Professor Hugh Campbell is Professor of Sociology, Gender Studies and Criminology, School of Social Sciences, University of Otago.
Hugh has a long relationship with both the University of Otago and the Centre for Sustainability. He was an undergraduate at the University in the 1980s, and then completed a Masters in Social Anthropology at the university in 1988. He then spent time at Lincoln University where an academic interest in rural sociology, agriculture and sustainability began to form. Following completion of his PhD in Rural Sociology at the Centre for Rural Social Research, Charles Sturt University, New South Wales, he returned to the University of Otago in 1994 and developed university courses on rural society in New Zealand and on the global politics of food. In 2000, he was appointed founding Director of the Centre for the Study of Agriculture, Food and Environment at the University of Otago – the centre that subsequently grew into the Centre for Sustainability.
During his career at Otago, Hugh has had leadership roles in many research projects funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation (MSI). From 1995–2002, he was the Programme Leader of an MSI-funded programme, Greening Food: Social and Industry Dynamics. This programme examined the social and economic dimensions of developing sustainable agriculture in New Zealand. Specifically, the programme examined the development of organic production and Integrated Pest Management systems by food export organisations like Zespri and ENZA.
After 2003, Hugh co-led the social research team in the MSI-funded Agriculture Research Group on Sustainability (ARGOS) Programme. Working with the kiwifruit, dairy, and sheep/beef sectors, the ARGOS programme brought together 30 researchers from Otago and Lincoln Universities, and from the Agribusiness Group in Christchurch. It undertook a long-term study of social, economic and environmental dynamics on a group of over 100 farms and orchards in New Zealand. That project was extended through 2013–2018 as the NZ Sustainability Dashboard project.
From 2009–2014, Hugh was co-PI of the Marsden fund project Biological Economies: Making and Knowing New Rural Values. This project brought together researchers from across rural sociology and geography in New Zealand and resulted in the publication of two collections:
As a researcher, Hugh has published work on the social and economic dynamics of 'greening' food systems, the politics of sustainability under neoliberal governance, achieving sustainability via audits, food waste, transitions in agriculture and food systems in New Zealand, and theories of global food regimes.
In 2020, he published a book with Bloomsbury Academic –Farming Inside Invisible Worlds: Modernist Agriculture and its Consequences – on the agency of farms in the colonisation of New Zealand, the creation of modernist farming as the dominant for of land-use in New Zealand, and the many ways in which alternatives to modernist farming are emerging. The book is available on open access at www.bloomsburycollections.com
Greening Food, which studied the political economy of new commercial alternatives in agri-food systems (like organic agriculture)
The 12-year ARGOS project which studied sustainability dynamics on 100+ New Zealand farms and orchards
New Rural Economies, working with researchers in Europe, Canada and Australasia to theorise alternatives to neoliberal policy models for rural development
Biological Economies, which engaged in a radical re-theorising of rural economies using post-structural and more-than-human approaches to the relationship between biology and economy in land-based industries in New Zealand
Professor Campbell is also a member of Food Waste Innovation, a University of Otago Research Theme which measures food waste, develops reduction strategies, applies innovative technology, and works to modify producer and consumer behaviour.
Angella Ndaka (PhD) Reimagining environmental sustainability in AI based robots.
Recent postgraduate students
Abbi Virens (PhD 2022) Seeing the city for the weeds
Trixie Croad (Masters 2022) Food Waste Regimes in Primary Production
Katharine Cresswell Riol (PhD 2021) Right to food, and hunger in New Zealand
Rudi Kresna (PhD 2021) Developing economic, social and environmental responsive policies for sustainability of dairy farming in Indonesia
Karly Burch (PhD 2018) Fighting for food safety in post Fukushima Japan
Elizabeth Simmons (MA 2017) The philosophy and pragmatics of sustainable agriculture
David Reynolds (MA 2016) The Depoliticisation of Deprivation: Food Insecurity in Aotearoa New Zealand
Madeline Hall (MA 2016) From 'Producers' to 'Polluters: Farmers' experience in the Lake Taupō Water Quality Trading Programme
Cinzia Piatti (PhD 2015) Enacting the alter-native: A theoretical reframing of local food initiatives in Aotearoa/New Zealand
Angga Dwiartama (PhD 2014) Investigating the resilience of agriculture and food systems: insights from two theories and two case studies
David McKay (PhD 2013) Education for Survival and Sustainability
Ali Stoddart (MA 2013) A Matter of Waste: Making experiences and perceptions of food waste visible
Stephanie Rotarangi (PhD 2011) Planted Forests on Ancestral Land: The Experiences and Resilience of Maori Land Owners
Selected books
Campbell, H. (2020), Farming Inside Invisible Worlds: Modernist Agriculture and Its Consequences. Bloomsbury Academic: London.
Pawson, E. et. al. (2018) The New Biological Economy: How New Zealanders are Creating Value from the Land. Auckland University Press: Auckland.
Forney, J., Rosin, C. and Campbell, H. (Eds.) (2018). Agri-environmental governance as an assemblage. Routledge (Earthscan): London.
Le Heron, R., Campbell, H., Lewis, N. and Carolan, M. (eds.) (2016) Biological Economies: Experimentation and the Politics of Agrifood Frontiers. Routledge (Earthscan): London.
Almas, R., Bjorkhaug, H., Campbell, H. (eds) and Smedshaug, A. (trans). (2013) Fram mot ein Berekraftig og Kilmatilpassa Norsk Landsbruksmodell (Towards a Sustainable and Climate-Secure Norwegian Land-Use Model). Akademika Forlag: Trondheim.
Evans, D., Campbell, H. and Murcott, A. (eds.) (2013) Waste Matters: New Perspectives on Food and Society. Sociological Review Monographs (Book 60): Wiley Blackwell.
Almas, R. and Campbell, H. (eds.) (2012) Rethinking Agricultural Policy Regimes: Food Security, Climate Change and the Future Resilience of Global Agriculture. Emerald: UK.
Rosin, C., Stock, P. and Campbell, H. (eds.) (2012). Food Systems Failure: The Global Food Crisis and the Future of Agriculture. Earthscan: London.
Publications
Campbell, H. (2020). Farming inside invisible worlds: Modernist agriculture and its consequences. London, UK: Bloomsbury Academic, 232p. doi: 10.5040/9781350120570
Authored Book - Research
Hale, J., Legun, K., Campbell, H., & Carolan, M. (2019). Social sustainability indicators as performance. Geoforum, 103, 47-55. doi: 10.1016/j.geoforum.2019.03.008
Journal - Research Article
Forney, J., Rosin, C., & Campbell, H. (Eds.). (2018). Agri-environmental governance as an assemblage: Multiplicity, power, and transformation. Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 236p.
Edited Book - Research
Sautier, M., Legun, K. A., Rosin, C., & Campbell, H. (2018). Sustainability: A tool for governing wine production in New Zealand? Journal of Cleaner Production, 179, 347-356. doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.12.194
Journal - Research Article
Campbell, H., Evans, D., & Murcott, A. (2017). Measurability, austerity and edibility: Introducing waste into food regime theory. Journal of Rural Studies, 51, 168-177. doi: 10.1016/j.jrurstud.2017.01.017
Journal - Research Article
Lewis, N., Le Heron, R., & Campbell, H. (2017). The mouse that died: Stabilizing economic practices in free trade space. In V. Higgins & W. Larner (Eds.), Assembling neoliberalism: Expertise, practices, subjects. (pp. 151-170). New York, NY: Springer Nature. doi: 10.1057/978-1-137-58204-1_8
Chapter in Book - Research
Rosin, C. J., Legun, K. A., Campbell, H., & Sautier, M. (2017). From compliance to co-production: Emergent forms of agency in sustainable wine production in New Zealand. Environment & Planning A, 49(12), 2780-2799. doi: 10.1177/0308518X17733747
Journal - Research Article
Rosin, C., Campbell, H., & Reid, J. (2017). Metrology and sustainability: Using sustainability audits in New Zealand to elaborate the complex politics of measuring. Journal of Rural Studies, 52, 90-99. doi: 10.1016/j.jrurstud.2017.02.014
Journal - Research Article
Le Heron, R., Campbell, H., Lewis, N., & Carolan, M. (Eds.). (2016). Biological economies: Experimentation and the politics of agri-food frontiers. Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 274p.
Edited Book - Research
Campbell, H., Le Heron, R., Lewis, N., & Carolan, M. (2016). Conclusion: Biological economies as an academic and political project. In R. Le Heron, H. Campbell, N. Lewis & M. Carolan (Eds.), Biological economies: Experimentation and the politics of agri-food frontiers. (pp. 256-270). Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
Chapter in Book - Research
Lewis, N., Le Heron, R., Carolan, M., Campbell, H., & Marsden, T. (2016). Assembling generative approaches in agri-food research. In R. Le Heron, H. Campbell, N. Lewis & M. Carolan (Eds.), Biological economies: Experimentation and the politics of agri-food frontiers. (pp. 1-19). Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
Chapter in Book - Research
Stock, P. V., Phillips, C., Campbell, H., & Murcott, A. (2016). Eating the unthinkable: The case of ENTO, eating insects and bioeconomic experimentation. In R. Le Heron, H. Campbell, N. Lewis & M. Carolan (Eds.), Biological economies: Experimentation and the politics of agri-food frontiers. (pp. 157-169). Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
Chapter in Book - Research
Campbell, H. (2016). In the long run, will we be fed? Agriculture & Human Values, 33(1), 215-223. doi: 10.1007/s10460-015-9639-2
Journal - Research Article
Campbell, H. (2015). Spurlock's vomit and visible food utopias: Enacting a positive politics of food. In P. V. Stock, M. Carolan & C. Rosin (Eds.), Food utopias: Reimagining citizenship, ethics and community. (pp. 195-215). Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
Chapter in Book - Research
Lawrence, G., & Campbell, H. (2014). Neoliberalism in the antipodes: Understanding the influence and limits of the neoliberal political project. In S. A. Wolf & A. Bonanno (Eds.), The neoliberal regime in the agri-food sector: Crisis, resilience, and restructuring. (pp. 263-283). Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
Chapter in Book - Research
Evans, D., Campbell, H., & Murcott, A. (Eds.). (2013). Waste matters: New perspectives on food and society. Malden, MA: Wiley, 250p.
Edited Book - Research
Campbell, H. (2013). Food and the audit society. In A. Murcott, W. Belasco & P. Jackson (Eds.), Handbook of food research. (pp. 177-191). London, UK: Bloomsbury.
Chapter in Book - Research
Evans, D., Campbell, H., & Murcott, A. (2013). A brief pre-history of food waste and the social sciences. In D. Evans, H. Campbell & A. Murcott (Eds.), Waste matters: New perspectives on food and society. (pp. 5-26). Malden, MA: Wiley.
Chapter in Book - Research
Lewis, N., Le Heron, R., Campbell, H., Henry, M., Le Heron, E., Pawson, E., … Rosin, C. (2013). Assembling biological economies: Region-shaping initiatives in making and retaining value. New Zealand Geographer, 69(3), 180-196. doi: 10.1111/nzg.12031
Journal - Research Article
Almås, R., & Campbell, H. (Eds.). (2012). Rethinking agricultural policy regimes: Food security, climate change and the future resilience of global agriculture. Bingley, UK: Emerald, 250p.
Edited Book - Research
Rosin, C., Campbell, H., & Stock, P. (Eds.). (2012). Food systems failure: The global food crisis and the future of agriculture. Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 242p.
Edited Book - Research
Campbell, H. (2012). Let us eat cake? Historically reframing the problem of world hunger and its purported solutions. In C. Rosin, P. Stock & H. Campbell (Eds.), Food systems failure: The global food crisis and the future of agriculture. (pp. 30-45). Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
Chapter in Book - Research
Muirhead, B., & Campbell, H. (2012). The worlds of dairy: Comparing dairy frameworks in Canada and New Zealand in light of future shocks to food systems. In R. Almås & H. Campbell (Eds.), Rethinking agricultural policy regimes: Food security, climate change and the future resilience of global agriculture. (pp. 147-168). Bingley, UK: Emerald. doi: 10.1108/S1057-1922(2012)0000018009
Chapter in Book - Research
Rosin, C., & Campbell, H. (2012). The complex outcomes of neoliberalization in New Zealand: Productivism, audit and the challenge of future energy and climate shocks. In R. Almås & H. Campbell (Eds.), Rethinking agricultural policy regimes: Food security, climate change and the future resilience of global agriculture. (pp. 191-210). Bingley, UK: Emerald. doi: 10.1108/S1057-1922(2012)0000018011
Chapter in Book - Research
Campbell, H., Rosin, C., Hunt, L., & Fairweather, J. (2012). The social practice of sustainable agriculture under audit discipline: Initial insights from the ARGOS project in New Zealand. Journal of Rural Studies, 28(1), 129-141. doi: 10.1016/j.jrurstud.2011.08.003
Journal - Research Article
Campbell, H., & Rosin, C. (2011). After the 'Organic Industrial Complex': An ontological expedition through commercial organic agriculture in New Zealand. Journal of Rural Studies, 27(4), 350-361. doi: 10.1016/j.jrurstud.2011.04.003
Journal - Research Article
Campbell, H., Murcott, A., & MacKenzie, A. (2011). Kosher in New York City, halal in Aquitaine: Challenging the relationship between neoliberalism and food auditing. Agriculture & Human Values, 28(1), 67-79. doi: 10.1007/s10460-010-9260-3
Journal - Research Article
Campbell, H. (2011). Neoliberalism, science institutions and new experiments in knowledge production. Dialogues in Human Geography, 1(3), 350-354. doi: 10.1177/2043820611421556
Journal - Research Other
Campbell, H., Rosin, C., Norton, S., Carey, P., Benge, J., & Moller, H. (2010). Examining the mythologies of organics: Moving beyond the organic/conventional binary? In G. Lawrence, K. Lyons & T. Wallington (Eds.), Food security, nutrition and sustainability. (pp. 238-251). London: Earthscan.
Chapter in Book - Research
Pretty, J., Sutherland, W. J., Ashby, J., Auburn, J., Baulcombe, D., Bell, M., … Campbell, H., … Pilgrim, S. (2010). The top 100 questions of importance to the future of global agriculture. International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability, 8(4), 219-236. doi: 10.3763/ijas.2010.0534
Journal - Research Article
Campbell, H. (2009). Breaking new ground in food regime theory: Corporate environmentalism, ecological feedbacks and the 'food from somewhere' regime? Agriculture & Human Values, 26(4), 309-319. doi: 10.1007/s10460-009-9215-8
Journal - Research Article
Campbell, H. (2009). A sociology of agriculture for crunch times: Sustainability, dialogue, and the disciplinary politics of knowledge production in New Zealand farming. New Zealand Sociology, 24(2), 12-38.
Journal - Research Article
Campbell, H., & Dixon, J. (2009). Introduction to the special symposium: Reflecting on twenty years of the food regimes approach in agri-food studies. Agriculture & Human Values, 26(4), 261-265. doi: 10.1007/s10460-009-9224-7
Journal - Research Article
Fairweather, J. R., Rosin, C. J., Hunt, L. M., & Campbell, H. R. (2009). Are conventional farmers conventional? Analysis of the environmental orientations of conventional New Zealand farmers. Rural Sociology, 74(3), 430-454.
Journal - Research Article
Haggerty, J., Campbell, H., & Morris, C. (2009). Keeping the stress off the sheep? Agricultural intensification, neoliberalism, and 'good' farming in New Zealand. Geoforum, 40(5), 767-777. doi: 10.1016/j.geoforum.2008.12.003
Journal - Research Article
Rosin, C., & Campbell, H. (2009). Beyond bifurcation: Examining the conventions of organic agriculture in New Zealand. Journal of Rural Studies, 25(1), 35-47. doi: 10.1016/j.jrurstud.2008.05.002
Journal - Research Article
Campbell, H., Burton, R., Cooper, M., Henry, M., Le Heron, E., Le Heron, R., … Rosin, C., & White, T. (2009). From agricultural science to "biological economies"? New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research, 52(1), 91-97. doi: 10.1080/00288230909510492
Journal - Research Other
Rosin, C., Campbell, H., & Hunt, L. (2008). Audit me this! Kiwifruit producer uptake of the EurepGAP audit system in New Zealand. In C. Stringer & R. Le Heron (Eds.), Agri-food commodity chains and globalising networks. (pp. 61-74). Aldershot, UK: Ashgate.
Chapter in Book - Research
Campbell, H., & Le Heron, R. (2007). Supermarkets, producers and audit technologies: The constitutive micro-politics of food, legitimacy and governance. In D. Burch & G. Lawrence (Eds.), Supermarkets and agri-food supply chains: Transformations in the production and consumption of foods. (pp. 131-153). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.
Chapter in Book - Research
Campbell, H., Bell, M. M., & Finney, M. (Eds.). (2006). Country boys: Masculinity and rural life. The Pennsylvania State University Press, 322p.
Edited Book - Research
Campbell, H. (2006). Real men, real locals, and real workers: Realizing masculinity in small-town New Zealand. In H. Campbell, M. M. Bell & M. Finney (Eds.), Country boys: Masculinity and rural life. (pp. 87-104). The Pennsylvannia State University Press.
Chapter in Book - Research
Campbell, H., Bell, M. M., & Finney, M. (2006). Masculinity and rural life: An introduction. In H. Campbell, M. M. Bell & M. Finney (Eds.), Country boys: Masculinity and rural life. (pp. 1-22). The Pennsylvannia State University Press.
Chapter in Book - Research
Campbell, H., Lawrence, G., & Smith, K. (2006). Audit cultures and the Antipodes: The implications of EurepGAP for New Zealand and Australian agri-food industries. In T. Marsden & J. Murdoch (Eds.), Between the local and the global: confronting complexity in the contemporary agri-food sector (Research in rural sociology and development: Vol. 12). (pp. 69-93). Amsterdam: Elsevier JAI. doi: 10.1016/s1057-1922(06)12004-1
Chapter in Book - Research
Campbell, H., McLeod, C., & Rosin, C. (2006). Auditing sustainability: The impact of EurepGAP in New Zealand. In G. Holt & M. Reed (Eds.), Sociological perspectives of organic agriculture: From pioneer to policy. (pp. 157-173). Wallingford, UK: CABI. doi: 10.1079/9781845930387.0157
Chapter in Book - Research
Campbell, H. (2006). Consultation, commerce and contemporary agri-food systems: Ethical engagement of new systems of governance under reflexive modernity. Integrated Assessment Journal, 6(2), 117-136.
Journal - Research Article
Campbell, H. R., & Stuart, A. (2005). Disciplining the organic commodity. In V. Higgins & G. Lawrence (Eds.), Agricultural governance: Globalization and the new politics of regulation. (pp. 84-97). London: Routledge.
Chapter in Book - Research
Campbell, H. R. (2005). The rise and rise of EurepGAP: European (re)invention of colonial food relations? International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture & Food, 13(2), 6-19.
Journal - Research Article
Murcott, A., & Campbell, H. (2004). Teoria agro-alimentare e sociologia dell'alimentazione (Agri-food theory and the sociology of food). Rassegna Italiana di Sociologia, 4, 571-602.
Journal - Research Article
Stuart, A., & Campbell, H. (2004). ″Business as usual″: Contextualising the GM/organic conflict within the history of New Zealand agriculture. New Zealand Sociology, 19(2), 220-231.
Journal - Research Article
Willis, S., & Campbell, H. (2004). The chestnut economy: The praxis of neo-peasantry in rural France. Sociologia Ruralis, 44(3), 317-331.
Journal - Research Article
Campbell, H. R., & Lawrence, G. (2002). Assessing the neoliberal experiment in Antipodean agriculture. In R. Almås & G. Lawrence (Eds.), Globalization, localization and sustainable livelihoods. (pp. 89-101). Aldershot, UK: Ashgate.
Chapter in Book - Research
Campbell, H. R., & Liepins, R. (2001). Naming organics: Understanding organic standards in New Zealand as a discursive field. Sociologia Ruralis, 41(1), 21-39.
Journal - Research Article
Fitzgerald, R., Campbell, H. R., & Sivak, S. (2001). Content analysis of bias in international print media coverage of GM food. Rural Society, 11(3), 181-196.
Journal - Research Article
Campbell, H. R. (2000). The glass phallus: Pub(lic) masculinity and drinking in rural New Zealand. Rural Sociology, 65(4), 562-581.
Journal - Research Article
Campbell, H. R., & Bell, M. (2000). The question of rural masculinities. Rural Sociology, 65(4), 532-546.
Journal - Research Article
Law, R., Campbell, H. R., & Dolan, J. C. (Eds.). (1999). Masculinities in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Palmerston North: Dunmore Press, 259p.
Edited Book - Research
Campbell, H. R., & Coombes, B. (1999). 'Green protectionism' and organic food exporting from New Zealand: Crisis experiments in the breakdown of Fordist trade and agricultural policies. Rural Sociology, 64(2), 302-303.
Journal - Research Article
Drummond, I., Campbell, H. R., & Lawrence, G. (1999). Contingent or structural crisis in British agriculture? Sociologia Ruralis, 40(1), 111-127.
Journal - Research Article
Coombes, B., & Campbell, H. R. (1998). Dependent Reproduction of Alternative Modes of Agriculture: Organic Farming in New Zealand. Sociologia Ruralis, 38(2), 127-145.
Journal - Research Article