultural data practices for sustainable food systems research. Nature Food, 4(3), 213-217. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-023-00711-2 |
Resown: Post-industrial agrarian change
Iowa is the country’s leading producer of corn, soybeans, and hogs, yet its agricultural landscapes produce more than export-oriented commodities. Small-scale, alternative farms are emerging alongside Iowa’s fields of grain. My current book project is an ethnography investigating the connections between industrial and alternative agriculture in Iowa. The book examines the intersections between Iowa’s ostensibly distinct systems of agricultural production to understand how overlapping rural social worlds create new approaches to farming. I analyze the resulting tensions and opportunities as windows into broader post-industrial transition pathways. |
Integrating human and biophysical factors to project future cropscapes under climate change.
This project engages farmers and food systems stakeholders in diverse agricultural systems to investigate the social and environmental factors that drive agricultural futures. Our team is integrating historical analyses, predictive modeling, expert insights, and farmer perceptions to identify emergent crops, technologies, policies, and on-farm realities that might alter probable futures in each region. National Science Foundation Dynamics of Integrated Socio-Environmental Systems. Award #2307271. |
Managing Markets: Assessing the Relationship Between Farmers Market Management and Farmers' Economic Viability and Quality of Life
This project explores a new area of interest: the informal and formal rules of local food system governance. Using online content analysis, focus groups, and interviews, this project asks how different kinds of farmers markets deploy different kinds of managerial strategies--and how these variations create different outcomes for managers and vendors alike. USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (Southern Region). Award #LS22-368. A sister project, funded through a research cooperative agreement with the USDA Agricultural Marketing Services, seeks to understand variations in the management and community presence of markets that are managed by outside organizations (such as a parks and recreation department, a multi-market collaboration, or a community development group). |