Publications

* denotes current or former student

Edited Volume

Paredes, A.D., and M.J.F. Montefrio. (2025). Halo-Halo ecologies: The precarious environments behind Filipino food. Honolulu, Hawai’i: University of Hawai’i Press.

Refereed Journal Articles

37) Montefrio, M.J.F., and K.K. Saguin. (2025) They sprout everywhere: The ambivalences of urban agriculture experimentations in Metro Manila. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Society (Online first) (Link)

36) Montefrio, M.J.F., and N. Dagmang. (2025). Tilling the urban soil: Rural-urban alliances and the spatial politics of radical urban agriculture in the Philippines. Journal of Peasant Studies (Online first) (Link)

35) Montefrio, M.J.F. (2025). The political ecology of Philippine migration in a changing climate. International Migration Review (Online first) (Link)

34) Lim, C., C. Middleton, and M.J.F. Montefrio. (2025). The imaginaries of urban agriculture and a liveable city shaping Bangkok’s urban governance and design. Journal of Urban Affairs (Online first) (Link)

33) Montefrio, M.J.F., and A.O. Abasolo. (2025). Pandemic lockdowns and their impacts on urban-based agrarian livelihoods and food security in a provincial city in the Philippines. Area (Online first)  (Link)

32) Abasolo, A.O., and M.J.F. Montefrio. (2025). When one crisis comes after another: Successive shocks, food insecurity, and coastal precarity in the Philippines. Agriculture and Human Values, 42, 17-33. (Link)

31) Fu, X.*, M. Schneider-Mayerson, and M.J.F. Montefrio. (2023). The Reproductive Climate Concerns of Young, Educated Chinese: ‘When the Nest is Upset No Egg is Left Intact.’ Environmental Sociology, 9(2), 200-215. (Link)

30) Kwok, Y.*, M.J.F. Montefrio, M.J.F., and E. Tandoc. (2023) Navigating discipline and indulgence: The strategic performance of contradiction in social media food posts. Food, Culture & Society, 26(3), 793-813. (Link)

29) Montefrio, M.J.F., X.R. Lee*, and E. Lim.* (2021). Aesthetic politics and community gardens in Singapore. Urban Geography , 42(10), 1459-1479. (Link)

28) Montefrio, M.J.F., and H.L. Sin. (2021) Between food and spectacle: The complex reconfigurations of rural production in agritourism. Geoforum, 126, 383-393. (Link)

27) Montefrio, M.J.F. (2020). “The queen of greens” comes to the tropics: (De)territorialization of kale’s socio-material relations in the Philippines. Geoforum, 116, 24-32. (Link)

26) Montefrio, M.J.F. (2020). Interrogating the “productive” home gardener in a time of pandemic lockdown in the Philippines. Food and Foodways , 28(3), 216-225. (Link)

25) Montefrio, M.J.F. (2020). Food insecurity and bayanihan in the locked-down Philippines. Gastronomica, 20(3), 57-59. (Link)

24) Montefrio, M.J.F. (2020). Cosmopolitan translations of food and the case of alternative eating in Manila, the Philippines. Agriculture and Human Values, 37(2), 479-494. (Link)

23) Montefrio, M.J.F., and R. Wilk. (2020). Transecting “healthy” & “sustainable” food in Asia and the Pacific. Food, Culture & Society, 23(2), 102-116. (Link)

22) Montefrio, M.J.F., J. De Chavez, A.P. Contreras, and D.S. Erasga. (2020). Hybridities and awkward constructions in Philippine locavorism: Reframing global-local dynamics through assemblage thinking. Food, Culture & Society, 23(2), 117-136. (Link)

21) Montefrio, M.J.F., and W. Dressler. (2019). Declining food security in a Philippine oil palm frontier: The changing role of cooperatives. Development and Change, 50(5), 1342-1372 (Link)

20) Montefrio, M.J.F., and H.L. Sin. (2019). Elite governance of agritourism in the Philippines. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 27(9), 1338-1354 (Link)

19) Padfield, R., S. Hansen, Z.G. Davies, … M.J.F. Montefrio, … M.J. Struebig. (2019). Co-producing a research agenda for sustainable palm oil. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, 2, 13.

18) Montefrio, M.J.F., and A.T. Johnson.* (2019). The politics of participatory guarantee systems for organic food production. Journal of Rural Studies, 65, 1-11 (Link)

17) Dressler, W., W. Smith, and M.J.F. Montefrio. (2018). Ungovernable? The vital natures of swidden assemblages in an upland frontier. Journal of Rural Studies, 61, 343-354. (Link)

16) Montefrio, M.J.F. (2017). Land control dynamics and social-ecological transformations in upland Philippines. Journal of Peasant Studies, 44(4), 796-816. (Link)

15) Montefrio, M.J.F. (2016). Cooperation and resistance: Negotiating rubber in upland Philippines. Journal of Rural Studies, 46, 111-120. (Link)

14) Dressler, W., J. de Koning, M.J.F. Montefrio, and J. Firn. (2016). Land sharing not sparing in the “green economy”: The role of livelihood bricolage in conservation and development in the Philippines. Geoforum, 76, 75-89. (Link)

13) Montefrio, M.J.F. & W.H. Dressler. (2016). The green economy and constructions of the “idle” and “unproductive” uplands in the Philippines. World Development, 79, 114-126. (Link)

12) Montefrio, M.J.F., D.A. Sonnenfeld, and V.A. Luzadis. (2015). Social construction of the environment and farmer intentions to cooperate in biofuels and rubber production in upland Palawan, the Philippines. Ecological Economics, 116, 70-77. (Link)

11) Feola, G., A. Lerner, M. Jain, M.J.F. Montefrio, and K.A. Nicholas. (2015). Farmers responses to multiple stresses in the face of global change: Assessing five case studies to enhance adaptation. Journal of Rural Studies, 39, 74-84. (Link)

10) Montefrio, M.J.F. (2014). State Versus Indigenous Peoples’ Rights: Comparative Analysis of Stable System Parameters, Policy Constraints, and the Process of Delegitimation. Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis,16(4), 335-355. (Link)

9) Montefrio, M.J.F., Y.Y. Ortiga, and M.R.C. Josol.* (2014). Inducing development: Social remittances and the expansion of oil palm. International Migration Review, 48(1), 216-242. (Link)

8) Montefrio, M.J.F. (2013). The green economy and land conflicts. Peace Review: A Journal of Social Justice, 25(4), 502-509. (Link)

7) Josol, M.R.C.*, and M.J.F. Montefrio. (2013). Understanding the resilience of swidden agro-ecosystems interacting with rubber and oil palm production regimes in the Philippines. Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, 37(7), 812-833. (Link)

6) Montefrio, M.J.F., and D.A. Sonnenfeld. (2013). Global-local tensions in contract farming of biofuels involving indigenous communities in the Philippines. Society & Natural Resources, 26(3), 239-253. (Link)

5) Montefrio, M.J.F. (2012). Privileged biofuels, marginalized indigenous peoples: the co-evolution of biofuels development in the tropics. Bulletin of Science, Technology and Society, 32(1), 41-55. (Link)

4) Montefrio, M.J.F., and D.A. Sonnenfeld. (2011). Forest, fuel, or food? Competing coalitions and biofuels policymaking in the Philippines. Journal of Environment and Development, 20(1), 27-49. (Link)

3) Montefrio M.J.F., and J.P. Obbard. (2010). Economics of biodiesel derived from waste cooking oil in the Philippines. Energy Sources, Part B: Economics, Planning and Policy, 5(4), 337-347. (Link)

2) Montefrio, M.J.F., and J.P. Obbard. (2010) Recovery and pretreatment of fats, oil and grease from grease interceptor for biodiesel production. Applied Energy, 87(10), 3155-3161. (Link)

1) Montefrio, M.J.F., K.S. Ng, Y.K. Lee*, E. Torio, M.H. Chua, L. de Sales-Papa, and J.P. Obbard. (2007). A sustainable approach to the remediation of the Payatas Disposal Facility in Metro Manila, Philippines. The International Journal of Environmental, Cultural, Economic and Social Sustainability, 2(7), 41-52.

Book Chapter

9) M.J.F. Montefrio, and A. Paredes. (2025). Panghimagas: What we crave. In: A.D. Paredes and M.J.F. Montefrio (Eds.) Halo-halo ecologies: The precarious environments behind Filipino food. Honolulu, Hawai’i: University of Hawai’i Press.

8) Paredes, A., M.J.F. Montefrio, O. Mallari, and M.K.B.D. Jacinto. (2025). Agahan: A recipe for Filipino/Filipinx gastroecological storytelling. In: A.D. Paredes and M.J.F. Montefrio (Eds.) Halo-halo ecologies: The precarious environments behind Filipino food. Honolulu, Hawai’i: University of Hawai’i Press.

7) Abasolo, A.O., and M.J.F. Montefrio. (2025). Sirá-Sirá stores: Food access in times of crisis in Capiz. In: A.D. Paredes and M.J.F. Montefrio (Eds.) Halo-halo ecologies: The precarious environments behind Filipino food. Honolulu, Hawai’i: University of Hawai’i Press.

6) Montefrio, M.J.F. (2024). Socioecological relations in land politics: An assemblage perspective. In: Borras, S.M. Jr., and Franco J.C. (Eds.), Oxford Handbook of Land Politics. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

5) Montefrio, M.J.F., and A.O. Abasolo. (2021). From a superstar to banal staple? Tracing the complex commoditization of kale. In: Mcdonnel, E., and Wilk, R. (Eds.), Superfoods, pp. 135-148. London, UK: Bloomsbury

4) Montefrio, M.J.F. (2016). Confronting the “unproductive” upland discourses in biofuels development. In: Le Bouthillier, Y., Cowie, A., Martin, P., McLeod-Kilmurray, H. (Eds.), The law and policy biofuels, pp. 59-80. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.

3) Montefrio, M.J.F. (2012). Poverty and climate change. In Philander, S.G. (ed.), Encyclopedia of Global Warming and Climate Change, 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

2) Montefrio, M.J.F. (2012). Small farmers. In Philander, S.G. (ed.), Encyclopedia of Global Warming and Climate Change, 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

1) Montefrio, M.J.F, and J.P. Obbard. (2011). Production and utilisation of biodiesel derived from waste cooking oil: A feasibility study of its application in Marikina City, Philippines. In: Lye L.H. et al (eds.), Sustainability matters: challenges and opportunities in environmental management in Asia, pp. 1-36. Singapore, Singapore: Pearson Education South Asia.

Non-Refereed Publications

Montefrio, M.J.F. (2021). From records to lively communities: Seeing virtual Southeast Asian urban farming groups in a new light. Member Voices, Fieldsights, September 23. https://culanth.org/fieldsights/from-records-to-lively-communities-seeing-virtual-southeast-asian-urban-farming-groups-in-a-new-light?x-craft-preview=EFrdm1Obdb&token=JTHEiPjm_hr-Y8Qc1pmJsAgFueP7xGDL

Dressler, W., and M.J.F. Montefrio. (2018, May 10). Pala’wan indigenous food, forests threatened. Philippine Daily Inquirer, Opinion

Montefrio, M.J.F. (2015). Conflict management manual for forest communities in the Philippines. International Tropical Timber Organization.

Dressler, W., and M.J.F. Montefrio. (2015, May 2). Stop prejudice against indigenous people’s kaingin. Philippine Daily Inquirer, Opinion

Montefrio, M.J.F. Partnership regimes for the production of biofuels and natural rubber in upland Palawan, Philippines. Final report to the Economy and Environment Program for Southeast Asia, International Development Research Center.

Montefrio, M.J.F. (2012). Poverty and climate change. In Philander, S.G. (ed.), Encyclopedia of Global Warming and Climate Change, 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Montefrio, M.J.F. (2012). Small farmers. In Philander, S.G. (ed.), Encyclopedia of Global Warming and Climate Change, 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Carter, S., and J. Haas, C. Liu, and M.J.F. Montefrio, K. Pettus, and J. Stauber. (2011). Strategic visioning: Agriculture, natural resources and climate change in North and West Africa. Prepared for the Near East Foundation, Syracuse, New York.