Abstract:Our contemporary social and ecological problems, including climate change, peak oil and food security, necessitate solutions informed by multiple backgrounds that singular disciplines seem unable to provide, and possibly, are even incapable of providing. The increasing occurrence of multi-, inter-and transdisciplinary (MIT) research projects speak to the recognition of that necessity. But as the literature and our own experiences bear out, just calling a project "beyond disciplinary" or integrated does not necessarily yield the intended outcomes or make progress toward alleviating the hurdles of bridging disciplines. Here we examine the distinctions between three categories (multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary) of integrated research and offer reflections on how sustainability researchers can categorize their research to improve common understandings.
In the wake of an explosion in the organic food sector, it is vital to differentiate, not only between conventional and organic producers, but between types of organic producers. By exploring a network of family organic farmers in the US Midwest through participant observation and interviews we can better understand the inherent overlap between the categorisations of producer and consumer through the lenses of identity and the reflexive producer. By studying a small network of organic food producers, I illustrate the emergence of a small, but important category of reflexive producers that shed light on the alternative ideology and actions of family organic farmers concerned with protecting the environment and the health of their customers and people in general. Furthermore, reflexive farmers illustrate the moral care associated with good farming. A s the growing season nears an end in late September, farmers prepare their land for the long winter ahead. Conventional notions advocate plowing under the crop just harvested. Others advocate no-till techniques allowing the remaining crop to replenish the soil and prevent erosion. And even more alternative techniques involve cover cropping. Farmers, typically organic, cover their just harvested crops with nitrogen rich crops like hairy vetch, wheat or oats to help replenish the nutrients that were transferred to the crop. 1,2 I watch Brian pick up a large bucket and put it in the crook of his left elbow, put his right hand in the bucket, pull a handful out and swing his arm up and to the right, releasing an even, pointillistic rainbow of seed, reminiscent of Seurat's work. After his arm comes down, he flings it back across his body to the left in a similar, but somewhat awkward motion. The tosses are in time with the steps; half steps, really, and continue to be repeated up and down the rows. He says to me, as I begin to follow with a different type of seed, 'There is a rhythm to it: you won't get it in one afternoon'. And I didn't.As my initial research experiences indicate, agriculture, in all its shapes and sizes, involves different techniques, styles, philosophies, judgments and justifications, leading to a continuum of sizes, types and motivations of farmers -organic or not
This is the peer reviewed version of the article which has been published in final form in the Journal fo Rural Studies at http://dx.doi.org/10. 1016/j.jrurstud.2014.06.001 ©2016. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ HighlightsExplores the relationship between farmer autonomy and environmental outcomes.Compares agricultural cooperatives and cooperation in UK, New Zealand, Switzerland and Brazil.For autonomy to remain a tool to negotiate alternatives then we must continue to prevent the monopolization of its meaning.Actual autonomy can create dialogue to bridge concerns about farmers, livelihood, and environmental outcomes. AbstractThe struggle over autonomy in farming is emblematic of the philosophical and practical tensions inherent in solving multi-scalar environmental issues. We explore the multiplicities of autonomy through comparative case studies of agricultural cooperation in England, Switzerland, New Zealand, and Brazil, which allow consideration of the implications of a range of approaches to managing farmed environments under different variations of neoliberalism. The original data emerge from separate projects examining aspects of cooperative autonomy in relation to the effects of the neoliberalisation of nature in agriculture. The comparative examination of autonomy and cooperation across distinct agri-food contexts highlights diversity in the social, ecological and economic outcomes of alternative forms of agri-environmental governance. This analysis provides a sobering corrective to both the over-romanticization of cooperation across global peasant movements and the over-romanticization of the individual entrepreneur in agro-industrial and family farming sectors. Our examination highlights the need for greater attention to the relationships between actors at and across different scales (the farm level, organizations and communities, the state, and industry) to understand how, in contrasting contexts of neoliberalisation, alternative conceptions of autonomy serve to mediate particular interventions and their material environmental consequences. A focus on actual autonomy, via the peasant principle and territorial cooperatives, creates an opening in theoretical and political dialogue to bridge concerns about farmers, livelihoods, and environmental outcomes.
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