Associate Professor of Sociology Brian Gareau and his former student Connor Fitzmaurice are co-authors of Organic Futures: Struggling for Sustainability on the Small Farm, a new book born of undergraduate research. (Photo by Gary Wayne Gilbert)
When Connor Fitzmaurice 鈥�10 transferred to Boston College prior to his junior year, he hoped he would find an environment that supported undergraduate research.聽
Now, six years later, Fitzmaurice is the co-author of a book 鈥� based on his award-winning senior thesis funded in part by the University 鈥� on which he collaborated with a faculty member who became his mentor and friend, Associate Professor of Sociology Brian Gareau.聽
It鈥檚 fair to say he found what he was looking for at 51茶馆, and more.
鈥淭he people I met, like Brian, were incredibly helpful and caring, and showed me all kinds of possibilities for what I could do,鈥� says Fitzmaurice, a Freehold, NJ, native who is now a doctoral student at Boston University. 鈥淭hat made such a difference.鈥�
Publishing Organic Futures: Struggling for Sustainability on the Small Farm was a professionally and personally satisfying achievement for both Fitzmaurice and Gareau, and a testament to the formative character of liberal arts education. Fitzmaurice took a compelling contemporary subject of personal interest to him 鈥� the popularity of organic food 鈥� and made it the basis of a literally hands-on research experience that included toiling at a Boston-area farm.
Connor Fitzmaurice and Brian Gareau discussed their book on WBUR-FM 'Radio Boston.' .
For Gareau, who joined 51茶馆 in 2009, collaborating with Fitzmaurice was an opportunity to extend his own scholarship in food systems and sustainability, and ultimately deepen his insight into the role of a college teacher.
鈥淏eing a professor means you have to make careful decisions on how you commit your time and energy, not only to teaching but to research and service,鈥� says Gareau, who credits departmental colleague Associate Professor Paul Gray for his initial involvement in Fitzmaurice鈥檚 project. 鈥淥bviously, a major part of my job is to help our students find their calling, and sometimes that means investing extra time and energy when you feel it will lead to a positive outcome.聽
鈥淗ow do you make that decision? You consider the quality of the student, and the passion for his or her work. If Connor wasn鈥檛 who he is, I wouldn鈥檛 have participated in the project. But I was confident this would be worthwhile, and it鈥檚 been rewarding to see how everything has turned out.鈥�
Organic Futures explores the lives of New England small-scale organic farmers as they struggle to compete in an era where the much-touted 鈥渙rganic鈥� food most Americans eat is produced not in small, intimate agricultural settings but by the food industry, and sold in outlets like McDonald鈥檚 and Walmart. Fitzmaurice and Gareau trace the trajectory of the organic, 鈥渓ocally grown鈥� food movement from its beginnings nearly a century ago among farmers resisting the advent of industrial agriculture, through the 1960s and 鈥�70s counterculture, and its gradual emergence in mainstream consumer markets.
The book also describes the range of views on the evolution of the organic food industry: Some hail the wide-scale proliferation of environment-friendly production methods, while others see a diminishing of standards and community values regarded as the hallmark of organic farming; still others reject the polarization, and accept the existence of both large and small-scale sectors of organic farming.聽
Organic Futures, however, is not some analytical, factoid-leaden treatise. Interviews with the New England small organic farmers, and descriptions and anecdotes of their work-a-day lives as they adhere to sustainable and ecological practices, give the book what a reviewer described as a 鈥渨ide-eyed and lyrical鈥� quality. When one farmer, John, discusses how he ended up on the farm, his wife, Katie, notes that his parents had discouraged his agricultural interests.
鈥淵eah, but with good reason,鈥� replies John. 鈥淣o small farms had done anything but fail for thirty years.鈥�
鈥淚鈥檇 hope our experience with Organic Futures would encourage faculty to consider doing this kind of beyond-the-classroom work with students. It鈥檚 very rewarding in many respects."鈥擝rian Gareau
Such vignettes came from Fitzmaurice鈥檚 research for his original senior thesis. Using an Advanced Study Grant, he spent several weeks talking with and observing organic farmers, and doing some work himself. It often left him with aching, blistered hands but a considerable appreciation of the challenges and virtues of farm life.
鈥淭he lives of people on these farms were tough: They struggled a lot, and made many sacrifices,鈥� says Fitzmaurice. 鈥淏ut as you talked with them, you could see what attracted them to farming: 鈥榃ho else gets to live in a place this beautiful?鈥� one of them told me. They felt a strong connection to the land and what they produced, but they didn鈥檛 overly romanticize their lives as farmers.鈥�
Gareau notes that, in addition to its mix of quantitative information and human-interest content, Fitzmaurice鈥檚 project broke new ground: 鈥淢ost sociological studies of this type have looked at farms in the Midwest or California. But there are characteristics which make New England unique as a farming system 鈥� such as its smaller farms that grow a diversity of crops on a mixed geographic landscape 鈥� so Connor broadened the research on organic farming.鈥�
In fact, Gareau felt there was a strong enough foundation for a book, and after Fitzmaurice was awarded the Morrissey College of Arts and Science鈥檚 McCarthy Prize for the outstanding senior thesis, he offered to help Fitzmaurice to build on the dissertation. Yale University Press expressed interest in publishing the result.
Turning the thesis into a book was no small task. It involved expanding the scope of the original research, historical analysis, interviews, returning to primary sources and considerable rewrites.
鈥淚t was all worth it,鈥� says Fitzmaurice. 鈥淭he standards for academic presses are high, so that meant having to not only go over what I鈥檇 done already but go beyond, and look at organic farming in a broad historical and cultural vein. But we had good support from Yale, and we knew we were on the right track. I was really happy to have Brian as my collaborator.鈥�
Says Gareau, 鈥淭he book has relevance for the social sciences, but it鈥檚 also a celebration of the small farm, a quintessential part of New England鈥檚 social fabric 鈥� just think of apple orchards and strawberry festivals.聽
鈥淚鈥檇 hope our experience with Organic Futures would encourage faculty to consider doing this kind of beyond-the-classroom work with students. It鈥檚 very rewarding in many respects.鈥澛�
-Sean Smith | University Communications