Alternative Food Movements and Farmer Viability: An International Perspective

Across the globe, alternative food movements have emerged in response to the devastation—environmental, social, and economic—brought about by a global industrialized food system. At the core of these movements are small and medium size farmers who are driving agroecological change through innovative practices and discursive frameworks that revalorize peasant identities. In the US, beginning farmers and ranchers are often playing this vital role in reimagining and remaking agricultural livelihoods and regional food systems. Here and abroad, however, the long-term viability of small and medium size farmers is continually jeopardized by structural barriers in the global industrialized food system. This talk will explore the concept of farmer viability as it relates to alternative food movements and the productive possibilities of agri-cultural exchange between the global North and South.
 

Biography

Dr. Kevin Cody is the inaugural Hoch Cunningham Professor of the Practice in Food Systems at Tufts University. He is also the Farmer Training Program Manager at New Entry Sustainable Farming Project where he develops pathways to generate and sustain new and beginning farmers. Prior to New Entry, Kevin was a faculty member in Environmental and Sustainability Studies at the University of Northern Colorado where he developed experiential and community-engaged courses on food systems, and managed the university's student farm program. He received his PhD in Sociology from the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he explored the internationalization of alternative food networks and the long-term viability of beginning farmers.