Buying Access to Social Capital? From Collaboration to Service Provision in an Agricultural Co‐operative

Abstract

Recent years have seen a proliferation of state supports to increase agriculture and rural economic development through co-operative ventures. Implicit or explicit in these activities is the mobilisation of social capital to achieve economic aims. To date, few studies have addressed the long term evolution of social capital-based relationships. In this article, we assess the evolving role of social capital in an agricultural co-operative, using the development of machinery rings in Scotland as a case-study. Drawing on Bourdieu's conceptualisation of capital exchange, we explore the establishment, formalisation, and commoditisation of different capitals embedded in the rings. Findings demonstrate that a range of capital types was important at each stage of machinery ring development, enabling them to evolve in relation to the changes affecting the agriculture industry in Scotland. Early adoption of advanced information technologies enabled the mobilisation of network resources and successful service provision across increasing geographical scales. Through formalisation, the rings became sources of human, social, and economic capitals -access to which could be purchased by new ring members. This formalisation process ultimately led to the establishment of the rings as economically viable businesses, but also a shift in identity from farmer collaboration to commercial service provision.

True Cowmen and Commercial Farmers: Exploring Vets’ and Dairy Farmers’ Contrasting Views of ‘Good Farming’ in Relation to Biosecurity

“…The ‘commercial farmer’ habitus was more clearly lodged in objectified veterinary cultural capital. Recent research has demonstrated that social capital can be established in formal, paid interactions (Flanigan and Sutherland ), and formalising exchange can reduce associated risks (Sutherland and Burton ). Fisher () argues that the social relationship between vets and farmers is transformed into social capital through the longevity, consistency and regularity of contact, as well as trust between the partners.…”

“…In addition, farms within different geographic regions, agricultural sectors and production markets such as organic and conventional have been shown to have different ideals of good farming (Sutherland 2013). Previous studies have shown how good farming is associated with economic capital in the form of agricultural machinery and equipment (Butler and Holloway 2015); social capital in the form of social ties and mutual obligations between farmers (Sutherland and Burton 2011;Flanigan and Sutherland 2016), cultural capital in the form of prestigious skills, knowledge, experience and symbols of good farming such as a tidy fields and well-kept livestock (Burton 2004;Haggerty et al 2009;Sutherland 2013;Butler and Holloway 2015;Naylor et al 2016) and farmers' agricultural pedigree and connection to a farming family (Burton 2004).…”

Piyasalar ve Kolektif Davranış: Geleneksel Buğday Türleri Üzerine Bir Örnek Olay İncelemesi

“…Different definitions of the term social capital exist, based on the work of Bourdieu (1986), Coleman (1988) and Putnam (1995). Scholars may draw on a certain definition but there is conceptual integrity in different definitions due to their focus on the characteristics and value of mutual connections between individuals (Flanigan and Sutherland, 2016). Bourdieu (1986) defines social capital as the aggregate of the actual or potential resources which are linked to possession of a durable network of more or less institutionalized relationships of mutual acquaintance and recognition-or in other words, to memberships in a group (p.51).…”

Repeasantisation in The United States

“…, p. 3), and we take as a given that the industrialisation of agriculture throughout the twentieth century involved an active de‐peasantisation in many parts of the world (Araghi ; McMichael ). Despite these trends, many farmers continue to farm, not only as a way to raise food and fibre, but also as a way to express themselves and their ideas of community and healthy ecology (Bell ; Stock and Forney ; Flanigan and Sutherland ). The developing work on good farmers, social capital, autonomy and food utopias aims to unpack the complex interaction of identity, geographic and family context, ecological health, and farmer practices within a context of neoliberal agriculture (Burton 2044a, 2004b; Burton and Wilson ; Stock ; Sutherland and Darnhofer ; Sutherland ; Stock et al .…”

“…Emery () has tackled the tension between independence and cooperation in the UK; other recent work examines autonomy both as an individual pursuit within context (Stock and Forney ) and as a cooperative enterprise (Stock et al . ; Flanigan and Sutherland ).…”