On 28 November 2024 Julia Spanier successfully defended her PhD thesis titled ‘A rural(–urban) perspective: Agricultural grassroots initiatives and the making of post-capitalist futures’. Abstract. This PhD thesis explores the role of agricultural grassroots initiatives (AGIs) in societal transformations away from the capitalist status quo. AGIs are bottom-up, small-scale alternatives that exist within (and in…

Julia Spanier, Leonie Guerrero Lara and Jacob Smessaert co-authored a new paper titled ‘Building solidarities and alliances between degrowth and food sovereignty movements‘ (Journal of Political Ecology). Degrowth and food sovereignty movements share commitments to social-ecological transformation, democracy and the flourishing of human and non-human life. Encounters between the two movements have been relatively limited, however….

van Oers, L., Feola, G., Moors, E., Runhaar, H., (in press). Facilitating unlearning in agricultural education: preparing for family-farm succession. The Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension. Abstract: This paper seeks to explore the manner in which secondary vocational education in agriculture can facilitate unlearning among young farmers. In this context, ‘unlearning’ means deliberately letting go…

van Oers, L., Smessaert, J., Feola, G., (in press). Initiating transformation within a Dutch grassroots agri-food initiative: An analysis of social processes. Sociologia Ruralis. This article brings new empirical evidence and nuanced reflections on the social processes of transformation within grassroots agri-food initiatives that propose relocalised, decentralised and autonomous ways of organising around food systems….

Rossi, A., Piccoli, A., Feola, G. (in press). Transforming labour around food? the experience of community supported agriculture in Italy Agriculture and Human Values. Abstract.  This study examines the strategies developed by Italian Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) initiatives to de-commodify, de-instrumentalise and de-monetise labour in their attempt to prefigure alternatives to dominant capitalist agri-food systems. To do…

Smessaert, J., Feola, G., (in press). Becoming-interdependent: democratic praxis in-against-and-beyond capitalism in agrifood collectives. Antipode. Abstract. This paper contributes to debates on autonomous geographies by fore-grounding and analysing democratic praxis in two grassroots agrifood collectives to interrogate the ways in which it constitutes a vehicle for postcapitalist transformation. We focus on the negotiation and (re)distribution of power…

By Leonie Guerrero Lara and Julia Spanier  Alternative food movements are white spaces Alternative food movements have been repeatedly called out for being primarily white spaces, particularly from scholars and activists in the US-American context (Slocum 2006; Guthman 2008). The term white spaces does not only refer to ‘the presence of pale-skinned bodies’ (Alkon and…

Raj, G. (in press). Selective, reciprocal and quiet: Lessons from rural queer empowerment in community-supported agriculture. Agriculture and Human Values.   Abstract. Rural queer studies, viewed through the lens of relational agriculture, offer critiques of heteropatriarchal norms in farming and highlight strategies used by queer farmers to manoeuvre discrimination and thrive in rural areas. This…

Frank, L., Feola., G., Schäpke, N., 2024. Assessing regime destabilisation through policy change: An analysis of agricultural policy in the United Kingdom during Brexit. Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions 50, 100810.   Abstract In sustainability transitions research, the deliberate destabilisation of socio-technical regimes is increasingly recognised as a central intervention point. Absent, however, are granular approaches for assessing…

Raj, G., Feola, G. & Runhaar, H. Work in progress: power in transformation to postcapitalist work relations in community–supported agriculture. Agriculture and Human Values (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-023-10486-8   Abstract. Community-supported agriculture (CSA) initiatives are spaces where diverse work relations are performed. From a postcapitalist perspective, these initiatives attempt to create alternative-capitalist and non-capitalist work relations next to…