Rick Welsh

• 2025 Spring
  • SOC 403 Environmental Sociology
  • FST 997 Masters Thesis
• 2024 Fall
  • FST 202 Agroecology
  • FST 304 Farm to Fork
  • FST 997 Masters Thesis
• 2024 Summer
  • FST 997 Masters Thesis
• 2024 Spring
  • FST 307 Feeding the World: Global Agri-Food Governance
  • FST/NSD 756 Food and Public Policy
  • FST 499 Honors Capstone Project
• 2023 Fall
  • FST 304 Farm to Fork
  • FST 604 Food Studies Research Methods
• 2023 Summer
  • FST 797 Practicum in Food Studies and Systems
• 2023 Spring
  • FST 756 Food and Public Policy
  • FST 997 Masters Thesis
  • FST 703 Transnational Food, Health and the Environment

Rick Welsh joined the Center for Policy Research and the Sociology Department in the Maxwell School on July 1, 2024. Prior to that he was a professor of food studies in the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies (2012-2024) and was chair of the department from 2014-2021.

Prior to Syracuse University, he was a professor of sociology at Clarkson University. Other previous positions include policy analyst with the Henry A. Wallace Institute for Alternative Agriculture and the director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program for the Southern Region. He also served as editor-in-chief from 2011 through 2023 of Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems, published by Cambridge University Press.

His research and teaching focus on social change and development with emphases on agri-food systems, science and technology studies, and environmental sociology.

"Anaerobic Digestion at Small Farms: Linking Foodwaste and farm waste treatment for economic energy and nutrient recovery", Sponsored by National Institute of Food and Agriculture/USDA.

"How FSA CRP Program Managers Incorporate Science, Feasibility, and Acceptability in Guidelines for Conserving Grassland Breeding Birds on CRP Lands", Sponsored by Department of Agriculture.

"Coast to Cow to Consumer: Marine algae use to enhance milk production, mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, and recover nutrients", Sponsored by National Institute of Food and Agriculture/USDA.

"Feeding seaweed to advance the sustainability of organic dairy and aquaculture systems", Sponsored by National Institute of Food and Agriculture/USDA.

"Resource Recovery at Small Farms using Anaerobic Digestion: A Viable Technology Education and Outreach Effort", Sponsored by National Institute of Food and Agriculture/USDA.

• Book
  • Food and the Mid-Level Farm: Renewing an Agriculture of the Middle. Lyson, T. A., Stevenson, S. and Welsh, R. (eds.) MIT Press, 2008.
• Journal Articles
  • Tynan, M., Bryant, M. C., Welsh, R. and Greenwood, S., "Preliminary findings of northeast organic and conventional dairy farmers' perception of benefits and challenges in feeding algae." Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems, 2023.
  • Welsh, R., Pickard, E. A., Ryan, S. J. and Bisesi Jr., J. H., "Mosquito Net Fishing as a Normal Accident and the Roles of Traditional and Bureaucratic Authority." Society & Natural Resources, 2022.
  • Geladi, I., Henry, P., Couenberg, P., Welsh, R. and Fessl, B., "What are farmers' perceptions about farmland landbirds? A Galapagos Islands perspective." Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems, 2022.
  • Minkoff-Zern, L., Dudley, M. J., Zoodsma, A., Walia, B. and Welsh, R., "Protracted dependence and unstable relations: Agrarian questions in the H-2A visa program." Journal of Rural Studies, 2022.
  • Welsh, R., Chien, Y., Traub, A. and Glenna, L., "Plant Science and Intellectual Property Protections in Taiwan." Rural Sociology, 2021.
  • Traub, A., Welsh, R., Rogers, S. and Grimberg, S., "Small Farms Using Anaerobic Digestion: A Viable Technology Education and Outreach Effort." Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, 2021.
  • Larsen, D. A., Makaure, J., Ryan, S. J., Stewart, D., Traub, A., Welsh, R., Love, D. H. and Bisesi, J. H., "Implications of Insecticide-Treated Mosquito Net Fishing in Lower Income Countries." Environmental Health Perspectives, 2021.
  • Lacy, W. B., Glenna, L., Biscotti, D., Welsh, R. and Lacy, L., "Agricultural Biotechnology, Academic Capitalism and the Two Cultures of Science." Journal of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, 2020.
  • Minkoff-Zern, L., Welsh, R. and Ludden, M. T., "Immigrant farmers, sustainable practices: growing ecological and racial diversity in alternative agrifood spaces." Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, 2020.
• Book Chapters
  • Welsh, R., Bentley, A. K., Lam, L., Grimberg, S. and Rogers, S., "Anaerobic Digester Technology for Small-to-Moderate-Sized Dairy Farms: Constraints and Solutions." In Encyclopedia of Sustainable Technologies. Elsevier, 2024.
  • Guptill, A., Welsh, R., "The Declining Middle of American Agriculture: A Spatial Phenomenon." In Rural America in a Globalizing World: Problems and Prospects for the 2010s. University Press, 2014.
  • Biscotti, D., Glenna, L., Lacy, W. B. and Welsh, R., "The “independent” investigator: How academic scientists construct their professional identity in university-industry agricultural biotechnology research collaborations." In Economic Sociology of Work. Emerald Group Publishing, 2009.
  • Lacy, W. B., Glenna, L., Biscotti, D. and Welsh, R., "Agricultural Biotechnology and Socioeconomic Effects." In Encyclopedia of Industrial Biotechnology. Wiley, 2009.
  • Stevenson, G. W., Welsh, R. and Lyson, T. A., "Epilogue." In Food and the Mid-Level Farm: Renewing Agriculture of the Middle. Lyson, T. A., Stevenson, G. W. and Welsh, R. (eds.) MIT Press, 2008.
  • Guptill, A., Welsh, R., "Is relationship marketing an alternative to the corporatization of organics? A case study of the Organic Farmers Association for Relationship Marketing (OFARM)." In Food and the Mid-Level Farm: Renewing Agriculture of the Middle. MIT Press, 2008.
  • Welsh, R., Lyson, T. A. and Stevenson, G. W., "Preface." In Food and the Mid-Level Farm: Renewing an Agriculture of the Middle. MIT Press, 2008.
• Book Reviews
  • Welsh, R., The Takeover: Chicken Farming and the Roots of American Agribusiness. University of Georgia Press, 2017.
  • Welsh, R., "Beyond Food Production: The role of agriculture in poverty reduction." Bresciani, F., Valdez, A. (eds.) Agribusiness, 2009.
  • Welsh, R., "The New Political Sociology of Science: Institutions, Networks and Power." Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews, 2008.
  • Welsh, R., "Farming for Us All: Practical Agriculture and the Cultivation of Sustainability." Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews, 2006.
  • Welsh, R., "Privatization of Information and Agricultural Industrialization." Wolf, S. A. (ed.) Rural Sociology, 2002.
  • Welsh, R., "The Doubly Green Revolution: Food For All in the 21st Century." Society and Natural Resources, 2000.
  • Welsh, R., "Pigs, Profits and Rural Communities." Thu, K., Durrenberger, E. P. (eds.) American Journal of Alternative Agriculture, 1998.
• Editorials
  • Minkoff-Zern, L., Welsh, R., "The Difference Between the Vaccine and the GMO Food Debates." Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems, 2017.
  • Welsh, R., "The Difference Between the Vaccine and the GMO Food Debates." Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems, 2010.
  • Welsh, R., "Commentary on ‘Ever Since Hightower: The politics of agricultural research activism in the molecular age." Agriculture and Human Values, 2005.

Tynan, M. K., Welsh, R., Fitzgerald, R., Greenwood, S., Conner, D., Price, N., Quigley, C., Moen, A., Annual Meeting of the Rural Sociological Society, Rural Sociological Society, "Dairy Nutritionists’ Perspectives on the Efficacy of Feeding Algae Feed Supplements to Dairy Cattle" (August, 2023 - August, 2023)

Johnson, K., Welsh, R., Annual Meeting of the Agriculture, Food and Human Values Society, "Food Studies Program: Threats and Opportunities" (May, 2023)

Tynan, M., Welsh, R., Fitzgerald, R., Conner, D., Price, N., Quigley, C., Moen , A., Annual Meeting of the American Association of Geographers, American Association of Geographers, "Dairy Nutritionists' Perspectives on the Efficacy of Feeding Algae Feed Supplements to Dairy Cattle" (April, 2023)

Sovena USA, "Climate Change and the Food System" (2021)

Richard Ivey School of Business at the Western University, "Climate Change and the Food System" (2020)

Excellence in Research Award, Agriculture Food and Human Values Society (2016)

Fred Buttel Award for Outstanding Scholarly Achievement, Rural Sociological Society (2013)

Outstanding Teacher Award, Clarkson University Student Association (2003 - 2004)

Best Paper Award, Rural Sociological Society for “Intellectual Property, Scientific Independence, and the Efficacy and Environmental Impacts of Genetically Engineered Crops.”