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Michaela Hoffelmeyer is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Community and Environmental Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She conducts research funded by the Dairy Innovation HUB, focusing on dairy-related topics such as robotics, labor, market concentration, and alternative farm models. Michaela earned her Ph.D. from Penn State University in Rural Sociology with a dual-title in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Her work aims to understand how structural inequalities impact access to agricultural resources and influence food production and environmental sustainability. Over the past years, she has worked with rural-urban women farmers, queer/LGBTQ+ farmers, and midscale farms undergoing succession transfer, as well as meat processing workers. Michaela employs semi-structured interviews, surveys, and ethnographic immersion to gain insights into the daily experiences of farmers and laborers in agrifood production. She applies feminist, queer, and labor theories to inform agricultural programming and policy, seeking to support the viability and well-being of communities engaged in agriculture. Michaela is passionate about community-based agriculture and welcomes collaborations that address issues surrounding food, farming, and the environment.
Department: Department of Computer Sciences