Faculty Spotlight Fall 2024

Eric Jones (Archaeology)

My research uses historical documents and maps, landscape archaeology, and artifact analysis to study the transition from subsistence to commercial farming in the 19th century in upstate New York. This transition created the family-farm-as-business model that became the backbone of the U.S. agricultural economy until the 1980s. I am particularly interested in the factors that influenced farmers to make this change and the impact it had on household finances, health conditions, community socioeconomics, and landscapes. We also work with farmers in NY to improve social and economic conditions using a combination of 19th, 20th, and 21st century farming and business techniques.