Abstract

What (else) happens when farmers in Romania’s largest agricultural area abandon the plough in a bid to save costs and soil moisture during successive years of severe drought? This talk traces how large-scale, production-oriented farmers transition to no-till agriculture, driven by economic and climatic pressures. While not intended as an ecological shift, this practice unintentionally slows down soil degradation and desertification processes in the region, and improves soil structure. The talk invites us to reflect together on how green transitions unfold as slow and uneven processes, driven by informal knowledge exchange and shaped by limited state or EU support. By viewing soil as both political and experiential terrain, the talk also asks what it means when practices that maintain soil health emerge not from conservation ethics, but from the need to keep farming viable in an increasingly unstable environment.

Short Bio

I am a social anthropologist with extensive research experience in human-environment relations, anthropology of food and wine, labour studies and migration in Moldova, Romania and Germany. I completed my PhD at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology (Halle/Saale) in 2019, with a dissertation on socio-economic transformations in a wine region of the Republic of Moldova. My current research focuses on the interconnections between knowledge and politics in human-soil relations.

What is an AIAS Seminar?

The AIAS Seminar Series is a session of seminars held by the AIAS fellows, AIAS Visiting or Tandem Fellows or by other speakers proposed by the fellows. In each seminar, a fellow will present and discuss her/his current research and work-in-progress to an interdisciplinary audience for 30 minutes, closing off with 30 minutes for questions, comments and discussion.

All seminars are in-person and held in English. To attend online, please contact Cecilie at cecilie@aias.au.dk by 9:00 am on the day of the seminar as the latest to request a link.