January 2022
Dan Tobin is an assistant professor in ¶¶Òõ̽̽'s and the inaugural Food Systems Research Center (FSRC) "Researcher of the Month" - a new series launched in January 2022 to highlight researchers studying pressing issues in our local and regional food system. Tobin's research focuses on how small- and medium-scale farmers respond to external influences like market forces, policy mechanisms, and environmental changes. Read below to learn more about his work and life.
1. What current food systems research are you conducting?
Over the last several years, I’ve developed an interest in the on-farm maintenance and use of crop diversity, specifically the motivations and values of farmers who grow diverse crops and benefits they perceive. Current research on this topic includes projects looking at linkages between crop diversity and food / nutrition security in sub-Saharan Africa, conservation of maize landraces among Mexican farmers, and seed systems in the Northeastern US. Across all of these geographic contexts, it has become clear that in addition to economic considerations, non-economic values are at least equally influential in motivating farmers to continue to grow diverse crops. Connecting to cultural heritage, ensuring that culinary and taste preferences are fulfilled, appreciating the (environmental and economic) risk mitigation benefits, and so on are all important reasons that farmers talk about. It sounds simplistic but at least in the field of agricultural development, the importance of non-economic values has been overlooked. This has grown into a broader initiative in collaboration with Amy Trubek and many other excellent faculty and students across the university, with support from the Food Systems Center, to see if we can quantitatively measure the full range of motivations, both economic and non-economic, underlying decision-making in agricultural production, with the hope of extending this across production systems and geographic contexts.
2. What got you interested in food systems research?
I’ve had the fortune and privilege to travel fairly extensively internationally and beginning in college, I started to notice the omnipresence of agriculture in rural settings, which initially piqued my interest. Then, while working as a Peace Corps volunteer in Bolivia, I began to realize that food and agriculture are situated at the nexus of many of the most pressing issues society faces. In doing interdisciplinary research on food systems, I appreciate the complexity of the agrifood system. The interactions between and among environmental, biological, cultural, social, economic, institutional, political, etc. factors means that, at least for me, questions about food production and distribution are always dynamic and exciting.
3. How is your FSRC-funded research impacting Vermonters?
Within Vermont, a good deal of the research I have conducted focuses on seed systems and the farmers and gardeners who maintain high levels of crop diversity. We have begun to document the impressive work that is happening here in the state, from home-based seed savers to small seed companies, seed libraries, and refugee and Indigenous producers, all of whom are crucial to the resilience of local and regional food systems. As we proceed in this work, a primary goal is to build networks and connections among these individuals and communities and make the seed system (and thus food system) more robust in ways that can help crop adaptation to changing environmental conditions and assure wider available of diverse crops that can fulfill cultural, nutritional, or other preferences.
4. Where do you see the role of your field in expanding research on food systems at ¶¶Òõ̽̽ and beyond?
I’m trained as a rural sociologist and so central to the research I conduct are questions of power – who has it, how is it distributed, how is it wielded. Essentially, this boils down to how the food system is governed, which of course directly relates to inequities in the food system and intersects with issues of diversity, equity, inclusion, access, etc. If these types of considerations can be consistently and genuinely embedded in food systems research, the social aspect of sustainability will be elevated which has not occurred to date to the same degree that it has for the economic and environmental domains of sustainability. This of course doesn’t necessarily resolve injustice in the food system but at least makes assumptions more visible so that decision-making and policymaking can be informed and better equipped to pursue equity and justice in the food system.
5. What is something about you people would be surprised to learn?
When I lived in Bolivia, boiled potatoes were the staple food and centerpiece of just about every meal. My record was 17 potatoes in one sitting. It’s one of the reasons that though I spent several years working with and conducting research on Andean potato producers, I no longer really like to eat potatoes.
6. What’s your favorite thing about living in Vermont?
Oh, it’s both having so much to do outdoors in all seasons at our fingertips as well as the social fabric and community orientation. It’s a wonderful place to raise a family. When I go to academic conferences, I often play the game in my head of who has a more beautiful drive home than I do.
7. What TV show, band/artist, podcast, video game, book, and/or anything are you most obsessed with right now?
With two young kids, leisure time is unfortunately scarce these days and I really wish I had a good book recommendation. But I did manage to watch the Beatles documentary Get Back and was totally absorbed by their process of making music. Every few years I’ll listen to the Beatles intensively but since watching the documentary I can’t stop listening to Let It Be…Naked and Abbey Road – and now have a totally new appreciation for those albums.
Check out Dan's faculty profile and learn about other FSRC-funded work.
