DGES Founders Seminar Presents Dr. Michael Ekers

• In-person event
• A410, Loeb Building, Carleton University
• 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON, K1S 5B6

• Contact
• Natalia Fierro, natalia.fierromarquez@carleton.ca

The Department of Geography and Environmental Studies presents:

Dr. Michael Ekers, Assistant Professor, University of Toronto, Scarborough

On

Producing Farms, Producing Farmers; Interns and Agro-Ecological Questions

Abstract:
This talk examines the explosion of unpaid and unregulated internships on agro-ecological farms in Ontario.  Drawing on primary analysis of farm internships, and referencing classical and contemporary debates in agrarian political economy, I argue that intern labour renders farm production sustainable by replacing off-farm inputs.  Farm internships are a form of quasi-commodified labour that allow unprofitable farms to reproduce themselves despite the competitive pressures of industrialized agriculture.  Similarly, internships are a form of non-monetized and non–institutionalized education through which ecological knowledge is acquired by aspiring farmers, yet is restricted to privileged subjects who can afford to work without a wage.  I highlight some pressing challenges relating to the conjoined social and ecological sustainability of the agro-ecological farm movement and leverage the discussion to offer a novel intervention in classic accounts of the agrarian question.