Towards a General Theory of Agricultural Knowledge Production: Environmental, Social, and Didactic Learning

Stone, Geoffrey R.

doi:10.1111/cuag.12061

Cited by 53 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 65 publications

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“…Indeed, sample farmers replanted their cotton seeds an average of only 1.77 times in 2012–2015, preventing them from learning much about any particular seed's efficacy in the field or the agronomic quirks of those seeds. Farmers wishing to test different seed brands have been seen to unwittingly plant the exact same seed (Figure ), whereas spurious seeds bred by counterfeit companies and sold by black‐market brokers add even more anxiety and confusion to the dynamics of deskilling in cotton agriculture (Stone, , pp. 7–8).…”

Section: Methods and Fieldworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Farmer knowledge across the commodification spectrum: Rice, cotton, and vegetables in Telangana, India

Flachs

Stone

2018

Journal of Agrarian Change

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Crop seeds are a factor of production that can be produced on farm or bought, commodified in varying ways and degrees, and that can change slowly or rapidly—all of which directly impact the crucial process of farmer “skilling.” Seed choices also offer a unique empirical window through which farmer knowledge may be studied. Although other studies have examined the differences between cash and food crops, this research provides new insights into varyingly commodified crops within the same agrarian system. When planting rice, genetically modified hybrid cotton seeds, and garden vegetables, farmers in Telangana, India, face different constraints and opportunities to learn about their seeds and practice that knowledge in the field. These differences arise from agronomic properties of the seeds themselves as well as from the sociocultural meaning that structures the context in which farmers buy, grow, and save them. This measurable discrepancy in farmer knowledge and experience presents an opportunity to examine the variable impact of seed commodification as it is experienced by the same group of farmers across several different crops. Building on theories of commodification and agricultural knowledge, we propose that the different ways in which farmer knowledge operates in these crops reflect a spectrum on which knowledge and commodification are inversely related.

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Section: Methods and Fieldworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Farmer knowledge across the commodification spectrum: Rice, cotton, and vegetables in Telangana, India

Flachs

Stone

2018

Journal of Agrarian Change

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“…Empirical trials of GM crops suffer from a selection bias in the farmer sample as a whole, they argue, and are therefore a poor indicator of the broader impacts of GM crops. Social scientists have noted that the earliest adopters of any technology are likely to have more resources and to be more cosmopolitan than others in the community (Rogers, 2003;Ryan and Gross, 1943), because the institutional support given to such early adopters can help to underwrite the costs of using new technology (Stone, 2016). Critical researchers agree that yields can and should be measured, but they disagree on whose yields are most representative.…”

Section: Debates and Contested Scholarship In Gm Research In Indiamentioning

confidence: 99%

The Factish in the Field

Flachs

2019

S&TS

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Research in GM crops is of pressing importance to biotechnologists, development economists, government officials, and concerned citizens. Each of these stakeholders carries preconceived notions of success and failure that not only influence how data regarding GM crops is shared but also reify the objective reality of GM seeds as a technology that might exist outside the idiosyncracies of a farmer’s field. In this essay, I draw on ethnographic fieldwork conducted among GM cotton planting farmers in Telangana, India to deconstruct the process by which scientific facts are created, leveraged, and then divorced from their subjective contexts in agricultural research. In paying closer attention to the ways that the science of agricultural development has limited possibilities of farmer experience and transformed GM seeds into autonomous beings, this paper attempts to take up Latour’s call for a compositionist investigation of a common world slowly assembled by its constituent actors.

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“…We might think of these mediators and interpreters as analogies to the chorus of classical Greek theatre, or the narrator of a documentary film. In the context of agricultural development, Stone calls these people and their organisations 'didacts', who represent off-farm interests that aim to influence farmers' practices (Stone 2016).…”

Section: The Audiencementioning

confidence: 99%

Farming as a performance: a conceptual and methodological contribution to the ecology of practices

Glover

2018

Journal of Political Ecology

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In two widely cited articles, the first of which was published almost 30 years ago, the anthropologist Paul Richards described the situated practices of small-scale farmers as a type of performance, akin to a musical or theatrical performance (1989, 1993). This definition, applied specifically to small-scale and subsistence agriculture, has a powerful appeal for good reasons. This article examines performance as a conceptual framework and tool for studying small-scale farming practice and technological change. Taking the comparison with musical or theatrical endeavour seriously, the article explores the dynamics of performance by individuals and groups; considers alternative ways of conceiving the 'stage' and the 'audience'; and examines the nature of the performers' skills and competence, through an elaboration of key concepts such as practice, rehearsal, repertoire and improvisation. The article also discusses the important implications of a performance being situated in a particular time and place, shaped by its surrounding socio-cultural and ecological context and conditioned by uncertainty. The article proposes that ethnographic or technographic methods are appropriate for studying performance, and considers the ethical responsibilities of the researcher when intervening in a performance from its outside. The argument is framed as a contribution to political ecology, especially an ecology of practices.Key words: Performance, farming, practice, skill, technography

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Towards a General Theory of Agricultural Knowledge Production: Environmental, Social, and Didactic Learning

Cited by 53 publications

References 65 publications

Farmer knowledge across the commodification spectrum: Rice, cotton, and vegetables in Telangana, India

Farmer knowledge across the commodification spectrum: Rice, cotton, and vegetables in Telangana, India

The Factish in the Field

Farming as a performance: a conceptual and methodological contribution to the ecology of practices

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