Associate Professor Jeffrey Neilson
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Associate Professor Jeffrey Neilson

Room 439
Associate Professor of Economic Geography, School of Geosciences
Phone
93514733
Address
F09 - Madsen Building
The University of Sydney
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Websites
Associate Professor Jeffrey Neilson

Jeff's research focuses on economic geography, environmental governance and rural development in Australia and Southeast Asia.

Jeff is currently leading a three-year research project exploring the growth of horticulture in the northeastern coastal strip of Australia and its implications for the contested nature of regional development in multifunctional coastal landscapes. The project, funded by the Australian Research Council, is examining how increasingly global horticultural networks are interacting with a range of place-based interests, and seeks to identify pathways towards a sustainable future for these regions.

Jeff conducts research in the Central Highlands of Vietnam, where smallholders have emerged as major global producers of coffee and pepper since the 1990s. Rapid growth over a short period has resulted in economic development and poverty alleviation. However, it has also presented challenges for environmental management and the just inclusion of indigenous ethnic minorities. This research examines the role of global environmental governance in shaping development outcomes in an internationally significant commodity-source region.

Jeff recently completed a five-year research project examining the livelihood impacts of value chain interventions across Indonesia. This research contributed to international debates on the development effects of sustainability and certification programs, Geographical Indications and direct trade initiatives. This project also contributed to conceptual developments in global value chain theory, including the opportunities for regional development to be stimulated (or not) through engagement with the global economy.

Jeff’s research interests are diverse and include food security and food sovereignty, the global coffee industry, the global cocoa-chocolate industry, agrarian reform movements, sustainable livelihoods, and environmental governance. Jeff is a fluent Indonesian language speaker and has conducted extended periods of ethnographic field research in the Toraja region of Sulawesi. He has conversational Vietnamese.

Jeff is the coordinator of the undergraduate major in Environmental Studies and the program director of postgraduate programs Environmental Science and Environmental Science and Law. He also teaches into the following units of study:

GEOS3053 Southeast Asia Field School

GEOS3524 Global Development and Livelihoods

ENVI5501 Environmental Science Research Project

ENVI5801 Social Science of Environment

Project titleResearch student
THE ROLE OF SACRED SITES IN FOREST CONSERVATIONPaula CAMARERO ALONSO
Land titling and its impact on rural livelihood outcomes: a study on the institutional progress of land governance from trans-generational Indonesian rural farming households’ perspectiveFathia Hashilah NIZAMI
Capital City Relocation Plan in Indonesia: Impacts on Land Access ArrangementsArdiyanto NUGROHO
THE IMPLICATION OF LEGAL RECOGNITION OF CUSTOMARY ADAT RIGHTS TO LAND AND TERRITORY ON ACCESS AND LIVELIHOODMitra WULANDARI

Publications

Books

  • Neilson, J., Pritchard, W. (2009). Value Chain Struggles: Institutions and Governance in the Plantation Districts of South India. Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing.

Edited Books

  • Neilson, J., Pritchard, W., Wai-Chung, H. (2015). Global Value Chains and Global Production Networks: Changes in the International Political Economy. Australia: Routledge.

Book Chapters

  • Neilson, J. (2019). Livelihood Upgrading. In Stefano Ponte, Gary Gereffi, Gale Raj-Reichert (Eds.), Handbook on Global Value Chains, (pp. 296-309). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. [More Information]
  • Neilson, J. (2018). Feeding the bangsa: food sovereignty and the state in Indonesia. In Arianto A. Patunru, Mari Pangestu and M. Chatib Basri (Eds.), Indonesia In The New World: Globalisation, Nationalism and Sovereignty, (pp. 73-89). Singapore: ISEAS Publishing (Institute of Southeast Asian Studies). [More Information]
  • Neilson, J. (2017). Indonesia: a political-economic history of environment and resources. In Philip Hirsch (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of the Environment in Southeast Asia, (pp. 374-389). Abingdon: Routledge. [More Information]

Journals

  • Rahmat, Y., Neilson, J., Langford, A., Walyandra, Z., Ruhon, R., Armis, R., Lapong, I. (2024). Fluid Institutions of Access: Sea Space as a Livelihood Resource in Coastal Indonesia. Journal of Agrarian Change.
  • Wu, A., Neilson, J., Connell, J. (2023). Remittances and social capital: livelihood strategies of Timorese workers participating in the Australian Seasonal Worker Programme. Third World Quarterly, 44(1), 96-114. [More Information]
  • Bray, J., Arifin, B., Ismono, H., Neilson, J. (2023). Sustainability Standards and Social Network Development: Indonesian Coffee Farmers' Unpredictable Impact Pathways to Achieving a Living Income. Die Erde, 154(3), 112-122. [More Information]

Conferences

  • Useng, D., Gusli, S., Darmawan, E., Neilson, J., Hidayat, S. (2015). On the interchange of subsistence agriculture and rainforest: An Indonesian case. 36th Asian Conference on Remote Sensing: Fostering Resilient Growth in Asia (ACRS 2015), Manila.
  • Neilson, J., Hartatri, D. (2015). Relationship Coffees in the specialty coffee sector: What benefits for Indonesian smallholders? 25th International Conference on Coffee Science, Armenia, Colombia: ASIC.
  • Neilson, J., Firdaus, R., Meekin, A. (2014). Effects of an Export Tax on the Farm-Gate Price of Indonesian Cocoa Beans. Malaysian International Cocoa Conference 2013 Innovation and Technology Driving Cocoa Productivity/Sustainablility, Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian Cocoa Board.

Magazine / Newspaper Articles

  • Neilson, J., Hartatri, D., Vicol, M. (2019). Nine Myths About Coffee Farmer Development: a closer look at relationship coffee in Indonesia. Roast Magazine, January/February issue.
  • Neilson, J. (2014). Economic Prospects of a Prabowo Presidency. Wall Street Journal, June 19, 2014.
  • Neilson, J. (2014). Less Jakarta and more some bygone world order. Canberra Times, February 6, 2014.

Working Paper Internal

  • Neilson, J., Labaste, P., Jaffee, S. (2015). Towards a more competitive and dynamic value chain for Indonesian coffee.

Report

  • Neilson, J., Hartatri, D. (2022). Final report: Evaluating smallholder livelihoods and sustainability in Indonesian coffee and cocoa value chains.
  • Butler, J., Slamet, A., Meharg, S., McEachern, S., Neilson, J., Hajkowicz, S. (2015). Australia-Indonesia Centre Megatrends: Agriculture and Food.
  • Neilson, J., Pritchard, W. (2006). Traceability, supply chains and smallholders: Case studies from India and Indonesia.

Other

  • Neilson, J. (2020), Without social safety nets, Indonesia risks political instability over COVID-19.
  • Neilson, J. (2017), Talking Indonesia: Food Sovereignty.
  • Neilson, J. (2016), Talking Indonesia: Alfred Wallace and human development.

Research Reports

  • Neilson, J., Toth, R., Sari, N., Bray, J., Donoghoe, M., Arifin, B., Ismono, H. (2019). Evaluation of the Impacts of Sustainability Standards on Smallholder Coffee Farmers in Southern Sumatra, Indonesia, September 2019, (pp. 5 - 62). London, United Kingdom, United Kingdom: ISEAL Alliance.
  • Neilson, J., Morrison, M., Dwiartama, A., Utami, R., Patunru, A., Pritchard, W. (2017). Food Processing and Value Chain Development in Indonesia, (pp. 1 - 90). Melbourne, Australia: Australia-Indonesia Centre.
  • Neilson, J., Sumule, D., Wagianto, X. (2013). Country Scan for the Development of a Farmer Support Facility in Indonesia, October 2013, (pp. 3 - 44). The Hague, Netherlands: Hivos.

2024

  • Rahmat, Y., Neilson, J., Langford, A., Walyandra, Z., Ruhon, R., Armis, R., Lapong, I. (2024). Fluid Institutions of Access: Sea Space as a Livelihood Resource in Coastal Indonesia. Journal of Agrarian Change.

2023

  • Wu, A., Neilson, J., Connell, J. (2023). Remittances and social capital: livelihood strategies of Timorese workers participating in the Australian Seasonal Worker Programme. Third World Quarterly, 44(1), 96-114. [More Information]
  • Bray, J., Arifin, B., Ismono, H., Neilson, J. (2023). Sustainability Standards and Social Network Development: Indonesian Coffee Farmers' Unpredictable Impact Pathways to Achieving a Living Income. Die Erde, 154(3), 112-122. [More Information]
  • Rahmat, Y., Neilson, J. (2023). The ebb and flow of capital in Indonesian coastal production systems. Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography. [More Information]

2022

  • Neilson, J., Hartatri, D. (2022). Final report: Evaluating smallholder livelihoods and sustainability in Indonesian coffee and cocoa value chains.
  • Neilson, J. (2022). Intra-cultural consumption of rural landscapes: An emergent politics of redistribution in Indonesia. Journal of Rural Studies, 96, 89-100. [More Information]

2020

  • De Urzedo, D., Neilson, J., Fisher, R., Junqueira, R. (2020). A global production network for ecosystem services: The emergent governance of landscape restoration in the Brazilian Amazon. Global Environmental Change, 61, 102059. [More Information]
  • Quinones-Ruiz, X., Nigmann, T., Schreiber, C., Neilson, J. (2020). Collective Action Milieus and Governance Structures of Protected Geographical Indications for Coffee in Colombia, Thailand and Indonesia. International Journal of the Commons, 14(1), 329-343. [More Information]
  • Hasudungan, A., Neilson, J. (2020). Processes of land appropriation for large-scale oil palm development in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. Revista Nera, 23(51), 366-389.

2019

  • Neilson, J., Wang, J. (2019). China and the changing economic geography of coffee value chains. Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, 40(3), 429-451. [More Information]
  • Neilson, J., Toth, R., Sari, N., Bray, J., Donoghoe, M., Arifin, B., Ismono, H. (2019). Evaluation of the Impacts of Sustainability Standards on Smallholder Coffee Farmers in Southern Sumatra, Indonesia, September 2019, (pp. 5 - 62). London, United Kingdom, United Kingdom: ISEAL Alliance.
  • Vicol, M., Fold, N., Pritchard, W., Neilson, J. (2019). Global production networks, regional development trajectories and smallholder livelihoods in the Global South. Journal of Economic Geography, 19(4), 973-993. [More Information]

2018

  • Alders, R., Nunn, M., Chartres, C., Greening, C., Cordell, D., Neilson, J., Soem, T. (2018). Delivering the promise of international agriculture and food and nutrition security. Development Bulletin, 79, 99-100.
  • Bray, J., Neilson, J. (2018). Examining the interface of sustainability programmes and livelihoods in the Semendo highlands of Indonesia. Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 59(3), 368-383. [More Information]
  • Neilson, J. (2018). Feeding the bangsa: food sovereignty and the state in Indonesia. In Arianto A. Patunru, Mari Pangestu and M. Chatib Basri (Eds.), Indonesia In The New World: Globalisation, Nationalism and Sovereignty, (pp. 73-89). Singapore: ISEAS Publishing (Institute of Southeast Asian Studies). [More Information]

2017

  • Neilson, J., Morrison, M., Dwiartama, A., Utami, R., Patunru, A., Pritchard, W. (2017). Food Processing and Value Chain Development in Indonesia, (pp. 1 - 90). Melbourne, Australia: Australia-Indonesia Centre.
  • Neilson, J. (2017). Indonesia: a political-economic history of environment and resources. In Philip Hirsch (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of the Environment in Southeast Asia, (pp. 374-389). Abingdon: Routledge. [More Information]
  • Bray, J., Neilson, J. (2017). Reviewing the impacts of coffee certification programmes on smallholder livelihoods. International Journal of Biodiversity Science, Ecosystem Services & Management, 13(1), 216-232. [More Information]

2016

  • Neilson, J. (2016). Agrarian transformations and land reform in Indonesia. In John F McCarthy, Kathryn Robinson (Eds.), Land and Development in Indonesia: Searching for the People's Sovereignty, (pp. 245-264). Singapore: ISEAS Publishing (Institute of Southeast Asian Studies).
  • Neilson, J., Mckenzie, F. (2016). Business-oriented outreach programmes for sustainable cocoa production in Indonesia: an institutional innovation. In Allison Loconto, Anne Sophie Poisot, Pilar Santacoloma (Eds.), Innovative markets for sustainable agriculture: How innovations in market institutions encourage sustainable agriculture in developing countries, (pp. 17-35). Rome: Food and Agriculture Organisation of United Nations.
  • Fold, N., Neilson, J. (2016). Sustaining Supplies in Smallholder-Dominated Value Chains: Corporate Governance of the Global Cocoa Sector. In Mara P. Squicciarini and Johan Swinnen (Eds.), The Economics of Chocolate, (pp. 195-212). Oxford: Oxford University Press. [More Information]

2015

  • Butler, J., Slamet, A., Meharg, S., McEachern, S., Neilson, J., Hajkowicz, S. (2015). Australia-Indonesia Centre Megatrends: Agriculture and Food.
  • Neilson, J., Pritchard, W., Wai-Chung, H. (2015). Global Value Chains and Global Production Networks: Changes in the International Political Economy. Australia: Routledge.
  • Useng, D., Gusli, S., Darmawan, E., Neilson, J., Hidayat, S. (2015). On the interchange of subsistence agriculture and rainforest: An Indonesian case. 36th Asian Conference on Remote Sensing: Fostering Resilient Growth in Asia (ACRS 2015), Manila.

2014

  • Neilson, J., Shonk, F. (2014). Chained to Development? Livelihoods and global value chains in the coffee-producing Toraja region of Indonesia. Australian Geographer, 45(3), 269-288. [More Information]
  • Neilson, J., Marcel, F. (2014), Coffee Value Chains - Indonesia. Documentary Film.
  • Neilson, J. (2014). Economic Prospects of a Prabowo Presidency. Wall Street Journal, June 19, 2014.

2013

  • Neilson, J. (2013). A matter of life or death for the Indonesian nation? Inside Indonesia.
  • Neilson, J., Sumule, D., Wagianto, X. (2013). Country Scan for the Development of a Farmer Support Facility in Indonesia, October 2013, (pp. 3 - 44). The Hague, Netherlands: Hivos.
  • Neilson, J., Leimona, B. (2013). Payments for ecosystem services and environmental governance in Indonesia. In Rosemary Lyster, Catherine MacKenzie, Constance McDermott (Eds.), Law, Tropical Forests and Carbon: The Case of REDD+, (pp. 207-229). New York, United States: Cambridge University Press. [More Information]

2012

  • Neilson, J., Arifin, B. (2012). Food Security and the De-Agrarianisation of the Indonesian Economy. In Not known (Eds.), Food Systems Failure: The Global Food Crisis and the Future of Agriculture, (pp. 147-164). TBC. [More Information]
  • Hartatri, D., Neilson, J., Arifin, B., Lagerqvist (nee Fujita), Y. (2012). Livelihood Strategies of Smallholder Coffee Farmers in South Sulawesi and East Nusa Tenggara (Flores). Proceedings of the 23rd International Conference on Coffee Science, Bali, Indonesia: Indonesian Coffee and Cocoa Research Institute.

2011

  • Fold, N., Neilson, J., Pritchard, W. (2011). Being sandwiched: The reshaping of ASEAN-China food trade. In Darryl S.L. Jarvis and Anthony R. Welch (Eds.), ASEAN Industries and the Challenge from China, (pp. 180-209). Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. [More Information]

2010

  • Neilson, J., Soutar, L., Pritchard, W., Arifin, B., Gracy, C., Kham, T. (2010). Challenges of global environmental governance by non-state actors in the coffee industry: Insights from India, Indonesia and Vietnam. In Stewart Lockie, David Carpenter (Eds.), Agriculture, Biodiversity and Markets Livelihoods and Agroecology in Comparative Perspective, (pp. 175-200). London: Earthscan. [More Information]
  • Neilson, J. (2010). Chocolate: A Global Value Chain Of A Tropical Commodity. Geodate, 23(2), 7-10.
  • Neilson, J., Pritchard, W. (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: Economy and Space, 42(8), 1833-1851. [More Information]

2009

  • Purung, H., Mohammed, M., Fauziah, K., Imron, M., Hilman, H., Sulistyowati, E., Sukamto, S., Susilo, A., Mardiono, E., Purwantara, A., et al (2009). Testing Local Genotypes with Cocoa Smallholders in Sulawesi. Cocoa Producer's Alliance Conference.
  • Neilson, J., Pritchard, W. (2009). Value Chain Struggles: Institutions and Governance in the Plantation Districts of South India. Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing.

2008

  • Neilson, J., Pritchard, W. (2008). Big is Not Always better: Global Value Chain Restructuring and the Crisis in South Indian tea Estates. In Christina Stringer and Richard le Heron (Eds.), Agri-Food Commodity Chains and Globalising Networks (Dynamics of Economic Space), (pp. 35-48). England & USA: Ashgate. [More Information]
  • Neilson, J. (2008). Environmental Governance in the Coffee Forests of Kodagu, South India. Transforming Cultures eJournal, 3(1), 185-195.
  • Arifin, B., Geddes, R., Ismono, H., Neilson, J., Pritchard, W. (2008), Farming at Indonesia's forest frontier: Understanding incentives for smallholders.

2007

  • Neilson, J. (2007). Global markets, farmers and the state: sustaining profits in the Indonesian cocoa sector. Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, 43(2), 227-250. [More Information]
  • Neilson, J., Pritchard, W. (2007). Green coffee? The contradictions of global sustainability initiatives from an Indian perspective. Development Policy Review, 25(3), 311-331. [More Information]
  • Neilson, J. (2007). Institutions, the governance of quality and on-farm value retention for Indonesian specialty coffee. Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, 28(2), 188-204. [More Information]

2006

  • Pritchard, W., Neilson, J., Spriggs, J. (2006). Implementing quality and traceability initiatives among smallholder tea producers in Southern India. Acta Horticulturae, 699, 327-334. [More Information]
  • Neilson, J., Pritchard, W. (2006). Traceability, supply chains and smallholders: Case studies from India and Indonesia.

2005

  • Neilson, J. (2005). Industry responses to research and extension in the Sulawesi Cocoa industry. Malaysian International Cocoa Conference 2005, Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian Cocoa Board.
  • Neilson, J. (2005). The Politics of Place: Geographical identities along the coffee supply chain from Toraja to Tokyo. In Niels Fold and Bill Pritchard (Eds.), Cross-Continental Food Chains, (pp. 193-206). London: Routledge imprint of Taylor & Francis.

Selected Grants

2024

  • Climate Change Mitigation in Agroforest Landscapes through Sustainable Sourcing Policies (CAFSUS), Neilson J, Danida Fellowship Centre (DFC)/Development Research Grants

2023

  • High-value horticulture and global production networks in coastal Australia, Neilson J, Pritchard W, Cross R, Coe N, Smith K, Wang Z, Australian Research Council (ARC)/Discovery Projects (DP)

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, 71 (2) 2005. 46-49.

Neilson, J. (2005). The Future of Java’s Historic Tea Gardens. Asian Geographic (4), pp32-41.