Doctoral Dissertation Research: Labor Offshoring in Knowledge Intensive Agriculture

SES-134375 Jane CollinsAnnabel Ipsen威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校本论文以全球种子产业为例，探讨知识密集型农业及其与技能、劳动力离岸外包和就业条件的关系。它探讨了一个案例，其中美国-总部位于美国的公司已经将一些知识密集型生产转移到海外，以利用低工资的劳动力市场，同时在美国保留一些工作岗位。如果他们在高水平地区招聘熟练工人，还是应该保留其工资和工作条件反映农业部门一套旧规范的劳动力？为了解决这些问题，本文提出：1）种子公司如何实现高技能的产出，而依赖于缺乏经验的劳动力？2)企业的劳动力市场战略是如何被商品的性质和他们所面临的竞争压力所塑造的？3）特定地点的社会经济和政治关系如何塑造劳动力市场和工人代理的机会？为了回答这些问题，调查人员将通过访谈和数据收集对全球种子行业进行以劳动力为重点的商品链分析，并在美国商品链沿着的两个地点（智利阿里卡和爱荷华州得梅因）进行多点人种学研究。跨国种子公司。这项工作将扩大用于研究全球制造业劳动力的理论基础，以包括农业特定因素，并填补农业文献中的空白：技能，全球-地方联系和知识密集型农业。它将完善当前的劳动力和发展理论，并研究特定商品的必要条件（技术，劳动力，资本）对当地劳动力市场的配置有什么样的影响。确定影响公司的劳动力离岸外包决策的因素是有益的了解种子行业，但也提供了洞察其他全球化的劳动力市场的功能。 更广泛的影响：本论文将增进我们对知识密集型农业劳动力离岸外包与技能、工作条件之间关系的理解。为了加强研究基础设施，研究人员将在不同的场所提出的工作，以发展网络，以支持学生？我希望我的项目能让更多的学生参与到本地的研究活动中来，让他们成为我的研究助理。研究活动将促进学生的应用学习机会。此外，调查人员将与国际政策和研究机构合作，研究农业劳动力。研究结果将与附属组织，大学，非政府组织和研究和政策机构分享，以提高我们对新形式的劳动力分割如何加强脆弱性的理解，并利用额外的研究和计划支持农业劳动力。

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.