Overview

My recent work has centered on more fully understanding both aspects of the current food and agriculture system and effective strategies for improving this to better serve society. This work has involved a variety of research projects and formal and informal teaching. Important to understanding the food and agriculture system is the interrelations between society and ecosystems, perhaps properly conceived together and termed socio-ecosystems. My future goals are to be involved in research and education projects that contribute to the social scientific literature, foster humane development, and help citizens of New York and elsewhere better their situations.

Research Focus

My main research focus is on developing community capacity through a variety of means: indicators for agricultural viability, decision-making for viability of local enterprises, and organizations supporting local food system elements.

Instruction Focus

The core foci of my teaching effort are understanding the connections between the biophysical and social worlds (ecosystems and society) and cultivating understanding of and means for dealing with food- and environment-related social issues.

Additional Links

• Link to CALS Research portal
• Link to CALS Impact statements

Professional Activities

• "Non_Market Impacts of Agriculture on Communities " (with Duncan Hilchey, David Kay, and David Smith). Agricultural and Farmland Protection In-service for Cornell Cooperative Extension Educators, Ithaca, NY, October 14, 2004. - 2004
• "Findings from Research on New Farmers" workshop (with Sue Ellen Johnson). Keep on Growing New Farmers conference. Windsor, CT, March 3-4, 2004. - 2004
• "A Future for Dairy Farms and Communities?: Some Thoughts on Making a Future." Annual Stockholders Meeting of Co-operative Feed Dealers, Inc. Binghamton, NY, February 25, 2004. - 2004

Selected Publications

• "Family Food Decision Making: An Ecological Systems Framework " by Ardyth H. Gillespie and Gilbert W. Gillespie Jr. Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences 99(2):22-28. 2007
• "Farmers` Markets as Keystones in Rebuilding Local and Regional Food Systems " by Gilbert W. Gillespie Jr., Duncan L. Hilchey, Clare Hinrichs, and Gail Feenstra. Pp. 65-83 in Remaking the North American Food System, edited by C. Clare Hinrichs and Thomas A. Lyson. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press. 2007
• Gillespie AH and Gillespie GW. 2006. Generating Grounded Theory with Community Partners. Journal of Community Nutrition 8(1):16-23. 2006
• Douglas Jackson-Smith and Gilbert W. Gillespie Jr. "Impacts of Farm Structural Change on Farmers' Social Ties. " Society and Natural Resources 18(3): 215-240. 2005
• C. Clare Hinrichs, Gilbert W. Gillespie Jr., and Gail Feenstra. "Social Learning and Entrepreneurial Development at Retail Farmers' Markets. " Rural Sociology 69(1): 31-58. 2004
• Gail Feenstra, Christopher Lewis, Gilbert W. Gillespie, and Duncan Hilchey. "Entrepreneurial Outcomes and Enterprise Size in U.S. Retail Farmers Markets. " American Journal of Alternative Agriculture 18(1): 46-55. 2003
• Gilbert W. Gillespie Jr. and Peter R. Sinclair. "Shelves and Bins: Varieties of Qualitative Sociology in Rural Studies. " Rural Sociology 65(2): 180-193. 2000
• Thomas A. Lyson, Amy E. Guptill, and Gilbert W. Gillespie Jr. "Community Engagement and Dairy Farm Performance: A Study of Farm Operators in Upstate New York. " Research in Rural Sociology and Development 8:309-323. 2000

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