Research


Parallel land use / land cover analysis of permaculture farms

Concept map of permaculture as design, practice, movement, and worldview

 

Combining the focus of agroecology with the conceptual and methodological frameworks of political ecology gives you political agroecology. This is an emerging field, so it’s not always the most immediately informative label for what I do – but it is the label that fits best. My research program has been organized around working with the farmers and grassroots network(s) of permaculture to support the transition to sustainable and multifunctional agriculture. As a political agroecologist, I’m interested in both the quantifiable performance of farming systems, as well as the ways in which our ideas about agriculture (and sustainability in general) translate into policy that creates winners and losers for different constituencies. The research focus of my dissertation was the permaculture movement, and it’s present and potential contributions to agroecological transition. I’m also interested in the political ecology of diversified farming systems more broadly – especially as it intersects with popular movement for social justice.

You can find my publications here.