Doctoral Dissertation Research: Labor Offshoring in Knowledge Intensive Agriculture

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SES-134375Jane CollinsAnnabel IpsenUniversity of Wisconsin-MadisonThis dissertation uses the case of the global seed industry to address questions about knowledge-intensive agriculture and its relationship to skill, labor offshoring and employment conditions. It explores a case where U.S.-based firms have moved some of their knowledge-intensive production offshore to take advantage of a low-waged labor market, while maintaining some jobs in the U.S. This study investigates the dilemma that global seed companies face when selecting their workforce: should they recruit skilled workers in high-quality production jobs or should they retain a workforce whose wages and working conditions reflect an older set of norms in the agricultural sector? To address these issues, this dissertation asks: 1) How do seed companies achieve high-skilled output while relying on an inexperienced workforce? 2) How are firms' labor market strategies shaped by the nature of the commodity and the competitive pressures they face? And 3) How do place-specific socioeconomic and political relations shape labor markets and opportunities for workers' agency? In order to answer these questions, the investigator will perform a labor-focused commodity chain analysis of the global seed industry through interviews and data collection and conduct a multi-sited ethnography in two (Arica, Chile and Des Moines, Iowa) locations along the commodity chain of a U.S.-based transnational seed company. This work will expand the theoretical base used to study labor in global manufacturing to include agriculture-specific factors and fills gaps in the agricultural literature on: skill, global-local linkages and knowledge-intensive agriculture. It will refine current labor and development theories and examine what type of effects commodity-specific imperatives (technology, labor, capital) have on the configuration of the local labor market. Identifying the factors that influence firms' labor offshoring decisions is instructive for understanding the seed industry, but also in providing insight into how other globalized labor markets function. Broader Impacts: This dissertation will advance our understanding of the relationship between skill, work conditions and labor offshoring in knowledge-intensive agricultural work. To enhance research infrastructure, the investigators will present the work in diverse venues to develop networks to support students? interest in creating local research initiatives and to broaden the participation of underrepresented students in my project as research assistants. The research activities will promote applied learning opportunities for students. In addition, the investigators will work with international policy and research institutions on agricultural labor. Findings will be shared with affiliated organizations, universities, NGOs and research and policy institutions to enhance our understanding of how new forms of labor force segmentation reinforce vulnerability and to leverage additional research and program support for agricultural labor.