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Jeff Neilson, BA/BSc (hons), PhD

Dr Jeff Neilson in Aceh

Senior Lecturer

Madsen Building (F09), Rm 439
Phone: +61 2 9351 4733
Fax: +61 2 9351 3644
Email:

Research Interests

Jeff's research focuses on natural resource management and rural economic development in South and Southeast Asia, with specific area expertise on Indonesia.
These interests are explored through two complementary research programs. The first explores the livelihood implications of market engagement for smallholder farmers in the Global South using a value chain framework. The second examines emerging forms of environmental and resource governance arising from the confluence of conventional state structures, civil society organisations and market-driven regulation such as certification schemes and payments for ecosystem services.
Jeff is currently involved in research projects addressing sustainable cocoa production in Eastern Indonesia (Sulawesi and Papua), smallholder access to specialty coffee markets (Sulawesi, Flores and Papua), and forest governance, spatial planning and community-based natural resource management (Sumatra). He recently led an Australian Geographic Society expedition across Southeast Asia, where he re-visited the collecting sites of renowned 19th century naturalist, Alfred Russel Wallace.

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Selected Publications

Books

  • Neilson, J. and Pritchard, B (2009). Value Chain Struggles: Institutions and Governance in the Plantation Districts of South India, Blackwell, Oxford.

Book Chapters

  • Neilson, J. and Leimona, B. (2013). Payments for Environmental Services and Environmental Governance in Indonesia. Chapter 10 in Law, Tropical Forests and Carbon: the case of REDD+ (eds. R. Lyster, C. Mackenzie and C. McDermott), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 207 – 228.
  • Neilson, J. and Arifin, B. (2011). Food security and the de-agrarianisation of the Indonesian economy Food Systems Failure: The Global Food Crisis and the Future of Agriculture, (Rosin, C., Campbell, H., and Stock, P. eds) Earthscan, London. ISBN 9781849712293
  • Fold, N., Neilson, J., and Pritchard, B. (2011). Changing Agri-food trade relations between China and Asean. In: ASEAN industries and the Challenge from China: The Dragon & the Tiger Cubs, (Jarvis, D. and Welch, A. eds), Palgrave.
  • Neilson, J., Arifin, B., Gracy, CP., Kham, TN., Pritchard, B. and Soutar, L. (2010). Challenges of Global Environmental Governance by Non-State Actors in the Coffee Industry: Insights From India, Indonesia and Vietnam. In Agriculture, biodiversity and markets: Livelihoods and agroecology in comparative perspective (Lockie, S and Carpenter, D eds), Earthscan, London: 175-200.
  • Neilson, J. and Pritchard, B (2008). Big is not Always Better: Global Value Chain Restructuring and the Crisis in South Indian Tea Plantations. In Agri-Food Commodity Chains and Globalising Networks (Le heron, R. and Stringer, C. eds), Routledge, London: 35-48.
  • Neilson, J. and Pritchard, B (2007). The final frontier? The global roll-out of the retail revolution in India. In Supermarkets and Agri-food Supply Chains: Transformations in the Production and Consumption of Foods (Burch, D and Lawrence, G. eds), Edward Elgar, Cheltenham: 219-242
  • Neilson, J. (2005). The Politics of Place: Geographical identities along the coffee supply chain from Toraja to Tokyo. In Cross-continental Food Chains (N. Fold & B. Pritchard eds), Routledge, London and New York: 193-206.

Journal Articles

  • Neilson, J. and Pritchard, B (2010). Fairness and ethicality in their place: The regional dynamics of fair trade and ethical sourcing agendas in the plantation districts of South India, Environment and Planning A, 42 (8),1833-1851.
  • Neilson, J. (2010). Who owns the Carbon? Indonesia’s carbon stores spark international attention, Inside Indonesia 101 (3). E-journal
  • Neilson, J. (2008). Global private regulation and value-chain restructuring in Indonesian smallholder coffee systems, World Development, 36 (9), 1607-1622.
  • Neilson, J. (2008). Environmental Governance in the Coffee Forests of Kodagu, South India, Transforming Cultures, 3 (1), 185-195.
  • Neilson, J. (2007). Global Markets, Farmers and the State: Sustaining Profits in the Indonesian Cocoa Sector, Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, 43(2), 227-50.
  • Neilson, J. and Pritchard, B (2007). Green Coffee: The contradictions of global sustainability initiatives from an Indian perspective, Development Policy Review 25(3), 311-331.
  • Neilson, J. (2007). Institutions, the Governance of Quality and On-Farm Value Retention for Indonesian Specialty Coffee. Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, 28(3), 188-204.

Refereed Conference Papers

  • Neilson, J., Arifin, B., Fujita, Y. Hartatri, D.F.S. (2010). Quality upgrading in specialty coffee chains and smallholder livelihoods in Eastern Indonesia: opportunities and challenges Proceedings of the 23rd International Conference on Coffee Science, Bali, October 3-8, 2010.
  • Neilson, J. and Pritchard, B. (2006). Traceability, Supply Chains and Smallholders: Case-Studies from India and Indonesia. Proceedings of the Seventeenth Session of the Intergovernmental Group on Tea in Nairobi, Kenya, November 29 – December 1, Document No: CCP:TE 06/4, Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, Rome.
  • Neilson, J., Pritchard, B. and Spriggs, J. (2006). Implementing quality and traceability initiatives among smallholder tea producers in Southern India. International Society of Horticultural Science (ISHS) ACTA Horticulturae 699: International Symposium on Improving the Performance of Supply Chains in Transitional Economies (Editor Batt, P): 327-334.

Other Publications

  • Neilson, J. (2010). Chocolate: A Global Value Chain of a Tropical Commodity, Geodate, 23(2). 7-10.
  • Neilson, J. and Lagerqvist, Y. F. (2010). Development and destruction: the power of the grain, Asian Geographic, 74 (5).
  • Neilson, J (2010). In the Footsteps of Alfred Russel Wallace: Conservation Challenges in Today’s Malay Archipelago, Asian Geographic, 31 (4) 2005. 46-49.
  • Neilson, J. (ed) (2008). Program Gerakan Nasional Percepatan Revitalisasi Kakao Indonesia (GERNAS): Masukan strategis dari Cocoa Sustainability Partnership (CSP) (Translation: Strategic Recommendations for the development of the Indonesian National Cocoa Program (GERNAS), Policy paper published by ACIAR and ASKINDO, Canberra. 43 pages. http://www.aciar.gov.au/AIP
  • Arifin, B., Geddes, R., Ismono, H., Neilson, J. and Pritchard, B. (2008). Farming at Indonesia’s forest frontier: Understanding incentives for smallholders, Australia Indonesia Governance Research Partnership Policy Brief No. 6, Crawford School of Economics and Government at ANU, Canberra.
    http://www.aigrp.anu.edu.au/docs/projects/1017/neilson_brief.pdf
  • Marsh, T and Neilson, J. (2007). Securing the profitability of the Flores coffee industry, ACIAR Publication no. 2007-11 [SMAR/2007/200 Part I], Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, Canberra. 23 pages. http://www.aciar.gov.au/publication/FR2007-11
  • Marsh, T and Neilson, J. (2007). Securing the profitability of the Toraja coffee industry, ACIAR Publication no. 2007-11 [SMAR/2007/200 Part II], Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, Canberra. 38 pages. http://www.aciar.gov.au/publication/FR2007-12
  • Neilson, J (2005). The Future of Java’s Historic Tea Gardens. Asian Geographic, 70 (1) 2005. 32-41.

Current Research Projects

Units Taught

  • GEOS 2121 – Environmental and Resource Management
  • GEOS 3053 - Southeast Asia Field School
  • Sustainable Development Field School
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