Paper Trails and Moral Fields: Organic Certification in Uttarakhand, India

Dr. Shaila Seshia Galvin spent much of 2007 and 2008 conducting field research on organic agriculture certification in Uttarakhand, India. Not long after Uttarakhand became an Indian state in 2000, the Uttarakhand government adopted policies to promote organic agriculture as part of its rural development and poverty-fighting programs. Due to capital constraints and lack of technological infiltration, the region’s farmers used mostly organic agricultural practices even before the state-sponsored programs. However, Dr. Galvin has found that formalized documentation processes are important mechanisms to facilitate access to foreign markets. Also, these documentation processes reinforce self-enforcement of organic standards and help uphold the integrity of agricultural practices. In fall 2013, Dr. Galvin will join the Williams College CES as the Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Environmental Studies.

Dr. Galvin at Log Lunch on April 19th