| 11. |
- Krafft, Jannica, et al.
(författare)
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Delivering too much, too little or off target-possible consequences of differences in perceptions on agricultural advisory services
- 2021
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Ingår i: Agriculture and Human Values. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0889-048X .- 1572-8366. ; 39, s. 185-199
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Advisory services are considered to play an important role in the development of competitiveness and sustainability in agriculture. Advisory services have been studied at policy level, structural level and within case studies, but there is still restricted knowledge about advisors' and farmers' view on advisory services in general. This paper presents the views of Swedish advisors and farmers on advisory services. In a survey-based study, perceptions of farm advisors and full-time farmers in commercial Swedish agriculture on advisory services were identified and statistically analysed, comparing differences between and within the groups. The results are structured around three main themes; motives for a farmer using or not using advisory services, preferred approach by the advisor and future demands on advisory services and their importance today. Possible consequences of differences in perceptions for on-farm service delivery were assessed. Similarities in perceptions on advisory services among advisors and farmers, were found in areas characterised by well-defined questions or production-related issues. Significant differences in perceptions of advisors and farmers emerged in less concrete areas and on topics connected to change, management and strategy. Consequences of discrepancies in perceptions are that advisors may deliver too much, too little or off target, especially when expectations on advisory services are not clearly expressed. A strong and proactive back-office supporting the advisors is needed to prevent these possible consequences.
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| 12. |
- Lundström, Markus, 1980-
(författare)
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“We do this because the market demands it” : alternative meat production and the speciesist logic
- 2019
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Ingår i: Agriculture and Human Values. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0889-048X .- 1572-8366. ; 36:1, s. 127-136
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The past decades’ substantial growth in globalized meat consumption continues to shape the international political economy of food and agriculture. This political economy of meat composes a site of contention; in Brazil, where livestock production is particularly thriving, large agri-food corporations are being challenged by alternative food networks. This article analyzes experiential and experimental accounts of such an actor—a collectivized pork cooperative tied to Brazil’s Landless Movement—which seeks to navigate the political economy of meat. The ethnographic case study documents these livestock farmers’ ambiguity towards complying with the capitalist commodification process, required by the intensifying meat market. Moreover, undertaking an intersectional approach, the article theorizes how animal-into-food commodification in turn depends on the speciesist logic, a normative human/non-human divide that endorses the meat commodity. Hence the article demonstrates how alternative food networks at once navigate confines of capitalist commodification and the speciesist logic that impels the political economy of meat.
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| 13. |
- Marquardt, Kristina, et al.
(författare)
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Improved fallows : A case study of an adaptive response in Amazonian swidden farming systems
- 2013
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Ingår i: Agriculture and Human Values. - : Springer. - 0889-048X .- 1572-8366. ; 30:3, s. 417-428
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Many smallholders in the Amazon employ swidden (slash-and-burn) farming systems in which forest or forest fallows are the primary source of natural soil enrichment. With decreasing opportunities to claim natural forests for agriculture and shrinking landholdings, rotational agriculture on smaller holdings allows insufficient time for fallow to regenerate naturally into secondary forest. This case study examines how Peruvian farmers use "improved fallows" as an adaptive response to a situation of decreasing soil fertility and how the farmers describe the rationale underlying the various actions taken in these modified fallow systems. The results indicate that farmers establish improved fallows using contextual ecological knowledge and various techniques to introduce a large diversity of tree species. This practice is also used to restore degraded land to agricultural production. The tasks of maintaining productivity on agricultural land and reforesting degraded areas is becoming increasingly urgent in the Amazon, making agricultural practices that involve reforestation and tree management highly relevant. Since swidden farming systems are the basis for the livelihoods of most Amazon smallholders, good farming practices elaborated by swidden farmers are important for sustainable small-scale family farming systems in the Amazon.
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| 14. |
- O’Neill, Kirstie, et al.
(författare)
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‘Fractures’ in food practices : Exploring transitions towards sustainable food
- 2019
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Ingår i: Agriculture and Human Values. - : Springer Netherlands. - 0889-048X .- 1572-8366. ; 36:2, s. 225-239
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Emissions arising from the production and consumption of food are acknowledged as a major contributor to climate change. From a consumer’s perspective, however, the sustainability of food may have many meanings: it may result from eating less meat, becoming vegetarian, or choosing to buy local or organic food. To explore what food sustainability means to consumers, and what factors lead to changes in food practice, we adopt a sociotechnical approach to compare the food consumption practices in North West England with two differing consumer groups. The first, supermarket shoppers ‘embedded’ in the mainstream food regime; and the second, who self-identify as sustainable food practitioners, and who perform a range of sustainable food consumption practices. We examine how our two groups experience changes in food practices and identify ‘fractures’ stemming from lifecourse and public events that emerge as points where change might occur. We suggest that ‘sharing spaces’ would be one possibility for prompting and nurturing fractures that can lead to greater sustainability in food practices.
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| 15. |
- Opoku Mensah, Seth, et al.
(författare)
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Benefits of farmer managed natural regeneration to food security in semi-arid Ghana
- 2024
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Ingår i: Agriculture and Human Values. - : Springer. - 0889-048X .- 1572-8366.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Promoting Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) aims to increase the productive capacities of farmer households. Under FMNR, farmers select and manage natural regeneration on farmlands and keep them under production. While FMNR contributes to the wealth of farming communities, its contribution to household food security has rarely been researched. We, therefore, used a mixed-methods approach to address the research gap by measuring FMNR’s contribution to food security among farmer households in the Talensi district of Ghana. We adopted the Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS) and Food Consumption Score (FCS) to estimate food security status among 243 FMNR farmer households and 243 non-FMNR farmer households. Also, we performed a Chi-square test of independence to compare the frequency of each food group (present vs not present) between FMNR adopters and non-FMNR adopters to establish the relationship between adopting FMNR and consuming the FCS and HDDS food groups. Our results reveal that FMNR farmer households are more food secure than non-FMNR farmer households. The HHDS of the FMNR farmer households was 9.6, which is higher than the target value of 9.1. Conversely, the HHDS of the non-FMNR farmer households was 4.3, which is lower than the target value of 9.1. Up to 86% and 37% of the FMNR farmer households and non-FMNR farmer households fell within acceptable FCS; 15% and 17% of FMNR farmer households and non-FMNR farmer households fell within borderline FCS. While none of the FMNR farmer households fell within poor FCS, 46% of non-FMNR farmer households fell within poor FCS. Adopting FMNR is significantly related to consuming all food groups promoted and benefiting from FMNR practices. The paper recommends enabling farmers in semi-arid environments to practice and invest in FMNR for long-term returns to food security.
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| 16. |
- Pétursson, Jón Þór
(författare)
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Organic intimacy : emotional practices at an organic store
- 2018
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Ingår i: Agriculture and Human Values. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0889-048X .- 1572-8366. ; 35:3, s. 581-594
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The article tells the story of the rise and fall of the organic store Yggdrasill in Iceland. That story features humble founders, caring customers, dedicated staff, as well as anonymous investment funds, and it describes the conversion of organics from a niche market to mainstream consumption. Through an ethnographic account of everyday life at the organic store, the article analyzes how intimacy within the modern food chain is established through emotional practices. Staff and customers share feelings of reciprocity, not only towards organic producers, but also towards each other through acts of selling and buying organic products, forming intimate attachment and creating trust to counter the fears and anonymity of the modern food chain. Drawing on theories of affect and emotional practices and combining ethnography with narrative analysis, the article explores the role of emotions and how the doing of emotions makes organic food consumption meaningful within the industrial food system.
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| 17. |
- Rose, David Christian, et al.
(författare)
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The old, the new, or the old made new? Everyday counter-narratives of the so-called fourth agricultural revolution
- 2022
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Ingår i: Agriculture and Human Values. - : Springer Science+Business Media B.V.. - 0889-048X .- 1572-8366. ; 40:2, s. 423-439
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Prevalent narratives of agricultural innovation predict that we are once again on the cusp of a global agricultural revolution. According to these narratives, this so-called fourth agricultural revolution, or agriculture 4.0, is set to transform current agricultural practices around the world at a quick pace, making use of new sophisticated precision technologies. Often used as a rhetorical device, this narrative has a material effect on the trajectories of an inherently political and normative agricultural transition; with funding, other policy instruments, and research attention focusing on the design and development of new precision technologies. A growing critical social science literature interrogates the promises of revolution. Engagement with new technology is likely to be uneven, with benefits potentially favouring the already powerful and the costs falling hardest on the least powerful. If grand narratives of change remain unchallenged, we risk pursuing innovation trajectories that are exclusionary, failing to achieve responsible innovation. This study utilises a range of methodologies to explore everyday encounters between farmers and technology, with the aim of inspiring further work to compile the microhistories that can help to challenge robust grand narratives of change. We explore how farmers are engaging with technology in practice and show how these interactions problematise a simple, linear notion of innovation adoption and use. In doing so, we reflect upon the contribution that the study of everyday encounters can make in setting more inclusionary, responsible pathways towards sustainable agriculture.
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| 18. |
- Sanderson Bellamy, Angelina, 1979-
(författare)
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Weed control practices on Costa Rican coffee farms : is herbicide use necessary for small-scale producers?
- 2011
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Ingår i: Agriculture and Human Values. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0889-048X .- 1572-8366. ; 28:2, s. 167-177
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper presents research conducted duringtwo coffee farming seasons in Costa Rica. The studyexamined coffee farmers’ weed management practices andis presented in the form of a case study of small-scalefarmers’ use of labor and herbicides in weed managementpractices. Over 200 structured interviews were conductedwith coffee farmers concerning their use of hired labor andfamily labor, weed management activities, support services,and expectations about the future of their coffeeproduction. ANOVA and regression analyses describe therelationships between farm size, labor, and herbicide use,and three farm types (i.e., conventional, semi-conventional,and organic). Based on findings regarding the amount oflabor used to manually control weeds on different types offarms (large farms, small conventional, semi-conventional,and organic farms) I am able to challenge small conventionalfarmers’ perceived need for herbicide use. Semistructuredinterviews of coffee farmers and extensionworkers further revealed a dominant role played by agrochemicalcompanies in assisting farmers with productionproblems, and documented a high transaction cost forinformation provided from elsewhere. Chemical companieshire extension workers to visit farmers at their farms, freeof charge, to offer recommendations on how to treat differentpest problems, while government and cooperativeextension agents charge for the service. There is a need toincrease the amount of resources available to the NationalCoffee Institute to fund one-on-one farmer support servicesin order to balance the influence of agro-chemical companyrepresentatives and allow farmers to make better decisionsregarding weed management.
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| 19. |
- Zoll, Felix, et al.
(författare)
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Motivations, changes and challenges of participating in food-related social innovations and their transformative potential : three cases from Berlin (Germany)
- 2024
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Ingår i: Agriculture and Human Values. - 0889-048X.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Dominant agri-food systems are increasingly seen as unsustainable in terms of environmental degradation, mass production or high food waste. In an attempt to counteract these developments and foster sustainability transitions in agri-food systems, a variety of actors are engaging in socially innovative models of food production and consumption. Using a multiple case study approach, our study examines three contrasting alternative economic models in the city of Berlin: community gardens, the app Too Good To Go (TGTG), and a cooperative supermarket. Based on 15 qualitative interviews, we provide insights into their transformative potential by exploring participants' underlying motivations, the changes they have experienced, and the challenges and potential for future development of these models. We find that participation in community gardens and the cooperative supermarket is similarly motivated by social aspects and dissatisfaction with existing food access options, while TGTG users are more motivated by financial reasons. Our study shows that change is experienced mainly at the individual level, e.g. by building new relationships, changing cognitive framings, and learning (new) practices, especially in community-oriented settings. The individualization of change shows that these models have a rather low potential to lead to more systemic accounts of changes. Yet, they can prefigure regime change, describe resistance, and foster cumulative incremental change that may spill over into society. We conclude that in order to sustain this role and drive transitions, it is important to up- and outscale these models; and we provide recommendations on how these models can mutually support their development, establishment, and protection.
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