Social change and the adoption and adaptation of knowledge claims: Whose truth do you trust in regard to sustainable agriculture?

Abstract

This paper examines sustainable agricultureÕs steady rise as a legitimate farm management system. In doing this, it offers an account of social change that centers on trust and its intersection with networks of knowledge. The argument to follow is informed by the works of Foucault and Latour but moves beyond this literature in important ways. Guided by and building upon earlier conceptual framework first forwarded by Carolan and Bell (2003, Environmental Values 12: 225-245), sustainable agriculture is examined through the lens of a ''phenomenological challenge.'' In doing this, analytic emphasis centers on the interpretative resources of everyday life and the artful act of practice -in other words, on ''the local.'' Research data involving Iowa farmers and agriculture professionals are examined to understand how social relations of trust and knowledge are contested and shaped within and between agricultural social networks and organizational configurations. All of this is meant to further our understanding of what ''sustainable agriculture'' is and is not, who it is, and how these boundaries change over time.Michael S. Carolan is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Colorado State University. His areas of specialization included environmental sociology, sociology of science and knowledge, sociology of food systems and agriculture, and the sociology of risk. Some of his recent writings have focused on the theorizing of nature-society relations, epistemological issues related to agriculture (and sustainable agriculture in particular), and the processes by which knowledge claims are constructed and contested in response to environmental threats.

What would farmers do? Adaptation intentions under a Corn Belt climate change scenario

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Upper Midwest farmer perceptions: Too much uncertainty about impacts of climate change to justify changing current agricultural practices

“…If farmers believe their social networks to be trustworthy, then they are more likely to trust the knowledge that comes from that social network (Carolan 2006). This suggests that trust in government, climate scientists, Extension, and/or crop advisors may reduce the complexity of risk management associated with climate impacts and uncertainty (Laurian 2009;Haigh et al 2015).…”

Toward thick legitimacy: Creating a web of legitimacy for agroecology

“…People can produce empirical evidence through their observation and experience even if they are not formally trained as scientists. Depending on their cultural mores and cognitive frames, people may find practical tests more compelling and trustworthy than the arguments that scientists and technicians offer, particularly ones they have reason to doubt (Carolan, 2006a;Delgado, 2010). Farmers, for example, are often suspicious of advice to change their traditional methods.…”