Laura-Anne Minkoff-Zern
Biographic Data
| ID | 103604 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Laura-Anne Minkoff-Zern |
| GIVEN NAMES | Laura-Anne |
| FAMILY NAME | Minkoff-Zern |
| SIGNATURE | MINKOFF-ZERN L |
| AFFILIATIONS | Syracuse University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-3133-8130 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 20 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 113 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 20 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Labor, power and scale: An analysis of food policy councils and food labor advocacy in the United States
FPC’s policy centered approach to labor injustice contrasts with movements which prioritize local food through market-based initiatives. • FPC’s focus on the regional scale presents both challenges and opportunities for prioritizing food system labor. • Values-based procurement, a growing policy priority for FPCs, has been shown to improve wages and working conditions for food systems laborers. • We call for critical scholarship to (re)consider b…
Contemporary Land Transitions in the United States: Critical Questions of Concentration and (Re)Distribution
Agricultural land in the United States is currently undergoing a major transition. Seventy percent of land is expected to change hands in the next 20 years, with many existing farmers ready to retire and lacking heirs interested in agriculture. This moment is not lost on financial institutions, which are buying up land in search of new sources of rentier profit, further fueling land concentration. At the same time, beginning farmers are strugglin…
Latinx Food, Labor, and Culture
Land access among immigrant Latinx workers and farmers in the United States: Racialization, Invisibility, and Possibilities for Reform
This article looks at the conditions and challenges for immigrant Latinx workers and farmers in accessing farmland in the United States. As white farmers retire in large numbers, and competing interests look to buy up swaths of American farmland for consolidation, investment, and development, newer groups of farmers struggle with finding and purchasing land at affordable prices. In the context of this land market affordability gap, there is incre…
Thinking across agrarian class hierarchies in guest worker programs: Limitations to worker and farmer collective strategies
Both farmers and workers utilize guest worker programs to gain access to the transnational food labor economy. Yet such programs reinforce both employees’ and farm owners’ relative lack of power in the global food system. This paper discusses the approaches farmers and workers utilizing the H-2A guest worker program in the United States employ to cope with such inequalities. We assess findings from qualitative interviews in New York state with cu…
The essential work of feeding others: Connecting food labor in public and private spaces
Food sovereignty and displacement: Gardening for Food, Mental Health, and Community Connection
In this paper, we assess factors that underlie the relationship between gardening and improved mental health and food security outcomes among displaced people. Drawing on a mixed method study of refugee gardeners in New York, we argue that a food sovereignty framework better incorporates crucial factors such as cultural appropriateness of food, autonomy over food choices, and promotion of health and community, as compared with a food security ana…
Role of Gardening in Mental Health, Food Security, and Economic Well-Being in Resettled Refugees: A Mixed Methods Study
Executive Summary Home and community gardening is emerging as a beneficial intervention for resettled refugee populations. Using an interdisciplinary lens, we examined whether gardening influences mental health, food security, and economic well-being. A mixed methods study ( n = 29) was conducted with quantitative surveys to assess indicators of mental health, food security, and economic well-being. Qualitative, semi-structured interviews explore…
Protracted dependence and unstable relations: Agrarian questions in the H-2A visa program1
Teaching labor in food studies: Challenging consumer-based approaches to social change through student research community partnerships
In this article we explore the results of a research collaboration between an undergraduate class focused on labor in the food system and the nonprofit organization, Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC) United. Students were trained as interviewers and collected surveys with restaurant workers in the upstate New York region as part of ROC United’s ongoing effort to eliminate the subminimum wage for tipped workers in New York State. We argue that…
Because they are connected: Linking structural inequalities in farmworker organizing
Agriculture in the United States (US), long dominated by white male interests, is rooted in entrenched structural inequalities. Prominent among them is the power of growers over a dependable low-wage racialized and gendered workforce that is disciplined with the threat of their disposability. Workers and other activists have long responded with opposition. We advance radical food geography scholarship with a relational understanding of the struct…
Race, immigration and the agrarian question: Farmworkers becoming farmers in the United States
As White farmers in the United States retire en masse, the racial and ethnic demographics of US farming are shifting to now include a significant number of Latino farm owner-operators. Yet this population of new farmers, contributing specific technical expertise and knowledge, is not represented in current discussions concerning agrarian transitions. This paper draws on interview-based research conducted in the states of California, Maryland, New…
A new era of civil rights? Latino immigrant farmers and exclusion at the United States Department of Agriculture
Latino Im/migrants, “Dietary Health” and Social Exclusion: A Critical Examination of Nutrition Interventions in California
In this article, we highlight findings from ethnographic research on dietary health interventions with low-income Latino im/migrant populations in the Central Coast of California. We discuss the assumptions underpinning different models of nutrition intervention and education, as well as what these assumptions suggest about common perceptions of Latino im/migrant dietary health and knowledge. We demonstrate how interventions contribute to further…
Knowing “Good Food”: Immigrant Knowledge and the Racial Politics of Farmworker Food Insecurity
This article explores the ways that farmworkers, many of whom come from a culture deeply rooted in food and agricultural practices, cope with food insecurity by utilizing their agricultural and nutritional knowledge. Food assistance providers in the USA often treat farmworkers' inability to afford healthy food as a lack of knowledge about healthy eating, reinforcing racialized assumptions that people of color don't know “good” food. I argue that …
Challenging the Agrarian Imaginary: Farmworker-Led Food Movements and the Potential for Farm Labor Justice
This article addresses the need for more engagement between the alternative food movement and the food labor movement in the United States. Drawing on the notion of agrarian imaginary, I argue for the need to break down divides between producer and consumer, rural and urban, and individual and community based approaches to changing the food system. I contend that farmworker-led consumer-based campaigns and solidarity movements, such as the Coalit…
Race, Space, and Nature: An Introduction and Critique
In this essay we put forth nested arguments about the way that racialization remains a powerful force in contemporary society, contending that intersections with space and nature offer important lessons about the (de)construction of race. We argue that the pernicious character traits of racial constructs develop through spatial practices and intersect with ideas about “nature” and belonging. We trace these concepts through recent conversations in…
Knowing “Good Food”: Immigrant Knowledge and the Racial Politics of Farmworker Food Insecurity
This article explores the ways that farmworkers, many of whom come from a culture deeply rooted in food and agricultural practices, cope with food insecurity by utilizing their agricultural and nutritional knowledge. Food assistance providers in the USA often treat farmworkers' inability to afford healthy food as a lack of knowledge about healthy eating, reinforcing racialized assumptions that people of color don't know “good” food. I argue that …
Subsidizing farmworker hunger: Food assistance programs and the social reproduction of California farm labor
Pushing the boundaries of indigeneity and agricultural knowledge: Oaxacan immigrant gardening in California
Race, Space, and Nature: An Introduction and Critique
In this essay we put forth nested arguments about the way that racialization remains a powerful force in contemporary society, contending that intersections with space and nature offer important lessons about the (de)construction of race. We argue that the pernicious character traits of racial constructs develop through spatial practices and intersect with ideas about “nature” and belonging. We trace these concepts through recent conversations in…
Pushing the boundaries of indigeneity and agricultural knowledge: Oaxacan immigrant gardening in California
Because they are connected: Linking structural inequalities in farmworker organizing
Agriculture in the United States (US), long dominated by white male interests, is rooted in entrenched structural inequalities. Prominent among them is the power of growers over a dependable low-wage racialized and gendered workforce that is disciplined with the threat of their disposability. Workers and other activists have long responded with opposition. We advance radical food geography scholarship with a relational understanding of the struct…
Race, immigration and the agrarian question: Farmworkers becoming farmers in the United States
As White farmers in the United States retire en masse, the racial and ethnic demographics of US farming are shifting to now include a significant number of Latino farm owner-operators. Yet this population of new farmers, contributing specific technical expertise and knowledge, is not represented in current discussions concerning agrarian transitions. This paper draws on interview-based research conducted in the states of California, Maryland, New…
Subsidizing farmworker hunger: Food assistance programs and the social reproduction of California farm labor
Food sovereignty and displacement: Gardening for Food, Mental Health, and Community Connection
In this paper, we assess factors that underlie the relationship between gardening and improved mental health and food security outcomes among displaced people. Drawing on a mixed method study of refugee gardeners in New York, we argue that a food sovereignty framework better incorporates crucial factors such as cultural appropriateness of food, autonomy over food choices, and promotion of health and community, as compared with a food security ana…
Latino Im/migrants, “Dietary Health” and Social Exclusion: A Critical Examination of Nutrition Interventions in California
In this article, we highlight findings from ethnographic research on dietary health interventions with low-income Latino im/migrant populations in the Central Coast of California. We discuss the assumptions underpinning different models of nutrition intervention and education, as well as what these assumptions suggest about common perceptions of Latino im/migrant dietary health and knowledge. We demonstrate how interventions contribute to further…
Challenging the Agrarian Imaginary: Farmworker-Led Food Movements and the Potential for Farm Labor Justice
This article addresses the need for more engagement between the alternative food movement and the food labor movement in the United States. Drawing on the notion of agrarian imaginary, I argue for the need to break down divides between producer and consumer, rural and urban, and individual and community based approaches to changing the food system. I contend that farmworker-led consumer-based campaigns and solidarity movements, such as the Coalit…
Land access among immigrant Latinx workers and farmers in the United States: Racialization, Invisibility, and Possibilities for Reform
This article looks at the conditions and challenges for immigrant Latinx workers and farmers in accessing farmland in the United States. As white farmers retire in large numbers, and competing interests look to buy up swaths of American farmland for consolidation, investment, and development, newer groups of farmers struggle with finding and purchasing land at affordable prices. In the context of this land market affordability gap, there is incre…
Protracted dependence and unstable relations: Agrarian questions in the H-2A visa program1
A new era of civil rights? Latino immigrant farmers and exclusion at the United States Department of Agriculture
Pushing the boundaries of indigeneity and agricultural knowledge: Oaxacan immigrant gardening in California
Knowing “Good Food”: Immigrant Knowledge and the Racial Politics of Farmworker Food Insecurity
This article explores the ways that farmworkers, many of whom come from a culture deeply rooted in food and agricultural practices, cope with food insecurity by utilizing their agricultural and nutritional knowledge. Food assistance providers in the USA often treat farmworkers' inability to afford healthy food as a lack of knowledge about healthy eating, reinforcing racialized assumptions that people of color don't know “good” food. I argue that …
Challenging the Agrarian Imaginary: Farmworker-Led Food Movements and the Potential for Farm Labor Justice
This article addresses the need for more engagement between the alternative food movement and the food labor movement in the United States. Drawing on the notion of agrarian imaginary, I argue for the need to break down divides between producer and consumer, rural and urban, and individual and community based approaches to changing the food system. I contend that farmworker-led consumer-based campaigns and solidarity movements, such as the Coalit…
Race, Space, and Nature: An Introduction and Critique
In this essay we put forth nested arguments about the way that racialization remains a powerful force in contemporary society, contending that intersections with space and nature offer important lessons about the (de)construction of race. We argue that the pernicious character traits of racial constructs develop through spatial practices and intersect with ideas about “nature” and belonging. We trace these concepts through recent conversations in…
Knowing “Good Food”: Immigrant Knowledge and the Racial Politics of Farmworker Food Insecurity
This article explores the ways that farmworkers, many of whom come from a culture deeply rooted in food and agricultural practices, cope with food insecurity by utilizing their agricultural and nutritional knowledge. Food assistance providers in the USA often treat farmworkers' inability to afford healthy food as a lack of knowledge about healthy eating, reinforcing racialized assumptions that people of color don't know “good” food. I argue that …
Subsidizing farmworker hunger: Food assistance programs and the social reproduction of California farm labor
Latino Im/migrants, “Dietary Health” and Social Exclusion: A Critical Examination of Nutrition Interventions in California
In this article, we highlight findings from ethnographic research on dietary health interventions with low-income Latino im/migrant populations in the Central Coast of California. We discuss the assumptions underpinning different models of nutrition intervention and education, as well as what these assumptions suggest about common perceptions of Latino im/migrant dietary health and knowledge. We demonstrate how interventions contribute to further…
A new era of civil rights? Latino immigrant farmers and exclusion at the United States Department of Agriculture
Race, immigration and the agrarian question: Farmworkers becoming farmers in the United States
As White farmers in the United States retire en masse, the racial and ethnic demographics of US farming are shifting to now include a significant number of Latino farm owner-operators. Yet this population of new farmers, contributing specific technical expertise and knowledge, is not represented in current discussions concerning agrarian transitions. This paper draws on interview-based research conducted in the states of California, Maryland, New…
Because they are connected: Linking structural inequalities in farmworker organizing
Agriculture in the United States (US), long dominated by white male interests, is rooted in entrenched structural inequalities. Prominent among them is the power of growers over a dependable low-wage racialized and gendered workforce that is disciplined with the threat of their disposability. Workers and other activists have long responded with opposition. We advance radical food geography scholarship with a relational understanding of the struct…
Teaching labor in food studies: Challenging consumer-based approaches to social change through student research community partnerships
In this article we explore the results of a research collaboration between an undergraduate class focused on labor in the food system and the nonprofit organization, Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC) United. Students were trained as interviewers and collected surveys with restaurant workers in the upstate New York region as part of ROC United’s ongoing effort to eliminate the subminimum wage for tipped workers in New York State. We argue that…
Protracted dependence and unstable relations: Agrarian questions in the H-2A visa program1
Role of Gardening in Mental Health, Food Security, and Economic Well-Being in Resettled Refugees: A Mixed Methods Study
Executive Summary Home and community gardening is emerging as a beneficial intervention for resettled refugee populations. Using an interdisciplinary lens, we examined whether gardening influences mental health, food security, and economic well-being. A mixed methods study ( n = 29) was conducted with quantitative surveys to assess indicators of mental health, food security, and economic well-being. Qualitative, semi-structured interviews explore…
Thinking across agrarian class hierarchies in guest worker programs: Limitations to worker and farmer collective strategies
Both farmers and workers utilize guest worker programs to gain access to the transnational food labor economy. Yet such programs reinforce both employees’ and farm owners’ relative lack of power in the global food system. This paper discusses the approaches farmers and workers utilizing the H-2A guest worker program in the United States employ to cope with such inequalities. We assess findings from qualitative interviews in New York state with cu…
The essential work of feeding others: Connecting food labor in public and private spaces
Food sovereignty and displacement: Gardening for Food, Mental Health, and Community Connection
In this paper, we assess factors that underlie the relationship between gardening and improved mental health and food security outcomes among displaced people. Drawing on a mixed method study of refugee gardeners in New York, we argue that a food sovereignty framework better incorporates crucial factors such as cultural appropriateness of food, autonomy over food choices, and promotion of health and community, as compared with a food security ana…
Contemporary Land Transitions in the United States: Critical Questions of Concentration and (Re)Distribution
Agricultural land in the United States is currently undergoing a major transition. Seventy percent of land is expected to change hands in the next 20 years, with many existing farmers ready to retire and lacking heirs interested in agriculture. This moment is not lost on financial institutions, which are buying up land in search of new sources of rentier profit, further fueling land concentration. At the same time, beginning farmers are strugglin…
Latinx Food, Labor, and Culture
Land access among immigrant Latinx workers and farmers in the United States: Racialization, Invisibility, and Possibilities for Reform
This article looks at the conditions and challenges for immigrant Latinx workers and farmers in accessing farmland in the United States. As white farmers retire in large numbers, and competing interests look to buy up swaths of American farmland for consolidation, investment, and development, newer groups of farmers struggle with finding and purchasing land at affordable prices. In the context of this land market affordability gap, there is incre…
Labor, power and scale: An analysis of food policy councils and food labor advocacy in the United States
FPC’s policy centered approach to labor injustice contrasts with movements which prioritize local food through market-based initiatives. • FPC’s focus on the regional scale presents both challenges and opportunities for prioritizing food system labor. • Values-based procurement, a growing policy priority for FPCs, has been shown to improve wages and working conditions for food systems laborers. • We call for critical scholarship to (re)consider b…
Sociology (15 works) · Geography (13 works) · Agriculture (12 works) · Organic Food and Agriculture (12 works) · Political science (12 works) · Economics (11 works) · Economic growth (9 works) · Urban Agriculture and Sustainability (9 works) · Food security (7 works) · Law (7 works)