Am excited to be involved with a two-day international conference on “New Forms of Agriculture”, to be held Nov. 20 & 21, 2013, on the INRA/AgroSup/University of Burgundy campus. The conference focuses on the social and political aspects of alternative agriculture movements, public debates over the pros and cons of differently configured agri-food systems, and other ways in which discussions about farming are politicized and/or depoliticized. Keynote speakers will include Julie Guthman of the University of California–Santa Cruz, Nancy Peluso of the University of California-Berkeley, and myself.  I’ll be talking about my experiences working with others to develop a National Sustainable Ag Standard (Leo-4000) and to refine the measurement tools used by government agencies to quantify agricultural conservation benefits and carbon-emissions.  Am looking forward to visiting with Laura Sayre, who is one of the main organizers of this event and, the editor of Fields of Learning.

Contributions to this conference are welcome from all social science, humanities, and related disciplines, focusing on examples from any geographic region and from any historical or contemporary period.  For more on this click here.