Dr. Caroline Hambloch

Research Group Leader "Local Labor Struggles in Global Value Chains: Control and Agency of Smallholders and Farmworkers in Export Commodities in the Global South" (DFG Emmy Noether Junior Research Group)

Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies
Adenauerallee 18–22
D-53113 Bonn
caroline.hambloch@uni-bonn.de

Caroline Hambloch
© Caroline Hambloch

Academic Profile

Caroline Hambloch is leading the Emmy Noether Junior Research Group "Local Labor Struggles in Global Value Chains" funded by the German Research Foundation at the University of Bonn. She was previously a post-doctoral researcher in the Agrifood Chain Management group at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Her research focuses on the analysis of contract farming, global value chains, and agency and resistance strategies by smallholders and plantation workers in various countries across the global south. She holds a PhD in Economics from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) University of London.

2015–2019
PhD in Economics, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at University of London

2013–2015 
MSc in Economics, University of Copenhagen

2009–2012 
BSc in Economics and Business Economics, University Maastricht     

since 2025
DFG Emmy Noether Junior Research Group Leader, University of Bonn, Germany

  • Project title: Local labor struggles in global value chains: Control and agency of smallholders and farmworkers in export commodities in the Global South
  • Research focus on labor control and agency of smallholders and laborers in different agricultural sectors in Colombia, Malawi, and the Philippines
  • Supervision of three PhD students 

2021–2024
Postdoctoral Fellow, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany

  • Research group Agrifood Chain Management, Thaer-Institute of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences
  • Research focus on contract farming, food and nutrition security, and global value chains/global production networks
  • Teaching at the master and bachelor levels, interdisciplinary courses 

2019–2021
Postdoctoral Fellow, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Malawi

  • Research team Markets, Institutions, Nutrition, and Diversity (MIND)
  • Conducted primary research on gender- and nutrition-sensitive value chain analysis and development, political economy analysis, and food systems in Eastern and Southern Africa
  • Funded by the Fund International Agricultural Research (FIA) of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)

2021–2024
Course convener

  • Department of Agricultural Economics, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany, Course title: Farm Management in the Agricultural and Horticultural Sector (6 ECTS)
  • Department of Agricultural Economics, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany, Course title: Nutrition-Sensitive Value Chains in Kenya (12 ECTS)

2021–2024
Course co-convener

  • Department of Agricultural Economics, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany, Course title: Grundlagen des Agrarmarketing (4 SWS)

2022–2023
Course convener

  • Department of Agricultural Economics, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany, Course title: Agrifood chains and development (6 ECTS)

2018 
Course convener

  • Department of Economics, SOAS, University of London, UK, Course title: Preliminary economic analysis

2017–2018
Graduate teaching assistant

  • Department of Economics, SOAS, University of London, UK, Course title: Advanced Econometrics B (7.5 ECTS)
  • Department of Economics, SOAS, University of London, UK, Course title: Applied Econometrics (7.5 ECTS)
  • Reviewer for Journal of Agrarian Change, Journal of Development Studies, Food Security, Development and Change, Globalizations
  • DFG Emmy Noether
  • DFG-TWAS Fellowship with Dr. Freedom Mazwi (University of Zambia), 2025

2023
Humboldt Award for Excellence in TeachingFinalist in the 2022 Excellence in Teaching award for "Collaborative Learning and Teaching"

2018
David Burch Prize2018 David Burch Prize for Best Student Paper for "Contract farming and everyday acts of resistance: Oil palm contract farmers in the Philippines" at the Australian Agrifood Research Network

Peer-reviewed journal articles

  • 2024. With C. Conti, A. Hall, A. Orr, and K. Mausch. "Complexity-aware principles for agri-food system interventions: Lessons from project encounters with complexity." In Agricultural Systems 220: 104080. Article
  • 2023. With K. Mausch, A. Hall, and C. Conti. "Embracing the politics and diversity of nutrition: Beyond technical and market fixes in agriculture-nutrition interventions." In Food Security 15: 363–379. Article 
  • 2023. With G. Rustis, N. Swamikannu, and F. Moyo. "Determinants of Agropastoralist Households’ Fodder Accessibility and Rangeland Conservation in Magu District, Tanzania." In Rangeland Ecology & Management 87: 22–29. Article
  • 2022. "Contract farming and everyday acts of resistance: Oil palm contract farmers in the Philippines." In Journal of Agrarian Change 22(1): 58–76. Article
  • 2022. "Land formalization turned land rush: The case of oil palm in Papua New Guinea." In Land Use Policy 112: 105818. Article
  • 2022. With M. Vicol, N. Fold, S. Narayanan, and H. Pérez Niño. "Twenty-five years of Living Under Contract: Contract farming and agrarian change in the developing world." In Journal of Agrarian Change 22(1): 3–18. Article 
  • 2021. With J. Kahwai and J. Mugonya. "Contextualizing private sector-based seed system development: The case of sorghum in Eastern Africa." In Outlook on Agriculture 50(4): 378–391. Article
  • 2021. With K. Mausch, C.J.M. Almekinders, and M.A. McEwan. "Putting diverse farming households’ preferences and needs at the centre of seed system development." In Outlook on Agriculture: 00307270211054111. Article
  • 2020. With K. Mausch and A. Hall. "Colliding paradigms and trade-offs: Agri-food systems and value chain interventions." In Global Food Security 26: 100439. Article

 

Book Reviews

  • 2018. "The Tropical Oil Crop Revolution: Food, Feed, Fuel, and Forests, by Derek Byerlee, Walter P. Falcon, and Rosamond L. Naylor. New York: Oxford University Press, 2017. Pp. vii + 288. £56 (hb). ISBN: 9780190222987." In Journal of Agrarian Change 18(3): 697–700. Review 

 

Policy Reports (Selections)

  • 2021. With S. Homann-Kee Tui, S. Dube, A.F. van Rooyen, C. Thebulo, and P. Kuwali. "Livestock for food and nutrition security in Malawi: Policy gaps, needs and opportunities" (No. 42; Policy Brief). International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). Report 
  • 2021. With S. Homann-Kee Tui and R.O. Valdivia. "Strengthening research-policy links for agrifood system transformation in Zimbabwe." In Agroecological transformation for sustainable food systems: Insight on France-CGIAR research (p. 101). Agropolis International. Report

 

Blog Posts (Selections)

  • 2023. With H. Pérez Niño and M. Vicol. "Contract farming is everywhere, but how does it affect agrarian relations in the Global South?" Debating Development Research. Blog post 
  • 2022. With N. Fold, S. Narayanan, H. Pérez Niño, and M. Vicol. "Contract farming in the developing world: A political economy approach." Agrarian Questions – The Journal of Agrarian Change. Blog post 
  • 2021. With S. Homann-Kee Tui, M. Madajewicz, C. Mutter, and R.O. Valdivia. "Lockdown Lessons from Zimbabwe: How to preserve livelihoods during a pandemic." Blog post 
  • 2020. With S. Homann-Kee Tui and C.O. Ojiewo. "Stronger local food value chains can leave Eastern and Southern Africa more resilient post COVID-19." Blog post