Laggards or Leaders: Conservers of Traditional Agricultural Knowledge in Bolivia

Many sustainable agricultural practices are based on local and traditional farming knowledge. This article examines the conservation and loss of three traditional practices in the Bolivian Altiplano that agronomic research has shown increase the resiliency of small farmers in the face of climate‐related risks. These practices are the use of manure, the use of local forecasts and risk‐management strategies, and the preservation of crop biodiversity. Although these practices are widely used today, farmers have been steadily abandoning them during the past decade. This article examines the characteristics of those who maintain and those who abandon traditional practices to see if the abandonment of local knowledge can be explained by the adoption‐diffusion literature. This research does not support the adoption‐diffusion literature; although the factors related to conservation are slightly different for each practice, the findings do not support the idea that young, educated, and wealthier farmers are more likely to reject local knowledge. Instead, off‐farm activities such as migration, employment, and trade seem to be related to the decline in local practices as each affects the availability of labor and the availability of people to learn these practices.     

Adoption of Sustainable Agricultural Practices: Diffusion,Farm Structure,and Profitability1

Abstract This paper employs diffusion and farm-structure variables to explain variations in Montana farmers' adoption of two kinds of sustainable agricultural practices: those involving intensive management and those which require fewer purchased inputs. While perceived profitability was found to be the most important factor affecting adoption of both, the independent variables had different effects on beliefs about net economic returns as well as on adoption of the two practices. Type of farm enterprise played a larger role in adoption of the low-input practices than the management intensive ones; access to information was more important for the latter. Implications for policy are discussed.     

Return of the gentleman farmer?: Conceptualising gentrification in UK agriculture

In this paper, processes of gentrification are assessed in relation to non-commercial farming: the production of agricultural commodities without the intent of earning a living. The author argues that due to the connection between residence and productive assets (particularly land) inherent in farming, agricultural gentrification represents a special case, distinct from rural and urban gentrification, where gentrification is possible from within the existing farm household. Pluriactivity of the farm household enables both economic capital accumulation and alterations in the cultural capital held. Similar to rural and urban gentrification processes, agricultural gentrification leads to landscape change. Both non-commercial farming and gentrification processes are found to have been encouraged by the state, through post-productivist polices and laws aimed at commercial agricultural producers. The author argues for further research on farmers as consumers of rural amenities, and raises questions about the environmental impacts of ‘non-commercial farming’ and the acquisition of farm land by the wealthy elite.     

Comparison of Amish and Non-Amish Farmers: A Diffusion/Farm-Structure Perspective1

Abstract Considerable attention has focused on farming practices and behavioral patterns that characterize Amish farmers from other agriculturalists. It has been suggested that Amish farmers are more concerned about the physical environment than non-Amish farmers because Amish employ fewer technology-intensive farming practices, though there is little empirical evidence to support such an assertion. To address this issue, data were collected from a sample of Amish and non-Amish owner-operators in Ohio to compare environmental attitudes and farming systems presently in use. Discriminant analysis was used to examine factors chosen to differentiate the two groups. Findings reveal that Amish respondents believed more strongly than other farmers that ground water pollution was an important environmental problem and that farmers should reduce chemical application rates to protect ground water resources. Other farmers exhibited greater willingness to participate in educational programs designed to reduce pesticide application rates. The two groups could not be differentiated by criteria used to make adoption decisions about farm technologies and farming practices; both used productivity and efficiency criteria when making adoption decisions.     

Are Conventional Farmers Conventional? Analysis of the Environmental Orientations of Conventional New Zealand Farmers*

Abstract Within the political economy of agriculture and agrofood literatures there are examples of approaches that reject simple dichotomies between alternatives and the mainstream. In line with such approaches, we challenge the assumption that alternative agriculture, and its attendant improved environmental practices, alternative management styles, less intensive approaches, and better approaches to animal and ecosystem welfare, is the only source of agricultural sustainability. This article uses national farm‐survey results for New Zealand's sheep and beef, dairy, and horticulture sectors to examine conventional farmers, measure their assessments of farming practices, and assess their environmental orientation. Analysis identifies a proenvironmental cluster of farmers in each sector characterized by a higher environmental‐orientation score and distinct ratings of other farm practices queried in the survey. We interpret the results in terms of the exposure of different agricultural sectors to the effects of market‐based, audited, best‐practice schemes. The presence of shades of “greenness” among conventional farmers has important implications for environmental management and for our understanding of the various and complex pathways toward the greening of agrofood systems.     

The social practice of sustainable agriculture under audit discipline: Initial insights from the ARGOS project in New Zealand

One of the most interesting recent developments in global agri-food systems has been the rapid emergence and elaboration of market audit systems claiming environmental qualities or sustainability. In New Zealand, as a strongly export-oriented, high-value food producer, these environmental market audit systems have emerged as an important pathway for producers to potentially move towards more sustainable production. There have, however, been only sporadic and fractured attempts to study the emerging social practice of sustainable agriculture - particularly in terms of the emergence of new audit disciplines in farming. The ARGOS project in New Zealand was established in 2003 as a longitudinal matched panel study of over 100 farms and orchards using different market audit systems (e.g., organic, integrated or GLOBALG.A.P.). This article reports on the results of social research into the social practice of sustainable agriculture in farm households within the ARGOS projects between 2003 and 2009. Results drawn from multiple social research instruments deployed over six years provide an unparalleled level of empirical data on the social practice of sustainable agriculture under audit disciplines. Using 12 criteria identified in prior literature as contributing a significant social dynamic around sustainable agriculture practices in other contexts, the analysis demonstrated that 9 of these 12 dimensions did demonstrate differences in social practices emerging between (or co-constituting) organic, integrated, or conventional audit disciplines. These differences clustered into three main areas: 1) social and learning/knowledge networks and expertise, 2) key elements of farmer subjectivity - particularly in relation to subjective positioning towards the environment and nature, and 3) the role and importance of environmental dynamics within farm management practices and systems. The findings of the project provide a strong challenge to some older framings of the social practice of sustainable agriculture: particularly those that rely on paradigm-driven evaluation of social motivations, strong determinism of sustainable practice driven by coherent farmer identity, or deploying overly categorical interpretations of what it means to be ’organic’ or ’conventional’. The complex patterning of the ARGOS data can only be understood if the social practice of organic, integrated or (even more loosely) conventional production is understood as being co-produced by four dynamics: subjectivity/identity, audit disciplines, industry cultures/structure and time. This reframing of how we might research the social practice of sustainable agriculture opens up important new opportunities for understanding the emergence and impact of new audit disciplines in agriculture.     

A framework for targeting soil conservation policy

This paper presents a comprehensive framework and methodology in an attempt to direct policy solutions to soil and water degradation from water-related soil erosion. The perspective adopted by this research is social science in nature. Past research on the adoption of soil conservation practices has tended to concentrate on the micro (individual) level of inquiry and has tended to ignore environmental (i.e. biophysical) factors. Previous models of the adoption of soil conservation practices are reviewed and critiqued. Based on the strengths and limitations of these approaches, a comprehensive analytical framework that identifies and relates micro (e.g. farm and farmer characteristics) and macro (e.g. institutional arrangements, fiscal and monetary policies, agricultural policies) factors influencing the adoption and continued use of soil conservation measures is proposed. It is hypothesized that economic and institutional constraints will exert the greatest influence on decisions to use land stewardship practices when problem awareness exists at the micro level. Based on this framework, a research methodology is developed to classify the farm population into relatively homogeneous sub-groups based on farmers' receptivity to the adoption and use of currently available and prospective conservation practices. These groupings could then form the basis for targeting a range of policies, programs, and other measures appropriate for each group.     

Envisioning agricultural sustainability from field to plate: Comparing producer and consumer attitudes and practices toward ‘environmentally friendly’ food and farming in Washington State, USA

A substantial body of sociological research has examined the relationship between farmers’ environmental attitudes and their conservation behaviors, but little research has compared the attitudes of producers and consumers toward the environment with their behaviors or practices in support of sustainable agri-food systems. This paper addresses these shortcomings by analyzing the intersection between producer and consumer attitudes toward environmental sustainability with their actual practices, drawing data from focus group interviews and surveys with producers and consumers in Washington State, USA. We compare farmers’ attitudes toward several agricultural and environmental policies with their self-reported practices to examine whether support for environmental policies aligns with sustainable farming practices. For consumers, we investigate the relationship between their attitudes toward the same agricultural and environmental policy issues with their interest in purchasing food produced in an environmentally sustainable manner. Through our analyses, we find that consumers’ and producers’ practices are not always consistently correlated with their environmental attitudes, but that support for agricultural land preservation is one policy area in which the interests of producers and consumers intersect with their interest in sustainable farming and food. Findings from our individual and focus group interviews assist us in understanding the multiple, sometimes competing, factors that consumers and producers must weigh in making decisions about environmentally sustainable food and farming.     

Innovating Conservation Agriculture: The Case of No‐Till Cropping

Abstract The extensive sociological studies of conservation agriculture have provided considerable understanding of farmers' use of conservation practices, but attempts to develop predictive models have failed. Reviews of research findings question the utility of the conceptual and methodological perspectives of prior research. The argument advanced here is that actor‐network theory is useful in analyzing conservation agriculture as a radically different agriculture: a new paradigm with new beliefs about soils, plants, the environment, and farmers themselves as well as new crop production systems. The new indigenous cultures of conservation tillage and cropping are innovative products of social networks that join farmland, farmers, farm advisors, and farm supply representatives in new ways. The spread of conservation agriculture has occurred as the result both of new agricultural science of conservation tillage and cropping and the spread of these new networks and their innovative cropping systems.     

The quality of sustainability: Agroecological partnerships and the geographic branding of California winegrapes

Quality and sustainability are both socially constructed, ambiguous terms, but they have not been heretofore linked in the rural studies literature. The “quality turn” has received particular attention from researchers for its potential to organize linkages among various forces in agrofood systems, providing more income to producers by appealing to affluent, reflexive consumers. A distinct line of rural research has attended to the challenge of agro-environmental pollution and regulation, but this research trajectory has been subsumed under the broader paradigm of sustainability. This article seeks to contribute to discussions about quality in the agrofood sector by analyzing the potential of fusing rural resource protection practices with place-based marketing of enhanced quality, drawing from an empirical study of the California winegrape industry. In several California commodities, agroecological partnerships are becoming the chief vehicle for extending sustainable agricultural practices. California's winegrape farmers have undertaken more partnerships to greater effect than those of any other US crop, and they are now discursively linking their sustainable farming practices, environmental quality, and wine quality. This marks a new linkage of two heretofore discrete social imaginaries. This article argues that “quality” is a term that can conceptually link increasing consumer demand for differentiated product taste with increasing regulatory pressure for environmental protection. Synergistic benefits from such a linkage have the potential to strengthen rural development initiatives. Making progress toward sustainability requires collective action on the part of producers, and in some commodities, may mesh well with efforts to enhance foodstuff quality.     

Conventionalization, civic engagement, and the sustainability of organic agriculture

It is often assumed that organic farming is synonymous with sustainable agriculture. The broad goals of sustainable agriculture include economic profitability, environmental stewardship, and community vitality. However, the “question of sustainability” (Ikerd, 2008) can be asked of any type of farming, including organic production. One way to assess sustainability is to consider farmers’ perceptions of the sustainability of their operations. I draw on data from a survey of certified organic producers in Washington State to broaden our understanding of the sustainability of organic agriculture. Specifically, I consider certified organic producers’ perceptions of the degree to which their operations contribute to broad sustainable agriculture goals. Moreover, I use multiple regression to investigate how these perceived contributions are influenced by farm conventionalization variables (e.g., organic acreage, non-organic sales, and specialization) and civic engagement variables (e.g., direct marketing, community group membership, and participation in sustainable/organic agriculture organizations) while controlling for farmer demographics and farm location. Farm conventionalization appears to have a significant negative effect on perceived contributions to environmental and social sustainability, but a significant positive effect on perceived contribution to economic sustainability. Civic engagement appears to have a significant positive effect on perceived contributions to environmental and social sustainability, but no effect on perceived contribution to economic sustainability.     

Reconsidering conceptualisations of farm conservation activity: The case of conserving hay meadows

Changes to agri-environmental policy, with an emphasis on encouraging more environmentally friendly farming practices, have been paralleled in the last two decades by a body of research into agri-environment scheme adoption. To date much of this research has considered conservation behaviour as a static issue across whole farms, and viewed participation decisions as solely a present-day issue. Based on an in-depth case study from the Peak District (UK) this paper considers the case of hay meadows—an important cultural, ecological and agricultural feature of the landscape which has been seriously threatened by changing farm practices during the last century, and which now features as a conservation option in the main agri-environment schemes. Drawing on material from semi-structured interviews on 62 farms, and participant observation on 20 farms, the paper discusses how hay meadows represent a unique case for conservation and considers the limitations of existing conceptualisations of scheme adoption for understanding hay meadow conservation. In particular, the paper examines how current conservation decisions are constrained by, and intersect with, past managements that affect the “eligibility” of meadows for scheme adoption. A model is developed which places meadow types of different eligibility against conservation styles to illustrate how different conservation scenarios are created.     

Soil erosion and perception of the problem

Most efforts to reduce soil erosion have included an educational component designed to make farmers aware of their erosion problem. These strategies implicitly assume that once farmers become aware of an erosion problem, they will take appropriate action. It is recognized that various social and economic factors influence the adoption process at a later stage, but their influence on perception of the problem has not been explored. This analysis indicates that perception of a soil erosion problem may be influenced more by social and economic factors than by the actual extent of the problem. Perception of environmental problems, therefore, is based not only on awareness, but also on the ability to do something about the problem. Therefore, structural constraints influence both the adoption of conservation practices and perception of an environmental problem. It is suggested that if an effective soil conservation program is to be developed, we must understand the unique problems, interests, and goals of farmers.     

Diversification and Work Satisfaction: Testing a Claim by Marx and Engels for Farmers

In conventional economics, a great deal of energy has been devoted to empirical validation of the benefits of specialization in terms of efficiency, in fields including the agricultural sector. Marx and Engels's claim that the diversification of working lives would increase work satisfaction has gained attention among social scientists but has never been verified for the agricultural sector, despite a growing body of literature on the determinants of work satisfaction. Based on a survey of Swiss and northeast German farmers, this study shows that farm diversification significantly increases work satisfaction. This applies both to the lines of agricultural production pursued on a farm and to the farm's nonagricultural activities.     

Risk and returns of sustainable crop intensification: The case of smallholder rice and potato farmers in Uganda

The use of modern inputs such as synthetic fertilizers is often put forward as the best way to increase crop yields in an ecologically sustainable way. However, such inputs can be perceived as risky, and adoption may depend on how much extra risk a farm household can afford. This article describes the potential for fertilizer and pesticide use among Ugandan smallholder rice and potato farmers. In addition, it documents patterns observed in socioeconomic data that suggest that risk is an important barrier to sustainable crop intensification practices. We find that households that engage in risk‐management strategies, such as investing in risk‐reducing technology or engaging in precautionary savings, are more likely to practise intensified cropping. We also elaborate on the policy consequences.     

The Emergence of Supermarkets with Chinese Characteristics: Challenges and Opportunities for China's Agricultural Development

The supermarket revolution is spreading faster in China than anywhere else in the world. Supermarket sales are growing by 30–40% per year, 2–3 times faster than in other developing regions. This development has been driven by factors shared by other developing countries as well as by China‐specific policies. It presents opportunities for Chinese agricultural producers to diversify into activities with higher income prospects, and for procurement systems to move into dealing directly with farmers. However, supermarket managers face several unique challenges: average farm size is small and farmers are not well organised. Hence, the whole supply chain must be upgraded, and government agricultural policy and rural development programmes have an important role in this.     

The intersection of home study assessments and child specific recruitment: the performance of home studies in practice

Child specific recruitment efforts are designed to facilitate permanent placements for children in foster care by finding them potential adoptive families among people already known to the child. This process relies heavily on gathering thorough and accurate information about prospective families, and much of this information is often contained in families’ home study assessments. Yet, little is known in the research literature about the way that home studies operate in conjunction with the recruitment of adoptive families. The purpose of this study is to explore how home studies are perceived and used in the context of child specific recruitment. Findings suggest that home studies perform best in gathering general family information, but poorly in capturing sensitive information, which may be one of the most critical dimensions to capture. These findings highlight important practice changes needed in current adoption practice.     

The potential for collaborative agri-environment schemes in England: Can a well-designed collaborative approach address farmers’ concerns with current schemes?

There is increasing recognition that whilst agri-environment schemes in England have had discernable benefits, their success in relation to certain species and resources has been inhibited by the piecemeal implementation of Environmental Stewardship (ES) on the basis of single farm agreements. In this paper we examine the receptivity of farmers to the idea of landscape-scale, collaborative agri-environment schemes (cAES) based on semi-structured interviewing in three English case-study areas. Using qualitative sociocultural interpretation we argue that a lack of communication and mutual understanding between farmers; a cultural imperative for independence and timeliness, and; alternative interpretations of risk amongst farmers present potential barriers to cAES. We also argue, however, that if designed appropriately, cAES have the potential to overcome certain concerns that farmers hold about the existing ES schemes. In particular, cAES are likely to gain support from farmers where they are seen to offer greater flexibility; scope for farmer involvement in scheme design; locally targeted and clearly defined aims, and; demonstrable benefits that can be monitored as a record of success. We provide policy recommendations and suggest that cAES have the potential to deliver greater environmental benefits, whilst at the same time encouraging farmers’ participation in, and satisfaction with, agri-environment schemes.     

Designing agroforestry innovations to increase their adoptability: a case study from Paraguay

The development of adoptable natural resource systems, to address the needs of rural populations, is a priority for many governments in less developed countries. This paper looks at agroforestry as an innovation, and at the factors which influence its adoptability. This is accomplished through an analysis of a case study on the development and diffusion of an agroforestry innovation in the Guayaybi region of Eastern Paraguay. In this case study a forestry extension team, working directly with the farmers, was successful in designing an adoptable agroforestry innovation. The innovation was ecologically adapted to the region and appeared to have good potential for economic return. It was readily adopted by the farmers who perceived it to have a relative economic advantage over their traditional land use systems. The agroforestry system was compatible with their agricultural practices and helped to meet their needs for wood products and fodder. The new system was simple to understand and easy to try on a limited basis which minimized risk. Also the tree species used were fast-growing, which impressed the farmers and made the plantations highly visible to others. This ‘observability’ of functioning agroforestry systems plus the belief in the potential for economic gain were the key factors in the rapid adoption of agroforestry as a new land use system.