We organized a research symposium to address sources of unsustainability in U.S. agrifood systems and to reflect critically on traditions of sociological scholarship and outreach to assess opportunities for the future.

Conventional approaches to agriculture and food systems appear to continue unabated by economic, environmental, and social challenges, and this has important implications for critical projects aimed at restructuring, as well as projects focused on risk management and refinement of dominant structures. For example, fossil fuel availability has long been identified as an Achilles’ heel of conventional agriculture, and yet we now observe high-input production expanding rapidly in response to energy supply constraints. Erosion of state engagement in the regulation of agricultural technology and safeguarding of the food supply and loss of consumer confidence have been eased, perhaps by processes of re-regulation including certification and commercial standards. Constraints on labor supply and criticism regarding treatment and rights of migrants may be relaxed through immigration reform. The land grant university and public sector research and extension have been in a decades-long protracted "crisis," yet the mode of public sector engagement in innovation dynamics has not been fundamentally altered. In this context we ask the question, are there limits? At what point will resilience be exhausted, and through what processes is resilience extended? Or, in fact, is resilience an illusion? In addition to discussion of faults, rifts, and potential ruptures, we critically reflect on the sociology of agriculture and food systems to assess (and perhaps extend/refocus) our engagement.

We organized a symposium within the the Sociology of Agriculture and Food Research Interest Group of the Rural Sociological Society in Santa Clara, California, as part of the 2007 Annual Meeting (August 2-5). We generated sixteen thought papers that were distributed in advance of the symposium and which served to structure discussion. We then organized peer review and detailed editing of papers for publication. Fourteen of the papers are included in a forthcoming special segment of Agriculture and Human Values (spring 2008).

Our effort will result in a significant publication and will serve, we hope, to focus the debate regarding critical analysis of agrifood and researchers` strategies for connecting with civil society organizations, public agencies, and commercial firms.
Our symposium generated enthusiasm among the membership of our professional society and added value to the annual meeting. There is a similar symposium being held in the 2008 annual meeting patterned after this 2007 event.