Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Farming transition'

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Sydney, 2005.
Title from title screen (viewed 20 May 2008). Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the Dept. of Archaeology, Faculty of Arts. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print form.

This thesis is using a framework to analyse the process of transition from foraging to farming in northeast China. Tool complexes analysis is the particular method used to retreive prehistoric economies. Based on the result of these case studies about prehistoric economies in northeast China, this thesis attemp to apply the availability model of transition to farming in northern Europe, proposed by Zvelebil and Rowley-Convy, in the new area northeast China. The result of this research has implicated that the transition to farming in prehistory is the result of the interaction between human societies and environment. among many factors in this interaction, the motivation that prehistoric societies choosing agriculture economy to meet social, political and economic needs would have to be the major one leading to the transition occurred.

This thesis is using a framework to analyse the process of transition from foraging to farming in northeast China. Tool complexes analysis is the particular method used to retreive prehistoric economies. Based on the result of these case studies about prehistoric economies in northeast China, this thesis attemp to apply the availability model of transition to farming in northern Europe, proposed by Zvelebil and Rowley-Convy, in the new area northeast China. The result of this research has implicated that the transition to farming in prehistory is the result of the interaction between human societies and environment. among many factors in this interaction, the motivation that prehistoric societies choosing agriculture economy to meet social, political and economic needs would have to be the major one leading to the transition occurred.

The purpose of the study was to investigate how farmers in Quang Bing Province, Vietnam have been making the transition from subsistence farming to commercial agriculture. This process began in 1986 when the Vietnam economy changed from central planning to a market orientation. The research strategy was based on case study analysis of two communes in each of three agro-ecological zones, defined as coastal, plains and mountains. Within each commune there were six embedded household case studies, i.e 36 in total. Case studies were selected purposively to capture diversity of agro-ecological zones, market access and communications, wealth and income status, and ethnic communities. Households were interviewed twice; first in either late 2006 or early 2007, and again in late 2008. The study was approached using a constructivist paradigm and a lens of livelihood analysis, focusing on resources, institutions, interventions and the dynamics of change. Particular attention was given to the development of markets (inputs, outputs, land, labour and credit) and supply chain factors. Separate measures of commercialisation were constructed based on outputs and inputs, and at the level of both individual activities and the overall household. Investigations were informed by existing theory, but no hypotheses were tested. Instead, the research focused on emergent patterns and insights, and the enrichment and modification of existing theory. A review of literature indicated that the transition from subsistence farming to commercial agriculture in Vietnam was different from other countries on account of the specific combination of low technology agriculture, typical of much of developing Asia, combined with the transformation from a centrally planned economy to a market orientation as occurred in Central and Eastern European countries. At commune level, the key determinants of commercialisation were strong physical connections to markets, with good road access being paramount. Once all weather road access for motorised vehicles was available, then rapid commercialisation occurred. Supply chains typically developed faster for outputs than inputs. New technologies that increased the yield of basic food crops, and facilitated by Government and NGO programs, led to the release of land resources no longer required for meeting food security needs. Households retained their production of food crops that provided food security, and added additional cash earning activities. At the level of individual households, the commercialisation process was led by entrepreneurial families who perceived opportunities relating to profitable activities, and combined this with hard work. Often these opportunities were linked to what they had observed or learnt elsewhere. Once first movers took up a new technology, others observed and followed. There were many enabling factors, such as access to land, access to capital, and access to credit. However, none of these could be considered a determinant, in that the absence of any one factor did not by itself preclude successful commercialisation. Absence of an active male worker was a major constraint to commercialisation, as was lack of necessary crop and livestock skills. There was evidence that income disparities were increasing between the wealthy and the poor. Output commerciality across all households averaged 88 % in 2008 and was higher for wealthy households (95 %) than poor households (83 %). All households still produced their own food crops, but these crops had low market values and hence had a low impact on the output commerciality index. Output commerciality measured in percentage terms obscured that wealthy families had net incomes almost 13 times greater than poor households. A major theoretical insight was that key commercialisation factors are multiple and context dependent. Accordingly, there is a need in any investigation for a holistic approach, based on a livelihood framework that incorporates the complexities associated with the development of markets, as well as giving consideration to the range of interventions and institutional policies that impact on livelihood development.

Through the lens of complexity theory, this thesis seeks to establish an argument for agriculture to be viewed as a complex system which is based on a representative case study of mixed lowland farming in County Durham. The discussion encompasses an investigation of the notion of crisis within this system and the main factors producing this point of change/ phase shift, be they from within the system (endogenous) or from outside of the system (exogenous). This thesis contends that agricultural systems are complex, combining human and biological elements that link together diverse people, places and processes through multiple product flows and intermediaries. They are characterised by emergent properties and non-linear dynamics, due in part to highly articulated interactions at numerous levels. On occasions small occurrences can produce large effects, but large events can produce complete and massive change and phase shift. This is particularly evident in several recent crises in agriculture. Empirical data is gathered through extensive and in-depth interviewing of a sample, which is representative of this lowland mixed farming community and autoethnography. This was combined with an extensive review of government publications, official statistics, academic writing and media reports to frame the entirety of the issue. This thesis finds that there is much evidence of novel change, and therefore, phase shift within the complex socio-production system of mixed lowland farming. This change emanates from both internal factors (endogenous) such as BSE and foot-and-mouth disease and also from factors external to the system (exogenous) such as reform of the Common Agricultural Policy and investment in agricultural land by those from outside the industry. The lowland mixed family farm is at a time of change; especially vulnerable are those on tenant farms and the next generation wishing to follow their parents into farming.

The transition from conventional to sustainable farming has been limited in Quebec by the absence of a comprehensive strategy, applicable at the farm level, to facilitate the transition process. This study summarizes the popular discussion pertaining to planning the farm transition, and the following six concepts that are useful to take into account when designing sustainable systems: vision, creativity, values, the efficiency - substitution - redesign spectrum, an holistic, systems perspective of the farm, and popular participation in the development process. Case studies of six farms in the early phase of transition are presented. Farm and farmer characteristics are detailed as well as the potential of each to influence the evolution of the farm. The outcomes of farm-level planning and activities in the first two transitional years are described. Particular attention is paid to the implications of creative visioning and approaches to problem solving, value adjustments, decision-making criteria, and the farmers' perceived restraining forces. A comprehensive, practical strategy designed to facilitate the farm transition process is constructed. This combines the current popular template for appropriate planning and the theoretical constructs of sustainable development, with insights gathered from the six case study farms. Finally, procedures for using the strategy are outlined, together with some requirements for its further development.

本文データは平成22年度国立国会図書館の学位論文(博士)のデジタル化実施により作成された画像ファイルを基にpdf変換したものである
Kyoto University (京都大学)
0048
新制・課程博士
博士(農学)
甲第5427号
農博第758号
新制||農||649(附属図書館)
学位論文||H5||N2561(農学部図書室)
UT51-93-F184
京都大学大学院農学研究科熱帯農学専攻
(主査)教授 重永 昌二, 教授 久馬 一剛, 教授 古川 久雄
学位規則第4条第1項該当

Smart Farming Technologies (SFT) is a term used to define the set of digital technologies able not only to control and manage the farm system, but also to connect it to the many disruptive digital applications posed at multiple links along the value chain. The adoption of SFT has been so far limited, with significant differences at country-levels and among different types of farms and farmers. The objective of this thesis is to analyze what factors contributes to shape the agricultural digital transition and to assess its potential impacts in the Italian agri-food system. Specifically, this overall research objective is approached under three different perspectives. Firstly, we carry out a review of the literature that focuses on the determinants of adoption of farm-level Management Information Systems (MIS), namely the most adopted smart farming solutions in Italy. Secondly, we run an empirical analysis on what factors are currently shaping the adoption of SFT in Italy. In doing so, we focus on the multi-process and multi-faceted aspects of the adoption, by overcoming the one-off binary approach often used to study adoption decisions. Finally, we adopt a forward-looking perspective to investigate what the socio-ethical implications of a diffused use of SFT might be. On the one hand, our results indicate that bigger, more structured farms with higher levels of commercial integration along the agri-food supply chain are those more likely to be early adopters. On the other hand, they highlight the need for the institutional and organizational environment around farms to more effectively support farmers in the digital transition. Moreover, the role of several other actors and actions are discussed and analyzed, by highlighting the key role of specific agri-food stakeholders and ad-hoc policies, with the aim to propose a clearer path towards an efficient, fair and inclusive digitalization of the agrifood sector.

It has been argued that organic farming sustains a higher biodiversity than conventional farming. This might promote the ecosystem services that exist in agricultural landscapes such as pollination and pest control. Here, I examined the effect of farming system (organic vs. conventional) with respect to the time since farming system transition, landscape heterogeneity and plant richness on pollinating and predatory insects. In total, data from 30 farms were used, of which 20 were organic and 10 were conventional. The data were analyzed using general linear models and model averaging. The results show that insect groups responded differently to various factors. Pollinators were more sensitive to landscape complexity, showing an increase of abundance and species richness with an increased heterogeneity. Predators on the other hand reacted to farming system, where there was an increase in abundance and species richness on organic farms.

The main subject of the thesis is the transition to agricultural in north-west Europe. The transition is studied primarily from the perspective of Mesolithic hunter-gatherer groups, and the thesis suggests that the significance of Mesolithic cultural practices and religious beliefs in the process has been underestimated. This is because the philosophical basis of many approaches establishes a theoretical division between models of Mesolithic and Neolithic communities both in terms of their respective cultural characteristics, and as a consequence in the way that they are studied. Alternative theoretical approaches that seek to overcome this intellectual division are assessed. The study then considers ethnographic evidence of modern small-scale, non-industrial societies, concentrating on the relationship between people and the environment, subsistence practices and religious beliefs, and the integration of these factors with the landscape and sacred places. This prompts an analysis of current interpretations of religious beliefs in which it is argued that we may have missed their real significance. The theoretical and ethnographic evidence provides the framework for modelling prehistoric populations, and is then applied to data derived from fieldwork on Exmoor in south-west England. The evidence from Exmoor is assessed in three parts: the record of the prehistoric environment; changing patterns of lithic raw material use during the transition; and a survey of Exmoor's unique prehistoric standing stone monuments. All these elements are placed in the context of the transition in the south-west, and more briefly as part of the transformations in north-west Europe. Concentrating on the relationship between land, people, their religious and cultural beliefs, new interpretations emerge of the significance of Neolithic material culture and the role of monuments in the transition to agriculture. It is also suggested that some aspects of the philosophical analysis of religious beliefs may have much wider implications.

Through ethnographic research amongst farmers in the North York Moors, and through broader historical and political analysis, I examine the importance and role of values in hard work and beneficent change in negotiated interactions between policy-makers, farmers and conservationists. Within the context of a shift in agricultural support away from production to environmental protection, and within the context of a local conservation initiative to protect a population of freshwater pearl mussels in the River Esk, I show the importance of these values for the construction of farmers' personhoods and their symbolic relations and means of expression through the landscape. I show how those values are persistent and pervasive, yet at the same time mutable and open to interpretation. In particular, I examine alternative conceptions of beneficent change through recourse to the words fettle and improvement. Fettling places value in long-term, steady and incremental change, whereas improvement places value in changes more closely associated with productivist ideals such as expansion and profit. I suggest that it is the mutability of farming values that gives rise to their persistence as they come to be used and reinterpreted according to the changing contexts of their application and the differing interests of a range of groups and individuals. By showing that farmers are able to uphold and express their values differently I argue that it is not so straightforward to predict farmers' responses to changing political exigencies or local conservation initiatives on the basis of homogenous values or the categorisation of farmers into defined "types". Through a rhetoric-culture approach I argue that changes in farming values through time do not merely reflect changing political interests and farmers' subsequent accommodation of them. Rather, it reflects the continued negotiation of those values between farmers and others in the play of agents and patients in the construction of personhood and the formulation of arguments. I argue that the persistence of fettling interpretations of a value in beneficent change reflects the agentive actions of farmers as it remains a useful argumentative strategy with which they can make indictments against new policy impositions and, moreover, it remains functional in guiding their practices in ways suitable to the environment in which they farm.

This study was conducted in Kadoma, Zimbabwe in the smallholder sector (SH) during 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 seasons. The overall aim of the study was to understand the changes that occur to weed densities, species diversity and management under Minimum Tillage (MT) system of planting basins which is a component of Conservation Agriculture (CA) being promoted in the SH sector. A survey was carried out to determine the biophysical and socio-economic factors that affect the adoption of CA. The paired plot technique was used to compare weed densities and diversity in planting basins (PB) and Conventional Tillage (CONV) at 3, 6 and 9 weeks after crop emergence (WACE) in clay loam, loamy and sandy soils. Multivariate ordination techniques and a quadratic model were used to describe the relationship of soil properties, socio economic and management variables with weed densities. The effectiveness and economic benefits of chemical weed control were also evaluated.
Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2014.
National Research Foundation (NRF)
The International Foundation of Science (IFS)
Union Project (Zimbabwe)
Plant Production and Soil Science
PhD
Unrestricted

The purpose of this study was to investigate the economic feasibility of alternative crop rotations and to determine the economic implications of including forages and livestock during the transition to organic agriculture in Nova Scotia. The rotation systems were distinguished by: (i) frequency of forage in the rotation, (ii) source of nutrient supply, and (iii) type of farming operation. The economic analysis was divided in two parts. The first part analysed data from a four-year crop rotation experiment, using enterprise budgeting and statistical methods to compare differences among rotations under different treatments. The second part involved the development of a multi-period linear programming (LP) model to simulate a commercial operation.
The results from the statistical analysis suggest that crop enterprise net returns tended to be higher in forage-based rotations and in the livestock systems compared to cash crop rotations and the stockless system. Results from the LP model suggest that including forages and beef cattle during the transition to organic agriculture can provide considerable economic benefits, especially when crops were grown under ruminant compost.

Depuis la fin du XXème siècle, des modèles d’agriculture durable (agriculture biologique, agroécologie, permaculture, etc.) sont proposés au Nord comme au Sud pour répondre à la crise systémique contemporaine. La région de Cusco, au coeur des Andes péruviennes, s’affirme comme l’archétype d’un territoire mondialisé où se rencontrent influences endogènes et exogènes, modernes et traditionnelles et constitue en cela un parfait laboratoire pour analyser ce processus de transition vers des systèmes agro-alimentaires plus durables. Les agricultures durables s’y sont d’abord développées pour répondre à la demande des marchés occidentaux et, plus récemment, celle des marchés locaux. Cette thèse identifie les facteurs et les logiques d'adoption et de non-adoption, par les producteurs, de ces innovations agro-écologiques, commerciales, sociales, mais aussi socio-territoriales et politico-culturelles. Elle propose plus largement un décryptage des voies de transition basé sur les catégories de durabilité faible et de durabilité forte. A travers ce cadre d’analyse, l’étude de terrain met en évidence l’hybridation de différentes logiques et de différentes approches de la durabilité au sein de la plupart des stratégies individuelles et collectives. Ces processus d’hybridation et de diversification apparaissent comme des conditions nécessaires à la transition mais doivent faire face à un double enjeu. D’un côté, les initiatives de plus en plus nombreuses et multiformes de conventionnalisation des alternatives (durabilité faible) tendent à reproduire certaines limites du régime socio-technique conventionnel. De l’autre, les propositions de reconception systémique comme l’agroécologie (durabilité forte) font face à des verrouillages socio-techniques produits par ce même régime conventionnel
Since the end of the 20th century, new models of sustainable agriculture (organic farming, agroecology, permaculture, etc.) emerged in the North and in the South to respond to the contemporary systemic crisis. The Cusco region, in the heart of Peruvian Andes, became established as an archetypal globalised territory, where endogen and exogenous, modern and traditional influences converge. As such, it constitutes a perfect laboratory to analyse this transition process toward more sustainable agri-food systems. Sustainable agricultures were first developed in the area to meet the market demand from Western countries and, more recently, that of the local level. This thesis identifies the factors and rationales behind the adoption or non-adoption by producers of these agro-ecological, commercial, social, socio-territorial and politico-cultural innovations. On a broader level, the study tries to decipher transition paths based on a categorisation of weak and strong sustainability. Through this analytical framework, the field study highlights the hybridization of different logics and approaches of sustainability within most of the individual and collective strategies. These hybridization and diversification processes appear as necessary conditions toward transition but face a twofold challenge. On one hand, more and more multifaceted initiatives for the conventionalization of the alternatives (weak sustainability) tend to reproduce some limits of the conventional socio-technical regime. On the other hand, the propositions put forward for a systemic redesign such as agroecology (strong sustainability) are confronted with socio-technical lock-ins generated by this same conventional regime

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This paper’s main concern is to analyze the process of transition from conventional production to agroecological systems. How is the agroecological transition happening among the family farmers? Which are the main difficulties in this process? What is the role of the institutions that develop technical assistance and rural extension? To answer these questions, the relationship between Family Farming, Agroecology and Rural Extension was chosen as analytical axis, and, as empiric object, the agroecologic transition experience of family farmers from the city of Santa Cruz da Baixa Verde, in Pernambuco. By these means, it was possible to identify the difficulties and potential reproductive strategies of family farmers from agroecological basis; evaluate the changes in the everyday life of families; analyze the rural extension actions aimed at Agroecology developed by organizations that support family farmers; and draw a profile of family farmers involved in the process of agroecological transition. Among the main results of the research, it was found that issues related to the producer and his family’s health and welfare and the possibility of achieving greater financial return in production activities were the main motivations for joining the agroecological transition. It was also found that the lack of credit and incentives for the development of agricultural activity that follows ecological principles, the insufficient provision of technical assistance and rural extension and the persistence of the middlemen’s presence are still the main obstacles to the development of the activity. These questions, however, that, in several speeches, do not fade the potential contained in an ecologic based agriculture. The income raise, the family unit environmental preservation, the creation of marketing spaces through agroecological trade fairs and the participation in governmental programs to purchase products indicate the direction of the possibilities contained in this process. The importance of this work is to contribute to broaden the understanding about the relationships between Agroecology and Family Farming, bringing benefits to the policies of Rural Extension.
O presente trabalho tem como principal preocupação analisar o processo de transição dos sistemas de produção convencionais para os sistemas agroecológicos. Como está se dando a transição agroecológica entre os agricultores familiares? Quais as principais dificuldades enfrentadas nesse processo? Qual o papel das instituições que desenvolvem ações de assistência técnica e extensão rural? Para responder a essas questões, elegeu-se como eixo analítico a relação entre Agricultura Familiar, Agroecologia, Transição Agroecológica e Extensão Rural, e como objeto empírico a experiência de transição agroecológica dos agricultores familiares do município de Santa Cruz da Baixa Verde, em Pernambuco. Por esse meio, foi possível identificar as dificuldades e potencialidades de estratégias de reprodução dos agricultores familiares de base agroecológica; avaliar as mudanças ocorridas no cotidiano das famílias; analisar as ações de extensão rural voltadas à Agroecologia desenvolvidas por organizações que apoiam os agricultores familiares; e traçar um perfil dos agricultores familiares envolvidos com o processo de transição agroecológica. Dentre os principais resultados da pesquisa, constatou-se que as questões relacionadas à saúde e ao bem-estar do produtor e de sua família e a possibilidade de alcançar maior rendimento com a atividade produtiva constituíam as principais motivações para a adesão à transição agroecológica. E que a falta de crédito e incentivos para o desenvolvimento da atividade agrícola em bases ecológicas, a insuficiente oferta de serviços de assistência técnica e extensão rural e a persistência da presença do atravessador continuam sendo os principais obstáculos para o desenvolvimento da atividade. Estas são questões, entretanto, que, nos diversos discursos, não esmorecem as potencialidades contidas numa agricultura de base ecológica. O aumento da renda, a preservação ambiental da unidade familiar, a criação de espaços de comercialização por meio das feiras agroecológicas e a participação nos programas governamentais de aquisição de produtos sinalizam na direção das possibilidades contidas nesse processo. A importância deste trabalho está em poder contribuir para ampliar a compreensão em torno da relação entre Agroecologia e Agricultura Familiar, trazendo subsídios para as políticas de Extensão Rural.

Considerable number of studies are produced to deal with one of the most important challenges of the 21th century, which is the triple challenge of: regenerating the life supporting services provided by the Earth system, achieving food and nutrition sovereignty that leaves no one behind, and ensuring that global food systems support socio-environmental justice. This triple challenge is intrinsically linked to the Gordian knot that characterizes present-day global agriculture, at once vital and threatening to human society. In the present study, this global Gordian knot is explored through the lens of the trajectories of a few dozen farming systems, all located in a micro-territory of Wallonia (Southern Belgium) at the heart of the old industrial Europe. The agroecosystems under study are all family farms, which are among the survivors of a socio-professional group that has shrunk dramatically in just a few decades. Our broad objective is to gain insight into the tenets of transition towards sustainable farming systems in Wallonia.An exploratory research phase contributes to set the scene of our 'core research'. The exploratory study shows that three types of discourses, and two opposite paradigms, split the conversation among Walloon stakeholders on the path to improve agriculture; moreover, it suggests that transition is mainly a matter of cognitive lock-in. Our core research builds upon these premises, while the 'Peasant Principle' (put forward by J.D. van der Ploeg) stands out as its main theoretical background. Our broad objective may therefore be reformulated as 'gaining insight into the tenets of repeasantization in Wallonia'. This is addressed through three research questions, namely: 'What makes a farming system more or less peasant?'; 'What is the link between farm survival strategies and the cognitive (un)locking process?'; and 'How to support repeasantization?'. Our approach is grounded into two deep-probing field studies. The first one is empirical, and essentially stems from a sample of 23 neighbouring farm families located in a homogeneous window of Wallonia, and whose trajectories have been explored through semi-structured interviews and participant observation. The second field study is the in-depth review of what we term 'Farming Assessment Normal Science' (FANS), which refers to usual (i.e. mainstream) farm productivity assessment, with or without sustainability concerns, and encompassing both agronomic and economic farm productive performance. Following an abductive and interdisciplinary approach, we make the realities of encountered farm families dialoguing with a set of theories and disciplines all along the four chapters of the core research – this set includes the Peasant Principle, agricultural accounting, orthodox economics, economic history, (agro)ecology, heterodox economic schools, thermodynamics and psychodynamics of work.The core research begins with the first proposal framework to build a situated tool assessing farm 'peasantness degree' (PD), and framed by the Peasant Principle. The application of this framework to our Walloon case study results in a 'PD tool' specifically designed to assess the relative peasantness of farms under study. By translating the broad dimensions of the Peasant Principle into 168 very tangible situated indicators, the resulting PD tool provides a fine-grained insight on what makes a farm more or less peasant in Wallonia. Economic and agronomic productivity indicators, usually used to compare farms, had to be left out from our comparative analysis. The reflexive process inherent to the PD tool construction has thus raised the following question: 'Why usual (economic and agronomic) productivity indicators turn out to be unfit to compare farming styles?'. This emerging question is first addressed by showing that FANS is rooted into orthodox economics, meaning that, with or without sustainability concerns, usual assessment views farms through the 'Firm model', and thus relies on input-output analysis to assess farm agronomic and economic performance. Through the lenses of both, (i) the diverging realities and peasantness degrees of investigated Walloon families, and (ii) the nature of the farming process, five categories of issues affecting the validity of FANS are put forward. The first category is about practical issues, and the other categories relate to conceptual issues. The three first categories only relate to farm economic assessment, whereas the fourth and fifth categories relate to both, agronomic and economic farm productivity assessment.Altogether, these issues not solely evidence that usual productivity indicators and usual sustainability assessment provide misleading insights on farm performance, but that they provide 'bias-asymmetry' insights, that is: the more a farming style depletes the (re)productive capacity of its agroecosystem, the more its productive performance is overestimated; in contrast, the more a style cares to replenish the (re)productive capacity of its agroecosystem, the more its productive performance is underestimated. Hence we evidence that FANS tailored, and keeps sustaining, 'the productivity myth' and. As this mainstream science has (and continue to) shape(d) agricultural prescriptions and development, we also show that these are oriented towards the loss of agroecosystems' (re)productive capacity.While unveiling the productivity myth and its real-life implications, a framework drawing on the 'Flow-Fund model' (put forward by the heterodox economist N. Georgescu-Roegen) emerged as a sound alternative to assess farm productivity performance. Through the lens of the flow-fund balance, we rely on the distinctly different ways Walloon farmers manage their agroecosystem, and on the metabolic nature of the farming process, to empirically and theoretically demonstrate that: the more a farming style complies with the peasant mode, the more the farming process (or flow-fund balance) is managed with art, and coproduces negentropy; conversely, the less a farming style entails peasantness, the more the farming process is denatured, and the more entropy is by-produced. Thus, at the same time, a metabolic interpretation of the Peasant Principle is drawn up.From all these empirical and theoretical insights, the following question emerges: 'How do surviving farm families cope with decennia of prescriptions oriented towards the depletion of the (re)productive capacity of agroecosystems, and thus towards of the depletion of their own capacity to remain farmers?'. Dealing with this emerging question merges with one last aspect that needed to be addressed, namely the social phe- nomena of suffering, deactivation and suicide that undermine the modern farming world of Wallonia and beyond. Assuming that these social phenomena are closely tied, we focus on the root causes of social suffering among surviving farmers, and give the floor to the statements of encountered farm families. After highlighting strong identity markers that set Walloon farmers as a singular socio-profes-sional group, the sensitive issue of suffering is addressed through collective narratives of encountered farmers on :the post- WW2 mutation of the Walloon farming work environment towards a modern environment with increased and plural hostility. Then we propose a typology of the strategies, deployed by the investigated farmers of Piccard Wallonia, to survive such hostility. By articulating our peasantness framework and the 'psychodynamic model of work-related suffering' (put forward by Ch. Dejours), five types of survival strategies are described, and labelled according to their corresponding category of farmers: the new peasants, the TMCE-ists (i.e. conservation agriculture farmers), the racing strugglers, the lost strugglers and the near-deactivated. These insights on farmers' narratives into the plurality of the hostility, on the contrasting degrees to which it undermines farmers' psychosocial health, and on farm diverging strategies, altogether challenge the commonly held vision that economic hardship is the root cause of agricultural pro- pensity to suffering, deactivation and suicide. Instead these empirical insights verify our interpretative hypothesis, i.e. the mechanical link between farmers' suffering and their relation to prescriptions. The loss of peasantness indeed appears as a root cause of the ill-being of the modern farming world.To conclude, this work evidences that the productivity myth has given rise to the (miscalled) 'productivist' paradigm and to a system of prescriptions oriented towards the depletion of the (re)productive capacity of agroecosystems – in turn undermining the Earth system's (re)production capacity. The psychosocial health of farmers clearly is a key fund element, and its depletion appears as the ultimate bend of the vicious downward spiral fueled by the productivity myth. We furthermore conclude that the peasant mode of production stands for managing the farming process in a coherent and sustainable manner, whereas non- peasant (so-called entrepreneurial and capitalistic) modes incoherently and unsustainably denature the farming process. Hence 'completed' repeasantization appears as a negentropic process of fund replenishment, ensuring wealth coproduction at all scales – from the farm to the Earth system. 'Completed' de-peasantization (or industrialisation), for its part, appears as an entropic process of fund depletion, causing illth at all scales.On this basis, we suggest an alternative representation of agricultural modes and processes, which comes down a metabolic reconfiguration of the triangle proposed by J.D. van der Ploeg, and takes the form of a multidimensional continuum opposing two poles.The main lesson learned from this research thesis is that, to unravel the Gordian knot bound to modern agriculture, we need to break free from the productivity myth. In the face of today's challenges, the usual yet fallacious statement that 'losing peasantness may enhance farm productive performance and sustainability', is no longer be an option. To support the transition towards sustainable farming worlds, transformative support systems are needed, and such systems require to design and rely on indicators assessing the real performance of farms and agriculture. Therefore, as a perspective for further research, we propose the 'Farm Metabolism (FM) framework', i.e. a conceptual and analytical proposal that basically implies to rely on agroecosystem's flow-fund analysis. The metabolic (or biophysical) assessment framework sketched out here therefore paves the way to a strong sustainability assessment of farm productive performance. In turn, it could contribute to support the necessary repeasantization of 'modernized' farmers, for the well-being of farmers and human society as a whole.
Un nombre considérable d'études sont réalisées pour répondre à l'un des plus importants défis du 21ème siècle, à savoir le triple défi de parvenir à la souveraineté alimentaire et nutritionnelle de tous, de régénérer les services vitaux fournis par le système Terre, et de veiller à ce que les systèmes alimentaires globaux contribuent à la justice socio-environnementale pour tous. Ce triple défi est foncièrement lié au nœud gordien qui caractérise l'agriculture moderne :une activité vitale et menaçante à la fois pour la société humaine. Dans la présente étude, ce nœud gordien à l'échelle globale est exploré à travers le prisme des trajectoires de quelques dizaines de systèmes agricoles situés dans un micro-territoire de la Wallonie (Belgique du Sud), soit au cœur de la vieille Europe industrielle. Les agroécosystèmes étudiés sont tous des fermes familiales, et les fermiers rencontrés comptent parmis les survivants d'un groupe socioprofessionnel qui s'est considérablement réduit en quelques décennies seulement. Notre objectif général consiste à com- prendre les tenants et aboutissants de la transition vers des systèmes agricoles durables en Wallonie.Une phase de recherche exploratoire contribue à poser le contexte empirique du cœur de notre recherche. Cette étude exploratoire montre que trois types de discours, et deux paradigmes opposés, divisent la 'conversation' des acteurs wallons sur la manière d'améliorer l'agriculture; de plus, ce premier apercu empirique suggère que la transition est avant tout une question de verrou cognitif. Le cœur de notre recherche se fonde sur ces prémisses, et le 'Principe Paysan' (proposé par J.D. van der Ploeg) s'impose comme le cadre théorique principale. Notre objectif général peut dès lors être reformulé comme suit :'comprendre les tenants et aboutissants de la repaysannisation wallonne. Pour ce faire, trois questions de recherche sont posées :'En quoi un système agricole wallon est-il plus ou moins paysan qu'un autre ?', 'Quel est le lien entre les stratégies de survie des familles agricoles et le processus de (dé)verrouillage cognitif ?', et 'Comment favoriser le processus de repaysannisation ?'. Notre approche est fondée sur deux études de cas approfondies. La première est empirique, et concerne essentiellement un échantillon de 23 familles agricoles voisines, situées dans une fenêtre homogène de Wallonie ;leurs trajectoires ont été explorées par des entretiens semi-structurés et de l'observation participante. Notre deuxième étude de cas est un examen approfondi de ce que nous appelons la 'science normale de l'évaluation des fermes' (FANS, en anglais), c’est-à-dire l'évaluation scientifique usuelle de la productivité des fermes, dans le cadre ou non d'une évaluation de durabilité, et qui concerne à la fois la performance agronomique et économique des fermes. De par l'abductivité et l'interdisciplinarité qui caractérisent notre approche, nous faisons dialoguer les réalités des familles agricoles rencontrées avec un ensemble de théories et de disciplines tout au long des quatre chapitres qui forment le coeur de notre recherche – cet ensemble inclut le Principe Paysan, la comptabilité agricole, l'économie orthodoxe, l'histoire économique, l'(agro)écologie, des écoles économiques hétérodoxes, la thermodynamique et la psychodynamique du travail.Le cœur de la recherche débute avec la proposition d'une démarche analytique fondée sur le Principe Paysan, et visant à construire un outil comparatif du 'degré de paysanneté' (DP) de fermes. L'application de cette démarche donne lieu à un 'outil DP' adapté au contexte spécifique de notre étude de cas wallon. Cet outil traduit les dimensions générales du Pincipe Paysan en 168 indicateurs 'situés' très concrets, permettant ainsi de fournir un aperçu finement détaillé de ce qui rend une ferme wallonne plus ou moins paysanne qu'une autre. Les indicateurs de productivité agronomique et économique usuellement utilisés pour comparer les fermes, n'ont pas pu être inclus dans notre analyse comparative. Le processus réflexif inhérent à la construction de l'outil DP a ainsi soulevé la question suivante :'Pourquoi les indicateurs usuels de productivité agricole se sont-ils révélés inadaptés à la comparaison des styles agricoles ?'.Cette question émergeante est d'abord abordée en montrant que FANS est ancré dans l'économie orthodoxe. Cela implique que la manière usuelle d'évaluer les fermes – qu'il s'agisse ou non d'une évaluation de durabilité – utilise le 'modèle de la Firme' et, dès lors, se fonde sur des analyses intrants-extrants pour comparer les performances agronomiques et économiques des fermes et de l'agriculture. A travers les prismes, (i) des réalités et des degrés de paysanneté contrastés des familles agricoles enquêtées et (ii) de la nature du processus agricole, nous mettons en évidence cinq catégories de problèmes qui contestent la validité de FANS. La première catégorie se rapporte à des problèmes pratiques, et les quatre suivantes soulèvent des problèmes conceptuels. Non seulement l'ensemble de ces problèmes démontre que les indicateurs usuels de productivité (économique et agronomique) agricole, et les évaluations usuelles de durabilité agricole, donnent lieu à des arguments scientifiques erronés. Mais de plus, il est démontré que ces arguments comportent le biais-asymmétrique suivant :au plus un style agricole épuise la capacité (re)productive de l'agroécosystème, au plus sa performance productive est sur-estimée ;au contraire, au plus un style agricole veille à régénérer la capacité (re)productive de l'agroécosystème, au plus sa performance productive est sous-estimée. Nous montrons ainsi que FANS a conçu, et continue à entretenir, le 'mythe de la productivité'. Or ce mythe a façonné les prescriptions et le développement agricoles qui, par conséquent, sont orientés vers la perte de la capacité (re)productive des agroécosystèmes.Parallèlement à la mise en lumière du mythe de la productivité et de ses implications réelles, un cadre s'inspirant du 'modèle Flow-Fund' (formalisé par N. Georgescu-Roegen) laisse entrevoir une alternative prometteuse pour évaluer la productivité (agronomique et économique) réelle des fermes. A travers le prisme de la balance flow-fund, nous nous fondons sur les manières distinctement différentes dont les fermiers wallons gèrent leur agroécosystème, et sur la nature métabolique du processus agricole, pour démontrer empiriquement et théoriquement l'argument suivant :au plus un style agricole est proche du mode paysan, au plus le processus agricole (ou la balance flow-fund) est géré(e) avec art et co-produit de la néguentropie ;à l'inverse, au moins le style est paysan, au plus le processus agricole est dénaturé et au plus de l'entropie est coproduite. Ainsi, dans le même temps, nous établissons une interprétation métabolique du Principe Paysan.De tous ces constats empiriques et théoriques, la question suivante émerge :'Comment les familles agricoles qui ont survécu font-elles face aux décennies de prescriptions orientées vers l'épuisement de la capacité (re)productive de leurs agroécosystèmes, et donc vers l'épuisement de leur capacité à demeurer fermiers ?'. Cette question rejoint un dernier aspect qu'il était nécessaire d'aborder, à savoir les phénomènes sociaux de souffrance, de désactivation et de suicide qui minent le monde agricole moderne de Wallonie et d'ailleurs. Partant du postulat que ces phénomènes sociaux sont étroitement liés, nous nous concentrons sur les causes profondes de la souffrance sociale des fermiers subsistants, en veillant tout particulèrement à laisser la parole aux familles et fermiers que nous avons côtoyés. Nous commençons par souligner des marqueurs identitaires forts qui montrent que les agriculteurs wallons, au delà de leur hétérogénéité, forment un groupe socio-professionnel singulier. La question épineuse de la souffrance est abordée à travers le récit collectif des fermiers sur la mutation d'après-guerre, de l'environnement de travail agricole vers un environnement moderne caractérisé par une hostilité accrue et plurielle. Nous proposons alors une typologie des stratégies, déployées par les fermiers enquêtés de Wallonie picarde, pour subsister face à une telle hostilité. L'exercice typologique se fonde sur l'articulation de notre cadre de paysanneté et sur le 'modèle dynamique de la souffrance psychique au travail' (proposé par Ch. Dejours), mettant en évidence cinq types de stratégies de survie. Celles-ci sont désignées par la catégorie de fermiers qui leur est associée :les nouveaux paysans, les TMCE-istes (soit les fermiers en agriculture de conservation), les fonceurs à leur perte, et les désorientés. Cet aperçu empirique sur des récits et des stratégies de fermiers, réfute la vision communément véhiculée selon laquelle les difficultés économiques sont la cause profonde de la propension agricole à la souffrance, à la désactivation et au suicide. En revanche, cet aperçu confirme notre hypothèse interprétative, à savoir :l'existence d'un lien mécanique entre souffrance des fermiers et leur rapport aux prescriptions. La perte de paysanneté apparaît en effet comme une cause profonde du mal-être du monde agricole moderne. Pour conclure, ce travail démontre que le mythe de la productivité a engendré le paradigme (appelé à tort) 'productiviste' et le système de prescriptions agricoles qui dominent le monde agricole et l'orientent vers l'érosion de la capacité reproductive des agroécosystèmes – contribuant ainsi à l'érosion de la capacité reproductive du système Terre. La santé psychosociale des fermiers émerge clairement comme un des élément-clé du fund des agroécosystèmes, et son érosion apparaît comme le stade ultime de la spirale délétère alimentée par le mythe de la productivité. Nous parvenons également à la conclusion que le mode de production paysan signifie gérer le processus agricole de manière cohérente et durable; les modes non paysans (dits entrepreneuriaux et capitalistiques) eux dénaturent le processus agricole de manière incohérente et non durable. La repaysannisation 'aboutie' apparaît ainsi comme un processus néguentropique, producteur de richesse à tous les niveaux – du système agricole à celui de la Terre. La dépaysannisation (ou industrialisation) avancée des agroécosystèmes apparaît comme un processus entropique d'épuisement du fund, hautement producteur de coûts et de maux ('illth' en anglais) à tous les niveaux. C'est sur cette base, que nous proposons une représentation alternative des modes et processus agricoles. Essentiellement, cette représentation est une reconfiguration métabolique du triangle proposé par J.D. van der Ploeg, et se présent sous la forme d'un continuum multidimensionnel opposant deux pôles.La principale leçon tirée de cette thèse se résume ainsi :pour trancher le nœud gordien de l'agriculture moderne, il faut rompre avec le mythe de la productivité. Face aux défis actuels, l'argument usuel selon lequel 'la perte de paysanneté permet d'accroître les performances productives et la durabilité des fermes', n'est plus une option. Pour favoriser la transition vers des mondes agricoles durables, des systèmes de soutien transformateurs sont nécessaires, et ces systèmes requièrent de s'appuyer sur des indicateurs aptes à évaluer la performance réelle des styles agricoles et de l'agriculture. Nous proposons, en tant que perspective de recherche, le cadre 'Métabolisme de Ferme'. Cette proposition conceptuelle et analytique implique de se fonder sur des analyses flow-fund au niveau des agroécosystèmes, ouvrant ainsi la voie à une évaluation de la performance productive réelle des styles agricoles, et ce dans une perspective de durabilité forte. Le cadre 'Métabolisme de Ferme' pourrait dès lors contribuer à soutenir la repaysannisation des agroécosystèmes 'modernisés', nécessaire au bien-être des fermiers et à celui de l'ensemble de la société humaine.
Doctorat en Sciences agronomiques et ingénierie biologique
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

This thesis explored design’s role in transitioning the Swedish food system to one that is more resilient to the shocks caused by climate change and in the context of the project duration, COVID-19. The project’s central question was: What does food citizenship look like in a resilient food system, and what design process is necessary to facilitate such a solution? The project collaborated with a local food ecosystem startup, Harvest, which has the mission to improve the local food supply chain so everyone can eat deliciously and sustainability. Together with Harvest, the project developed a vision of what the local food ecosystem will look like in a viable world. It proposes that collective action around food is a possible vehicle for systems transition. The resulting design is the proposition of a network that connects urban communities to local food producers while facilitating the support required to expand the production capability and stability of the local food ecosystem. The network is grounded in the design principles synthesized from the research conducted with the creative communities in Sweden that are working towards a resilient food system. The ideas of mutual aid and the permaculture ethics of people care and fair share have been guiding forces as supporting those living in transition is an essential element of food systems transition. From this proposition the project sets to explore what disruptive innovations need to occur in order to reach this vision. By framing the project in this way I aim to not only illuminate what the preferable future looks like and how it will function, but also illustrate how it is possible to reach this future.

Este estudo visa identificar e analisar as percepções, as motivações e as estratégias dos agricultores “não convencionais” de Canguçu, Rio Grande do Sul, na condução de seus sistemas de produção “diferentes”. O município, considerado a Capital Nacional da Agricultura Familiar, conta com aproximadamente 10.000 estabelecimentos agropecuários com área média de 16ha. As características do meio favoreceram um processo de modernização da agricultura incompleto, o que significa dizer que a modernização não atingiu todos os estabelecimentos rurais da mesma forma, embora ocorram distintas razões. Esses diferentes “níveis” de modernização representam diferentes relações com o mercado e com a utilização de tecnologias, gerando dessa forma, diferentes estilos de agricultura. A abordagem dos estilos trata-se de referência analítica para a compreensão das diferentes formas de conduzir a agricultura. Contudo, as razões pelas quais os agricultores agregam-se a um estilo ou outro, conduz a olhares específicos, de como é elaborado o conhecimento, no seu processo de transição. O trabalho de campo, baseado na coleta de dados obtidos por meio de entrevistas semiestruturadas, diário de campo e observações, possibilitou identificar as distintas denominações desses agricultores. Esses dados foram organizados com auxílio do software QSR NVivo 8.0, para realizar a análise dos dados (de conteúdo). Identificou-se que a tomada de decisão do agricultor convencional ou tradicional, para outro sistema produtivo pautado no manejo “ecológico” pode ter diferentes pontos de partida, todavia também mostrar vínculos com diferentes momentos de expansão do movimento, então denominado “alternativo”. As transições podem acontecer decorrentes de necessidades impostas pelas características do meio, da percepção do aperto causado pelo aumento dos custos e da redução nos lucros, por uma incapacidade econômica ou um isolamento geográfico. Bem como, pelas influências das ações externas à propriedade, como a invenção do ecológico, que faz emergir novas oportunidades de nichos de mercado, exigindo produtos certificados. Diferentes condições geram uma variedade de situações observáveis para este estilo de agricultura ecológico. Há entre estes agricultores, uma diversidade significativa no que tange as relações sociais e sociedade-natureza, assim como nas suas trajetórias como produtores ao longo do tempo.
This study aims to identify and analyze the perceptions and motivations of unconventional farmers from Canguçu, Rio Grande do Sul, in conducting "different" production systems. The city, considered to be the Family Farm National Capital has approximately 10,000 agricultural establishments with an average area of 16 hectares. Medium characteristics favored an incomplete agricultural modernization process, which means that modernization did not reach all rural establishments in the same way, although there are distinct reasons. These different "levels" of modernization represent different relationships with the market and use of technology, thus generating different styles of agriculture. The styles farming theory is an analytical reference for understanding the different ways of conducting agriculture. Furthermore, the reasons why farmers join one style or another leads to specific perspectives to how knowledge is produced in its transition process. Field work, based on data collected through interviews, field diary and observations enabled the identification of the different denominations of these farmers. These data were organized by using QSR NVivo 8.0 software to run the data analysis, concerning their content. It was identified that the farmer's decision, whether conventional or traditional, to another system production, based on “green” management, can follow different starting points, but also can show links to different periods of movement expansion, then called "alternative". Transitions can occur due to needs imposed by the medium characteristics; the perception of tightness caused by increased costs and reduced profits; an economic inability or a geographic isolation. In addition, they can be caused by the influences of actions external to the property, as the invention of the “green” that brings out new opportunities for niche markets by requiring certified products. Different conditions produce a variety of situations observed for this “green” agriculture style. There are among these farmers a significant diversity regarding social and society-nature relationships, as well as in their trajectories as producers over time.

Ce travail de thèse explore les aspects organisationnels de l’accompagnement local de la transition agroécologique. Cet accompagnement nécessite d’articuler différents processus individuels et collectifs de transformation des activités de la production et du développement agricole. En construisant un dispositif de recherche-action au sein d’un projet de transition agroécologique porté par une association d’éleveurs et conseillers dans le rayon de Roquefort, nous mettons en oeuvre avec eux une forme d’expérimentation sociale qui nous permet de comprendre le problème de l’accompagnement de la transition à la fois sur le plan théorique et pratique. Dans notre cas, l’articulation des transformations individuelles et collectives a été permise par un travail de co-conception entre éleveurs et conseillers des outils de l’accompagnement des changements dans les fermes. Ce processus a permis de débattre de la diversité des modèles agricoles et des représentations des acteurs de la transition agroécologique au sein du groupe, ainsi que d’engager conjointement éleveurs et conseillers dans la transformation de leurs pratiques. Ces transformations ont été d'autant plus facilitées que la coconception a été envisagée comme un processus dialogique entre conception et expérimentation dans différentes situations réelles d’usage dans les fermes. A l’issue de ce travail, nous proposons une approche pragmatiste pour accompagner localement la transition agroécologique
We explore in this research the organizational dimensions of agroecological transition and the ways to support it locally. The support of agroecological transition requires connecting differentprocesses of individual and collective transformations of agricultural development and production activities. We design a device for action reseach within an agroecological transition project, carriedby a farmers and advisers association in the Roquefort area. We implement with them a social experiment to explore this problem both from theoretical and practical point of view. In our casethe connection between individual and collective transformation of participant activities required farmers and advisers to design together tools to accompany the agroecological transition on farms. This process allowed the debate about the diversity of agricultural models and representations that actors have regarding agroecological transition. It as well allows engaging advisers and farmers jointly in the agroecological transition. These transformations have been enhanced by the fact that the co-design process was organized as a dialogical process between design and experimentation of the tools in diverse real situations of use on farms. At the end of this journey, we propose to develop a pragmatist approach to accompany locally the agroecological transition

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The increasing prominence of environmental issues on a global scale has triggered new approaches to the deal with agroecosystems and ways of reconciling production and preservation of tangible and intangible resources. In this sense, economic instruments for environmental management are employed and among them stands out the Payment for Environmental Services (PES). The purpose of this dissertation is to examine this instrumental as a tool with potential to succor family farmers in agroecological transition as in Itapuranga to conclude this process and consolidate a more sustainable production model, in order to be consistent with these recent preservationist s efforts. Through a combination of methods, this work makes use of literature search, interviews and observation to capture social and environmental dynamics of the researched universe as well as the aspects of the employed theory. Conclude that PES is properly an alternative in agroecological transition context as the increase of environmental quality given by agroecology is enough to motivate a payment that overcome the farmer s opportunity costs and, in consequence, helps in the perpetuation of this sustainable pattern that tends to be paid by the market prize. In the end, there are several synergistic aspects that enable this approach between different efforts and politics that lead syncretically towards human welfare and environmental sustainability.
A proeminência crescente das questões ambientais em âmbito global tem desencadeado novas abordagens para o trato com os agroecossistemas e as formas de conciliar a produção e a preservação dos recursos naturais. Nesse sentido, empregam-se instrumentos econômicos de gestão ambiental e, dentre eles, destaca-se o Pagamento por Serviços Ambientais (PSA). O objetivo dessa dissertação é analisar esse instrumento como uma ferramenta com potencial de auxiliar agricultores familiares em transição agroecológica como de Itapuranga (GO) a dar cabo desse processo e consolidar um modelo produtivo mais sustentável, de modo a coadunar com esses recentes esforços conservacionistas. À luz de uma combinação de métodos, o trabalho utiliza-se da pesquisa bibliográfica, de entrevistas e da observação para apreender tanto a dinâmica socioambiental do universo pesquisado como também dos aspectos da teoria empregada. Conclui-se que PSA apresenta-se propiciamente como alternativa no contexto de transição agroecológica na medida em que o incremento da qualidade ambiental propiciado pela agroecologia é suficiente para motivar uma remuneração que supere o custo de oportunidade desses agricultores e que, por consequência, auxilie na perpetuação desse modelo sustentável que tendencialmente passaria a ser remunerado pelo valor do prêmio pago pelos consumidores. Por fim, identificam-se diversos aspectos sinérgicos que permitem essa aproximação entre diferentes instrumentos e políticas que caminham sincreticamente rumo ao bem estar humano e à sustentabilidade ambiental.

The many technological processes that products go through can make consumers less related to the systems behind them and their origins. The same thing happens to food. This project highlights the implications of a food system within the global scale of today’s mainstream economy and explores the possibilities for a product that originates from a more sustainable food system. Apart from re-designing a processed everyday food product, the aim of this study is to increase awareness of the pressure that the world’s fish stocks are suffering due to overfishing – an issue that is being aggravated by our current food system. For this reason fish fingers (aka fish sticks), which is a well known food product in Sweden, have been chosen as the primary focus in order to make a complex issue more tangible. By re-evaluating what a fish is, analysing current food systems and food products, making sensory explorations and collaborating with chefs, Havsbitar 1.0 and 2.0 (”Sea Bites” 1.0 and 2.0) have been developed. It is a series of fish fingers that has been designed for a desirable future scenario, where a resilient food system has been implemented. The aesthetics of Havsbitar intends to connect it to its ingredients and to the ecosystem it comes from, while maintaining the key characteristics of the fish finger as we know it today. The acceptance of the concept as a food product is an important variable to this project. The concept is placed in the field of Transition Design. Nevertheless, the design of Havsbitar 1.0 is a proposal that is intended to create possibilities for dialogue about an ideal industrialized commercial product. On the other hand, Havsbitar 2.0 follows a more discursive, critical angle towards the fact that fish fingers do not resemble fish, its main ingredient. Havsbitar 2.0 could then be placed in the field of Critical Food Design and Discursive Design.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior
Since the development of Technical Assistance and Rural Extension National Policy (Pnater) in 2004, it can be observed that subsequent extension policies shows both theoretical and methodological ambiguities, distortions and weaknesses, with regard to Agroecological approaches and sustainable rural development strategies, which might lead to damages and uncertainties regarding extension actions, as well as among family farmers, public that benefits from technical assistance and public extension politics. Given the importance of this theme, the research poses the following question: how Agroecology has been incorporated to rural development dynamics, respecting a wide range of socioeconomic, productive and environmental situations, as well as associative organizations, which shape strategies and experience of family farmers? The work aims to analyze how different situations influence rural development. Respecting this, the research consists on a comparative analysis between two specific cases from Pernambuco state: a family farmers group from Santa Cruz da BaixaVerde which experienced an agroecological transition process in 1990s, and a group of farmers settled through agrarian reform at São Lourenço da Mata, which participated of an agroecological transition process, starting in the late 2000s. With regard to methodological resources, the thesis will be guided in the mixed model, which enables integration between qualitative and quantitative approaches, following some additional steps, such as literature, documentary research, case study, direct observation, survey and data processing. The comparative approach between two case studies, enabled the observation of actor´s participation on construction of qualitative factors which compound sustainability of rural development strategies and experiences driven by Agroecology. Moreover, it was clear that such as the selection of appropriate strategies for sustainable rural development, also the ability to readapt itto scenery changes and to learn from others' experiences are crucial in the long run, regarding the success of this kind of initiative. Considering that agroecological transition is permanently subjected to re-orientations, this research shows how actors and social networks can influence rural development; and which factors might lead to qualitative differences among individual cases; and which factors may lead to more or less sustainable dynamics in a time spam. The importance of this research is justified by the possibility of enabling the comprehension of relationship between family farmers in agroecological and other social stakeholders, revealing singularities of rural development. In addition, an analysis that confronts particularities of rural development strategies in different local contexts, as well as its consequences, might contribute to the improvement of technical assistance and rural extension policies towards family farmers.
Desde a criação da Política Nacional de Assistência Técnica e Extensão Rural (Pnater) de 2004, observa-se que as políticas de extensão rural subsequentes apresentam ambiguidades, distorções e fragilidades, tanto de ordem teórica, quanto metodológica, no que se refere às abordagens sobre a Agroecologia e as estratégias de desenvolvimento rural sustentável, fato que pode causar prejuízos e incertezas para as ações dos extensionistas e junto aos agricultores familiares, público priorizado pelas políticas de assistência técnica e extensão rural (Ater). Diante da importância do tema, a pesquisa parte da seguinte pergunta: de que forma a Agroecologia vem sendo incorporada às dinâmicas de desenvolvimento rural, considerando as diferentes situações socioeconômicas, produtivas, ambientais e de organização associativa presentes nas estratégias e experiências dos agricultores familiares? O trabalho tem como principal objetivo analisar como essas diferentes situações influenciam o desenvolvimento rural. Para isso, elegeu-se como base da pesquisa uma análise comparativa entre dois casos específicos no estado de Pernambuco: um grupo de agricultores familiares de Santa Cruz da Baixa Verde, que vivenciaram, ainda na década de 1990, um processo de transição agroecológica, e um grupo de agricultores assentados de programa oficial de reforma agrária no município de São Lourenço da Mata, que participaram de um processo de transição agroecológica iniciado no final dos anos 2000. No âmbito dos recursos metodológicos, a tese pautou-se no modelo misto, que permite a integração entre os enfoques qualitativo e quantitativo, seguindo algumas etapas complementares, como, por exemplo, pesquisa bibliográfica, pesquisa documental, estudo de caso, observação direta, levantamento e tratamento dos dados. A abordagem comparativa, entre os dois casos em estudo, permitiu observar a participação dos atores na construção de fatores qualitativos que compõem a sustentabilidade das estratégias e experiências de desenvolvimento rural orientadas pela Agroecologia. Também foi possível perceber que, tanto quanto a escolha de estratégias adequadas para o desenvolvimento rural sustentável, a capacidade de readaptá-las em face das mudanças de cenário e de aprender com as experiências alheias são determinantes, no longo prazo, para o sucesso desse tipo de iniciativa. Entendendo que a transição agroecológica está permanentemente sujeita a reorientações, a pesquisa demonstra de que maneira atores e redes sociais podem influenciar o desenvolvimento rural; que é possível identificar fatores que qualitativamente produzem diferenças entre casos concretos; e que tais fatores podem levar a dinâmicas mais ou menos sustentáveis no tempo. A importância da pesquisa está justificada na possibilidade de contribuir para a compreensão das relações existentes entre os agricultores familiares de base agroecológica e outros atores sociais, revelando particularidades do desenvolvimento rural. Além disso, uma análise que confronte as particularidades de estratégias de desenvolvimento rural em contextos locais diferentes, assim como as suas consequências, pode contribuir para o aprimoramento das políticas de assistência técnica e extensão rural voltadas aos agricultores familiares.

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Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior
This study examines peasant family farming from an agroecological perspective. It intends to analyze the changes resulting from the transition from conventional to agro-ecological agriculture in the daily practices of farmers articulated associated with the Network of Agroecological and Solidarity Farmers of the Curu and Aracatia?u Valleys Territory, the locus of this empirical research, and a space which has highlighted the social dynamics of agroecological innovation, as well as articulating environmental exchanges and knowledge development. As a way to further that goal, we seek to identify the forms of social organization previously present in the daily lives of these subjects, in addition to grasping the determinants that lead or led them to adopt agroecology, noting the need to verify the forms of resistance, and the strategies adopted by farmers and how they articulate collectively. Through the historical and dialectical methods, we seek to take the implications of technical modernization of agriculture under the conditions of production and reproduction of peasants and thus situate the emergence of agroecology, a focus that is born as a counterpoint to conventional patterns of agricultural development based on the paradigm of the Green Revolution. We structured this study around the trajectory of agroecological farmers that developed and internalized agroecological practices, processes, and organizational forms. For the analysis, we used theoretical and methodological frameworks from literature related to field research. The systematization and analysis of experiments revealed that agroecological transition is a broad process of change, not restricted to technical matters. We observed changes in production practices, diversification of production and feeding practices, ecological awareness, production autonomy, and organizations formed to face the challenges resulting from the imposition of the dominant agricultural development model that combines environmental degradation, land ownership concentration, and wealth concentration
Esse estudo tem como universo tem?tico a agricultura familiar camponesa na perspectiva agroecol?gica. Pretende analisar as mudan?as decorrentes do processo de transi??o da agricultura convencional para agricultura agroecol?gica no cotidiano dos agricultores e agricultoras articulados ? Rede de Agricultores Agroecol?gicos e Solid?rios do Territ?rio dos Vales do Curu e Aracatia?u, l?cus da pesquisa emp?rica. Como caminho para o aprofundamento desse objetivo, procuramos identificar as formas de organiza??o social anteriormente presentes no cotidiano desses sujeitos, al?m de apreender os determinantes que os levam ou os levaram a adotar a agroecologia, atentando para a necessidade de verificar as formas de resist?ncia e, por fim, as estrat?gias constru?das pelos agricultores e como estas se articulam coletivamente. A tematiza??o da agroecologia coloca-se como uma problem?tica complexa, o que implica em articular a dimens?o sociot?cnica com as lutas sociais e ecol?gicas em resposta ? marginaliza??o e degrada??o impostas pelo modelo de desenvolvimento agr?cola dominante. A partir do m?todo hist?rico e dial?tico, buscamos apanhar as implica??es da moderniza??o t?cnica da agricultura sob as condi??es de produ??o e reprodu??o dos camponeses e, assim, situar a emerg?ncia da agroecologia, enfoque que nasce como contraponto ao padr?o convencional de desenvolvimento agr?cola baseado no paradigma da Revolu??o Verde. Estruturamos o presente estudo em torno das pr?ticas, processos e formas de organiza??o desenvolvidas e internalizadas ao longo da trajet?ria dos agricultores que enveredaram por essa pr?tica. Devido ? especificidade de nosso objeto, optamos pela pesquisa qualitativa e observa??o sistem?tica. Para as an?lises, utilizamos a pesquisa bibliogr?fica e documental - referencial te?rico-metodol?gico associadas ? pesquisa de campo. As an?lises das experi?ncias revelaram que a transi??o agroecol?gica ? um processo amplo de mudan?as. Assim, tais mudan?as revelaram-se nas pr?ticas produtivas, na diversifica??o da produ??o e pr?ticas alimentares, na consci?ncia ecol?gica e nas formas de organiza??o constru?das pelos agricultores para enfrentar as dificuldades trazidas pela imposi??o do modelo de desenvolvimento agr?cola dominante que combina degrada??o ambiental, concentra??o fundi?ria e concentra??o de riquezas

En réponse aux réglementations environnementales récentes incitant à une gestion préventive de la qualité de l'eau, l'agriculture biologique (AB) constitue une des solutions globales préconisée pour cette gestion préventive. L'objectif de cette thèse est d'étudier les transitions des exploitations agricoles vers l'AB dans les territoires, en prenant les aires d'alimentation de captages (AAC) en Île-de-France comme cas d'étude. En nous inscrivant en agronomie des territoires, nous développons une interface disciplinaire avec la géographie et analysons ces transitions sous l'angle des interactions entre systèmes techniques et de commercialisation à différentes échelles territoriales. Des enquêtes ont été réalisées auprès d'agriculteurs franciliens en systèmes de grandes cultures et de maraîchage et auprès d'opérateurs des filières agricoles. Des " études AAC " en cours ont également été étudiées. Nous avons abordé dans un premier temps les potentialités et les modalités de transition des exploitations vers l'AB en développant des méthodes pour évaluer leur proximité technique à l'AB et l'ampleur des sauts techniques et commerciaux qu'elles auraient à réaliser dans une situation de conversion. Parallèlement, l'analyse des stratégies techniques et commerciales des exploitations biologiques a permis d'aboutir à différents modèles biologiques. Nous avons ensuite montré que les opportunités territoriales de commercialisation jouent sur les possibilités d'évolution des exploitations vers l'AB. Enfin, la pertinence de l'échelle AAC pour engager un développement territorialisé de l'AB a été remise en cause. La complexité de mise en oeuvre de cet objectif a été montrée en lien avec la superposition de territoires de différentes natures. Ce travail contribue à la compréhension des obstacles à l'insertion effective de l'AB dans les territoires à enjeu eau potable.

This thesis aims to investigate the attitudes towards organic farming and how agricultural space is understood among organic farmers in the Swedish region of Halland and then to relate this to the ongoing discussion on multifunctional agricultural transition. The research is based on a field study on nine different organic farms in Halland, where qualitative interviews have been conducted for the creation of the empirical results. Using the theory of planned behavior and the concept of the “good farmer”, the thesis has revealed that the organic farming community in Halland is heterogeneous and different perspectives and attitudes are expressed about organic farming and agriculture. While the farmers are driven by many aspects of organic farming, the attitudes towards agriculture are often in line with traditional productivist ideals highlighting clean fields and high yields, even though many organic farmers have started to question the traditional norms often due to the different conditions met by organic farmers. Due to the various attitudes represented, the range within the multifunctional agricultural spectrum is rather wide were some organic farmers understand agricultural space more in line with productivist ideals while others express attitudes in line with organic farming principles, suggesting a strong multifunctional understanding of agricultural space.

This paper examined how Change Management and Transformational Leadership can be effective tools in transitioning towards sustainable agriculture in Europe. This paper starts with providing empirical evidence for climate change and shows that Northern and Southern Europe are impacted differently by climate change. Then this paper examined how climate change affects farmers in the different parts of Europe and what Societal, Environmental, Leadership and Organisational changes have to be made to transition towards sustainable agriculture in Europe. The qualitative analysis shows that, according to farmer associations, there is a need for a variety of options, a lack of communication and insufficient involvement of farmers on a policy making level. This paper ends with explaining how Change Management and Transformational Leadership can be used as tools to improve communication between stakeholders and improve the involvement of farmers in the co-creation process. Therefore, this paper concludes that Change Management and Transformational leadership will help the European Union in realising sustainable agriculture in Europe.

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2005.
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Tropical woodlands play a key role in the livelihoods of rural communities in southern Africa, but exist in contexts of constant ecological and socioeconomic change. With research into tropical woodlands neglected compared to tropical forests, it is important to improve understanding of the consequences of tropical woodland change for rural wellbeing. The aim of this thesis is to examine the dynamic interactions between woodland change and rural livelihoods through an interdisciplinary case study of a miombo woodland landscape on and around Wedza Mountain, Zimbabwe. The thesis is organised into three parts addressing: (1) the patterns of land use intensity and provisioning ecosystem service availability around Wedza Mountain; (2) the importance of environmental resources in rural income portfolios and hazard coping strategies; and (3) the adequacy of ecosystem service literature in representing the environmental values of rural African communities. The first part of this thesis explores patterns of land use and woodland structure on the woodland cover gradient around Wedza Mountain. In Chapter 2 I characterise land use intensity in the six study villages using a new method of calculating human appropriation of net primary productivity (HANPP) at the village scale. Use of this approach indicates that previous studies have underestimated land use intensity in African small-scale farming areas, with village-scale HANPP estimates in Wedza ranging from 48% to 113% of total potential annual NPP as compared to 18 to 38% in published studies. In Chapter 3 I combine woodland survey data with a quantitative ethnobotanical assessment of the use values of woody species and demonstrate that per-household availability of provisioning ecosystem services declines with declining relative tree cover. These findings also suggest that more deforested villages have reduced diversity of ethnospecies underlying service provision, with ramifications for service resilience and livelihood option values in response to future change. The focus of the second part of the thesis is on the role of woodland resources in rural livelihoods. In Chapter 4 I quantify the contribution of environmental income to the total income portfolios of 91 households and show that lower village woodland cover is not associated with reduced livelihood diversity, in part because a large proportion of environmental income is derived from degraded woodland or non-woodland environments. In Chapter 5 I assess the importance of environmental resources for coping with hazard exposures, drawing on recall of past exposure responses and a survey exercise weighting the elements of coping strategy portfolios in response to varying shock scenarios. Synthesis of these data sets indicates that environmental resources represent an important safety net in coping with interacting covariate and idiosyncratic hazard exposures. The third part of the thesis consists of critical reflection, firstly on the adequacy of current ecosystem services research in southern Africa landscapes and secondly on this specific research project. In Chapter 6 I identify the value discourses which are most dominant across 356 peer-reviewed papers adopting an ecosystem services approach to miombo landscape research, and contrast these with the environmental values of study communities in Wedza District. Through this I show that the current ecosystem service literature is failing to represent rural African social and spiritual imaginaries of landscapes, with potentially serious consequences for the efficacy and equity of landscape management interventions. In Chapter 7 I examine some of the methodological and ethical challenges encountered during this research project through a discussion of the relationships between researcher, research assistant and respondents in an interdisciplinary field research context. Finally, in Chapter 8 I synthesise the key messages from the thesis, and conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for understanding of how future change will impact the resilience and vulnerability of savanna woodland socioecological systems.

Dans le contexte actuel de changements globaux, faire face au défi multiple et interconnecté de la sécurité alimentaire et des impacts environnementaux s’avère fondamental pour la durabilité des systèmes agricoles. La thèse s’attache ainsi à évaluer les performances agronomiques et environnementales des systèmes en AB, en couplant un suivi expérimental réalisé sur un réseau de 35 parcelles agricoles dans la région Hauts-de-France, avec la modélisation du continuum sol-plante-atmosphère afin de mieux comprendre les processus expliquant les dynamiques de l’eau et de l’azote dans ces systèmes, en vue de promouvoir des pratiques de gestion durables.Dans un premier temps, le drainage d’eau et la lixiviation d’azote ont été quantifiés en couplant les données sol-culture-climat et le modèle LIXIM. L’analyse de la lixiviation des parcelles agricoles a permis de déterminer que les facteurs qui expliquent la variabilité. Outre le fort effet sol et l’importance des conditions climatiques sur le drainage, ils sont principalement liés à la combinaison de précédent cultural et de gestion de la couverture du sol en automne. Ces deux derniers jouent en effet sur la quantité d’azote minéral présent avant la période de drainage et expliquent la position du nitrate dans le profil de sol. Nos résultats ont montré le rôle dichotomique des légumineuses dans les systèmes de grandes cultures en AB, et la faible performance des cultures intermédiaires car semées tardivement en automne dans ce contexte.Dans un second temps, le diagnostic des déterminants de l’écart au rendement des cultures ou yield gap a été réalisé via une approche par modélisation déterministe. Le modèle sol-culture STICS a servi à estimer les différents niveaux de rendement potentiel et décomposer le yield gap, en s’appuyant sur le cas du blé tendre et du triticale. Les résultats montrent que le stress en azote permet d’expliquer la majeure partie du yield gap survenant en AB, et dans une moindre mesure les facteurs liés à la pression biotique, pour des systèmes recourant à peu ou pas d’apport azoté exogène.Finalement, le défi de la fourniture en azote dans les systèmes de grandes cultures en AB a été abordé afin de contribuer à une meilleure efficience d’utilisation de l’azote et une amélioration de la productivité des parcelles. Le modèle STICS a permis de simuler l’impact de pratiques de gestion alternatives de l’azote, par expérimentation numérique menée dans le cadre d’une approche participative, mobilisant les agriculteurs, les conseillers techniques et les chercheurs. Les résultats indiquent l’importance de la succession et des pratiques culturales, en particulier la mise en place de cultures intermédiaires et la gestion du retournement des luzernières. L’optimisation des pratiques des agriculteurs restent ainsi possible, en réduisant les émissions potentielles d’azote par lixiviation ou par pertes gazeuses, sans léser la fourniture en N pour les cultures.Dans les contextes pédo-technico-climatiques étudiés, les systèmes de grandes cultures en AB peuvent ainsi combiner performance agronomique et faibles impacts environnementaux, lorsque la gestion de l’azote est bien maîtrisée
Nowadays, in a context of global changes, addressing the interlinked challenges of food security and environmental impacts is fundamental for the sustainability of agricultural systems. Therefore, the thesis aimed to assess agronomic and environmental performances of organic systems, by coupling the experimental monitoring of a 35 organic fields network in the Northern region of France with modeling the soil-crop continuum, to better understand the underlying processes in water and nitrogen dynamics within those systems, and to promote a more sustainable management.Water drainage and nitrate leaching were assessed by coupling soil, crop and climate data within LIXIM model. Then we analyzed N leaching pattern under diverse organic arable fields to explain its main driving factors. Leaving aside the strong soil type effect and the importance of climatic conditions on drainage, the combination of previous crops and autumn field management appeared to be a key determinant of nitrate leaching in the studied organic systems, as they both drive the amount of soil mineral nitrogen before draining period and explain the position of nitrate in the soil profile. We also showed the dichotomous role of legumes as preceding crop in organic cropping systems and the poor performance of the standard catch crops, sown in late summer in this context.Yield gap of cereals was investigated using a deterministic modeling approach as a diagnosis tool, to contribute in improving the productivity of organic agriculture. The soil-crop model STICS was used to estimate the potential yields of each studied winter wheat and winter triticale crop fields in their given soil and climate conditions. Our results reasserted how nitrogen stress could explain a major part of the yield gap occurring in organic crops and outweigh biotic limiting factors impacts, for cropping systems relying on few or no manures for nitrogen supply.Lastly, we aimed to address the challenge of nitrogen supply in organic arable systems for a better nitrogen use efficiency and improved crop yields. We used the model STICS to simulate the impact of alternative nitrogen management practices by carrying out a numerical experiment in a participatory approach involving farmers, technical advisors and researchers. The findings emphasized the importance of crop succession design and management practices, particularly the implementation of catch crops and the timing of the destruction of perennial legume crops. Optimizing the farmer’s actual practices could then be possible, reducing the potential emissions of nitrogen via leaching or gaseous losses, without decreasing the nitrogen supply for the following crop.Organic arable cropping systems, within the studied soil, technics and climate contexts, can achieve agronomic performances combined with low environmental impacts, with well-managed nitrogen practices

Après 50 ans d’avancée des fronts pionniers, l’Amazonie orientale brésilienne aborde une phase de transition agraire. Face à la fermeture de la frontière limitant l’accès au foncier et à la fertilité forestière, les éleveurs bovins ont initié un mouvement d’intensification de l’usage des sols. Malgré les enjeux environnementaux que soulèvent de tels changements, cette dynamique d’intensification est encore mal comprise, notamment dans sa dimension spatiale et dans sa capacité à favoriser des paysages éco-efficients, c’est-à-dire des paysages au sein desquels les pratiques et leur localisation optimiseraient l’utilisation des ressources naturelles. Pour adresser ces questions, cette thèse propose de décrire et modéliser les interactions entre le système de décision des exploitants, les paysages et leurs ressources dans une diversité de fermes d’élevage.Dans un premier temps, un travail de terrain a été conduit dans deux territoires au sud et sud-est de l’Etat du Pará, Paragominas et Redenção. A partir d’enquêtes et d’une analyse des trajectoires d’exploitation et des paysages, nous avons caractérisé six types de stratégies d’intensification, qualifié leurs effets sur un certain nombre de ressources naturelles et étudié les perceptions des éleveurs sur ces ressources. Dans un deuxième temps, nous avons développé un modèle multi-agents afin de simuler sur 20 ans les effets des stratégies d’intensification sur les paysages et leurs ressources et évaluer la faisabilité d’adoption de ces stratégies dans différentes situations agraires. Le modèle a été utilisé pour explorer deux scénarios d’intensification : l’un semi-intensif basé uniquement sur une conduite améliorée des pâturages, et l’autre intensif basé sur l’intégration agriculture-élevage et l’irrigation.Les résultats montrent que le processus d’intensification conduit à une reconfiguration des usages des sols dans les paysages. Après une phase de colonisation où l’occupation des sols était essentiellement guidée par l’appropriation du foncier, les éleveurs ont tendance à intensifier les parcelles aux conditions biophysiques les plus favorables à la production fourragère et les plus proches et accessibles. Ces stratégies visent à mieux valoriser diverses ressources naturelles (topographie, fertilité et drainage des sols, eau de surface ou souterraine pour l’irrigation) et à optimiser les déplacements. Les éleveurs choisissent toutefois différentes pratiques et agencements spatiaux en fonction de la situation agraire de l’exploitation et du degré d’hétérogénéité de l’environnement biophysique. Par ailleurs, les sorties des simulations soulignent que le processus d’intensification permet de réduire les besoins en surface fourragère pour un même niveau de production animale. Les éleveurs sont ainsi capables d’augmenter la taille de leur troupeau tout en régénérant des forêts sur les zones sensibles et marginales. Cependant, faute de main d’œuvre disponible, le processus d’intensification reste limité dans l’espace. En termes d’évolution des paysages, les éleveurs positionnent différemment les usages des sols en fonction du type d’unités géomorphologiques, ce qui se traduit par une dynamique spatio-temporelle des ressources naturelles contrastée.Concilier élevage et forêt dans des paysages éco-efficients constitue un défi important pour la région amazonienne. A cet effet, cette thèse montre l’importance de raisonner les espaces voués à l’intensification et à la conservation en tenant compte des projets des exploitations et des effets de leurs pratiques et de leur agencement sur les ressources naturelles. Elle identifie plusieurs leviers et blocages pour accompagner cette transition. Enfin, elle suggère de futures perspectives de recherche portant sur la compréhension des décisions, la modélisation et l’élargissement de l’échelle d’analyse afin d’apprécier l’influence de facteurs externes sur les stratégies et intégrer un plus grand nombre d’interactions écologiques et sociales
After 50 years of agricultural expansion in Eastern Brazilian Amazon, environmental policy to reduce deforestation and a set of socio-economic drivers are putting constraints on extensive cattle ranching systems. In response, land use intensification has been gaining momentum as a way to improve livestock production in limited land areas and conserve forest. The process of land-use intensification is poorly understood in this region, particularly in its spatial dimension and in its contribution towards building eco-efficient landscapes, i.e. landscapes where practices and their spatial distribution optimize the use of natural resources. In this regard, the purpose of this research is to document and model the interactions between cattle ranchers’ decisions, landscapes and natural resources in a diversity of cattle farms.Firstly, we conducted a field research in two livestock-oriented regions of Pará state, Paragominas and Redenção. Drawing on interviews, landscape and farm trajectories analysis, we characterized six patterns of intensification, studied what perceptions cattle ranchers have on certain types of natural resources and described the effects of land-use management on such resources. Secondly, we developed an Agent-Based Model to simulate over 20 years the effects of intensive farming strategies on landscape and their natural resources, and assess the feasibility of adopting such management in various agrarian situations. We used the model to compare two scenarios of intensification: one semi-intensive solely based on improved pasture managenement and one intensive based on crop-livestock integration and irrigation.The results show that the process of intensification has led to a spatial rearrangement of land uses. Cattle ranchers prefer to intensify fields with the best biophysical conditions for forage production, as well as those closest to and most accessible from the farmstead. The intensification strategies aim at enhancing the use of multiple natural resources (topography, soil fertility, soil drainage, access to surface and groundwater for irrigation) and optimizing land-use configuration at farm scale. By contrast, during the colonization period, land-use organization was much less correlated to the spatial distribution of natural resources (except for soil fertility from forest ash and surface water), the main goal of farmers being land appropriation. Nevertheless, choice of farming practices and their spatial location differ among farms and according to the degree of heterogeneity of biophysical conditions. Moreover, simulation results show that the process of intensification can reduce the area necessary for animal production. Thus, cattle ranchers can increase herd size while sparing land for forest regeneration. However, low labor availability limits the spatial extent of land-use intensification at farm scale. In terms of landscape dynamics, cattle ranchers locate land-uses according to geomorphological units differently, which leads to various spatio-temporal dynamics of natural resources.Reconciling cattle ranching production and forest conservation in eco-efficient landscape remains an important challenge for Brazilian Amazon. The findings illustrate the importance of assessing the landscape areas most suitable for agricultural intensification and for conservation drawing on knowledge about cattle ranchers projects and the effects of their practices and spatial location on natural resources. Several opportunities and challenges are identified to tackle such challenge. New research perspectives related to decisions understanding, modeling and extension of the scale of analysis are proposed in order to take into account the influence of external factors on decisions and include more ecological and social interactions

Face à la pollution généralisée des masses d’eau souterraines par les nitrates et les pesticides, l’agriculture biologique (AB) est présentée comme un outil pertinent pour la reconquête de la qualité des eaux sur les aires d’alimentation de captage (AAC). Ce travail vise à mieux définir l’opportunité d’un développement de l’AB sur des zones à enjeu eau. L’objectif de la thèse est d’évaluer conjointement la faisabilité des conversions sur les exploitations de l’AAC et l’efficacité de ces conversions par rapport aux enjeux de reconquête de la qualité de l’eau.Etudier l’opportunité d’un développement de l’AB à l’échelle territoriale suppose d’instruire la diversité des exploitations et des profils d’agriculteurs sur la zone à enjeu eau. Pour être en mesure de tester l’opportunité des conversions, une méthode typologique permettant d’analyser conjointement la variabilité actuelle des pressions sur les zones à enjeu eau et la propension des agriculteurs conventionnels à la conversion est nécessaire.Pour produire cette typologie, nous avons développé une méthode innovante d’analyse compréhensive des pratiques, centrée sur les principes d’action à l’origine des systèmes de culture. Les principes d’action correspondent à des méta-raisonnements à l’origine de l’organisation concrète des pratiques agricoles sur le territoire d’exploitation. Par l’analyse conjointe du discours des agriculteurs et de la variabilité des règles de décision, nous avons élaboré des typologies basées sur les postures techniques des agriculteurs pour i) identifier des principes d’action associés aux pratiques à risque et ii) dégager des proximités éventuelles entre agriculteurs biologiques et agriculteurs conventionnels. La méthode a été testée sur deux territoires à enjeu eau en Rhône-Alpes, sur lesquels des entretiens semi-directifs ont été réalisés auprès d’exploitants conventionnels et biologiques.Cinq principes d’action génériques à l’origine de l’organisation de l’assolement et cinq principes d’action génériques à l’origine des pratiques culturales ont été dégagés. A partir des différents principes d’action, des typologies des postures techniques ont été produites sur les deux terrains. Les pressions à l’origine de la lixiviation des nitrates et des pesticides ont été évaluées et spatialisées via le recours à des indicateurs agro-environnementaux. Nous avons démontré que la variabilité forte des indicateurs et leur distribution spatiale sur les AAC étaient liées à la diversité des postures techniques entre agriculteurs.Nous avons comparé les principes d’action mobilisés par les agriculteurs conventionnels et les agriculteurs biologiques « références » présents sur les zones à enjeu eau. Par l’étude des spécificités des postures techniques en AB, trois critères de propension à la conversion ont été identifiés. Plusieurs degrés de propension à la conversion ont été dégagés parmi les agriculteurs conventionnels des deux territoires.L’analyse croisée des degrés de propension à la conversion et des différentiels de pressions entre systèmes conventionnels et biologiques nous a permis d’évaluer l’opportunité d’un développement de l’AB sur les deux territoires. Nos résultats ont mis en évidence des niveaux de pression limités quant à la lixiviation des nitrates sur les systèmes biologiques : un développement exhaustif de l’AB à l’échelle des deux AAC entrainerait potentiellement une réduction forte de la lixiviation des nitrates. Néanmoins, l’opportunité d’un tel développement doit être relativisée. Les agriculteurs présentant une propension réelle ou forte à la conversion sont minoritaires sur les AAC. Ensuite, le différentiel des pressions entre systèmes conventionnels et systèmes biologiques diminue à mesure que la propension à la conversion augmente. Pour envisager une diminution forte des pressions sur les zones à enjeu eau, la conversion devrait concerner des exploitants pour lesquels cette conversion est difficilement envisageable à moyen terme
Many problems with nitrate and pesticide contamination from agriculture exist in European drinking water catchments. In France, a new mitigation approach aims at preventing water quality degradation in explicitly targeting agricultural non-point source pollutions associated with leaching of nitrates and pesticides. This work aims at assessing the opportunity to develop organic farming in water catchment areas in order to reduce nitrate and pesticide leaching from root zone. The objective was to analyze both i) feasibility of conversions to organic farming on farms concerned by water preservation and ii) the potential impacts of these conversions in terms of nitrate and pesticide leaching reduction.To explore the potential contribution of organic farming in water catchment areas, we develop an innovative typology approach to characterize farmers’ conceptions and strategies related to cropping systems’ organization on the farm territory. Our method was tested in two French water catchment areas characterized by diversified production systems, where semi-structured interviews were carried out with conventional and organic farmers. Resulting typologies of farmers were used to assess leaching risks variability related with current cropping systems and to identify potential similarities between conventional and organic farmers’ conceptions. Nitrate and pesticide leaching risks for cropping systems were assessed and spatialized by using four agro-environmental indicators. Our results show major variations for all indicators at both study sites, for example N-surpluses which range from -105 to 192 kg N ha-1 year-1. These variations are deeply related with diversity of farmers’ conceptions summarized in typologies. To assess proximity of conventional farmers to organic farming, we used typologies to compare conceptions related to organization of cropping systems between conventional and organic farmers. By analyzing specificities of organic farmers’ conceptions, we determined three main criteria of proximity to organic farming; these criteria were then used to identify various degrees of proximity to organic farming among conventional farmers in the catchment areas.To assess potential contribution of organic farming to water preservation in catchment areas, we firstly compared nitrate leaching risks between conventional and organic cropping systems. Our results reveal low leaching risks from organic systems, characterized by reduced N-surpluses and lower bare soils frequencies in autumn. According to these results, massive development of organic farming should decrease nitrate leaching in our two water catchment areas. However, analysis of similarities between conventional and organic farmers’ conceptions shows that a majority of farmers are characterized by a low level of proximity to organic farming. Moreover, the farmers who show strongest similarities with organic farmers’ conceptions are already those with low leaching risks cropping systems. To significantly lower nitrate leaching risks, conversions should concern conventional farmers with low degree of proximity to organic farming

De storskaliga globala livsmedelssystemen står inför ett antal utmaningar inom hållbar utveckling. Livsmedelssystemens nuvarande utformning resulterar i hållbarhetsproblem som förlust av biologisk mångfald och utarmning av jordar, långa livsmedelskedjor och stora avstånd mellan konsument och producent. Klimatförändringarnas effekter och den ökande urbaniseringen bidrar ytterligare till problematiken. Behovet av en omställning till hållbara livsmedelssystem är därför stort och kräver innovativa lösningar såväl som en omfördelning av naturresurser. Ett exempel på en systeminnovation är stadsodling, som uppvisat potential till högre resurseffektivitet såväl som till ökad social hållbarhet i urbana och stadsnära områden. Trots det ökande intresset för stadsodling tycks det finnas en brist på empiriska studier som undersöker stadsodlingens nuvarande status, sammansättning och olika faktorer för utveckling. Syftet med detta examensarbete är således att identifiera faktorer och förutsättningar som påverkar utvecklingen av stadsodling som en del av omställningen mot en hållbarare livsmedelsproduktion, i den specifika kontexten i Stockholm. Studien tillämpade en flexibel, kvalitativ forskningsdesign och inbegriper en systematisk kartläggning och en kvalitativ fallstudie av kommersiell stadsodling i Stockholm. Det empiriska datamaterialet baseras på en litteraturstudie, semistrukturerade kvalitativa intervjuer och insamling av sekundärdata. En innehållsanalys av det empiriska datamaterialet utfördes med vägledning av ett teoretiskt ramverk baserat på omställningsteori ur ett flernivåperspektiv. Studiens resultat visar att kommersiell stadsodling är ett mångfacetterat såväl som växande fenomen, men att många verksamheter befinner sig i en tidig fas. Den form av kommersiell stadsodling som växt fram mest i Stockholm är klimatkontrollerade inomhusodlingar. Nio av 14 identifierade verksamheter är inomhusodlingar, två är etablerade växthus och tre är utomhusodlingar. Kartläggningen indikerar att kommersiell stadsodling i dagsläget bidrar med omkring 0.5-4% av direktkonsumtionen av örter och sallat i Storstockholm. Det finns dock potential för produktion av större volymer och en större mångfald av grödor i de olika stadsodlingssystemen. Studien identifierade ett flertal faktorer och förutsättningar som påverkar möjligheterna till en utveckling av lokal livsmedelsproduktion genom stadsodling. Byråkratiska, regulatoriska, ekonomiska och kulturella faktorer visade sig utgöra hinder för utvecklingen av stadsodling. Detta indikerar att det krävs politiskt stöd i form av främjande ramverk och policy för markanvändning, som möjliggör och underlättar upplåtelse av mark för kommersiell odling. Andra möjliggörande åtgärder kan vara policyverktyg för att i framtiden kunna underlätta offentlig upphandling av lokal mat. Vidare efterfrågas ett större engagemang och ansvar från näringslivet, i form av ökande investeringar i lokal och hållbar mat samt externa samarbeten mellan aktörer. De indikationer som framkom om att konsumenter i högre utsträckning går runt de dominerande alternativen i livsmedelssystemen och efterfrågar kortare värdekedjor identifierades också som en möjliggörande faktor för den fortsatta utvecklingen av stadsodling.
The globalised food systems are facing extensive challenges concerning sustainable development and are furthermore characterized by long supply chains with numerous food miles, industrial production and large-scale retailers. Dominant agricultural practices result in deforestation, loss of biodiversity and depletion of soil and natural resources. In addition, external factors such as climate change and urbanisation trends increases the complexity of these sustainability issues. Thus, transitions from the dominant food systems to more sustainable alternatives has been suggested in scientific literature. Transitions towards sustainability requires social and technical innovations as well as fundamental changes in the governance of food and agriculture. In light of this, a range of different urban farming practices have increasingly been considered to tackle some of these issues. Despite the growing interest in urban agriculture, there is a lack of extensive empirical studies exploring the current state of various urban farming practices and their role in the existing food systems. This study aims to explore the role of enabling factors that influence the development of commercial urban farming as part of a food sustainability transition, in the Stockholm area. The methodological approach of the project includes a qualitative case study and a mapping of productive urban food systems in Stockholm. The research design is flexible and the empirical data material builds on literature review, semi-structured interviews and secondary data collection. Content analysis is conducted and guided by the conceptual framework consisting of transition theory and the multi-level perspective framework.   The results show that commercial urban farming is a diverse phenomenon gaining momentum in Stockholm. Commercial urban farming in Stockholm mainly consists of controlled environment farming; nine out of 14 establishments are indoor farms, two are well established greenhouses and three are outdoor cultivations. However, commercial urban farming seems to be more characterized by the local aspect and closeness to a dense population, rather than a certain applied technology. The mapping indicates that commercial urban farming in Stockholm is currently meeting 0.5-4 % of the direct consumption of herbs and lettuce in Stockholm, but that the potential production capacity is higher. Furthermore, the study found several enabling factors and barriers that affect the development of local food production through urban farming in Stockholm. Through the lens of the multi-level perspective, the main barriers identified are regulations and politics, economic funding and organizational and cultural structures in the food regime. This indicates that further development of urban farming in Stockholm requires support through frameworks and policy, for example regulations regarding land use, to enable disposal of land and estate for urban agriculture use. Measures to facilitate public procurement of locally produced food could also enable the development of urban farming initiatives. Moreover, interaction and co-operation between various stakeholders is crucial for niche development. Large businesses in the food sector could enable the development of urban farming through investments and partnerships. Finally, consumers could enable the development of urban farming by increasingly choosing the alternative pathways offered by some of the urban farming initiatives.

abstract: The main purpose of this dissertation is to examine the effects of migration and household capitals on agricultural and energy transitions in the setting of rapidly changing socioeconomic and environmental conditions of Chitwan, Nepal. The environmental aspects of agricultural and energy transitions are also discussed to weave the changes in the livelihoods of rural households into the discourse of sustainable development, especially in the context of underdeveloped countries. The data used for the analysis is the Chitwan Valley Family Study which has been collected since 1996 at the individual and household level with the focuses on agriculture and family. The results from first difference model and multilevel logistic regression model using discrete-time event history approach deliver a couple of important messages for the future plans for local and national development. Most of all, migration plays an important role in the livelihoods of rural households in Chitwan. It might not have a direct impact, but the findings indicate that social and financial remittances from migration interact with how a household utilizes their current capitals under a given context for the future. Particularly, available labor in a household, prior investment in agriculture, exposure to modern life style, and what other people do, all these factors moderate the association between migration and the transitions. The implications of these results on sustainable development for the future of Chitwan and Nepal in the coming years are discussed afterwards.
Dissertation/Thesis
Doctoral Dissertation Sociology 2014

碩士
國立東華大學
諮商與臨床心理學系
107
The purpose of this study was to understand for the people who went through career transition into natural farming practice in their middle-age, the motivations, the subjective experience in the career transition process, the affects and the meaning of the transition on them. This study adopts the qualitative study of life story narrative orientation, conducts semi-structured in-depth interviews on the middle-aged career transition experience of four natural farming farmers, and analyzes the data in the narrative and holistic-content analytic method. The findings were as follows: First, about the motivation of the middle-aged career transition of the four participants, the following four aspects were found: 1. Rising of the inner voices force them rethinking, exploring and pursuing the value of life; 2. Pressures, obstacles or value conflict in the original career; 3. The experiences of contacting nature and agricultural; 4. Consider their own and family’s health reasons. Second, about the process of the middle-aged career transition, for the four participants were, from differentiation to integration; and some participants had complex and contradictory emotions in the face of career transition, while others just went with the flow. Third, about the dilemma of the four participants in the career transition process were found: 1. Feeling of contradictions and conflicts in the face of career transition; 2. Reduced income leads to economic pressure; 3. Lack of agricultural knowledge and technology, and the impact of natural disasters; 4. The opposition and unsupported attitude of relatives and friends. The adjustment and response of the four participants to the dilemma were found:1. Be prepared for the situation after career tranition; 2. Faith for environmental and health efforts; 3. Positive trait; 4. Social Support System; 5. Support of religions; 6. Change thought to confront difficulties; 7. Find a sense of accomplishment and build confidence; 8. Effective use of external resources and career assets; 9. Learning knowledge and technology in agriculture. Finally, about the affects and meanings of middle-aged career transition were found: 1. Finding the goal and the value of life, and be able to show the real self; 2. Bring positive changes to life and health; 3. From the pursuit of external and material goals, to the value of internal and spiritual values; 4. A deeper awareness, and changing the internal state of the self and personality. Based on the research findings, the researcher made recommendations for future related research, consultative practice, and those who are interested in investing in natural farming practice.

As food scares have hastened the growth of safety and quality standards around the world, certification schemes to assure various attributes of foods have proliferated in the global marketplace. High-value food commodities produced in the global south for export have been the subject of such schemes through third-party environmental certifications, providing regulatory and verification mechanisms welcomed by global buyers. As certification becomes more common, re-localization in the current global context can also mean the projection of place onto a food commodity to highlight its origin or attributes secured by transparent verification mechanisms. However, environmental food certification is often criticized for its inapplicability in the context of the global south, due to the extensive documentation requirements and high costs. The key question here is the process for small-scale producers in the global south to navigate increasing international regulation of food safety and quality. This dissertation examines (1) how the environmental standards (as defined by the global north) were translated in the rural global south through international certification schemes, and (2) what the implications are at the local level, especially where producers had not yet integrated into conventional global markets before the introduction of certification. The dissertation also analyzes the influence of such certification in determining the development trajectories of rural society in the global south. A case study is used to examine newly-introduced certified organic shrimp production in Ca Mau Province in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta. The selected shrimp production site is the first pilot organic shrimp project in Vietnam working with an international third-party certification scheme. It is located in rural Vietnam where, as in other parts of Southeast Asia, an accelerated process of agrarian transition is underway. Whereas elsewhere the trend with intensified regulation has been the consolidation of large-scale farms and the exclusion of small-scale farms from international agrofood markets, this case study demonstrates comparative advantages of small-scale farms over large-scale farms in producing sensitive high-value crops. This dissertation employs two main analytical approaches. The first approach is to examine the network of actors and the flow of information, payment and shrimp at the production level using environmental regulatory network (ERN). In contrast to chain analyses, which can be useful in identifying linear structure of supply chains for global commodities, ERN can capture the interrelatedeness of actors in the network built around environmental certification for agrofood products. The second analytical lens is that of agrarian transition. Countries experiencing agrarian transition at present are doing so in a very different international context from countries that accomplished their transitions in the past. Results of this research indicate that technical and financial constraints at the time of initial certification are not the primary obstacles to farmers getting certified, since the extensive farming method employed at the study site is organic by default. In spite of this, many farmers unofficially withdrew from the organic shrimp project by simply shifting their marketing channel back to a conventional one. Inefficient flows of information and payments, and a restrictive marketing channel within the environmental regulatory network that does not take into account local geographical conditions and farming practices, all contributed to limiting the farmers’ capacity and lowering their incentives to get involved in the network. The analysis also indicates that, by influencing those agrarian transition processes, food standards and certification based on values developed in the global north may modify, reshape and/or hold back agrarian transition processes in agricultural sectors of developing countries. The potential benefits of environmental certification are enhanced rural development, by generating opportunities for small-scale farmers to connect to global niche markets. The findings of this dissertation highlighted that such certification schemes or their environmental regulatory networks need to ensure information sharing and compensation for farmers. As an empirical finding, this dissertation also captures where ecological credibility and market logic meet: the success of this kind of certification depends on finding a balanced point where standards are ecologically (or ethically) credible to the level that does not attract too much criticism for being green washing, but not too unrealistic to become a disincentive for farmers to participate.

A thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
This thesis is an analysis of narratives of private game farming in Groot Marico. Through this case study, it argues that the material and symbolic processes of game farming and hunting depict a ‘colonial present’ in their constitution. Part of that ‘colonial present’ stems from ‘white privilege’, a legacy of South African history. A major part comes from the gate-keeping function of in-group beneficiaries represented by associations and networks. Race, class, language and capital are used to maintain the status quo. The situation has been aided by a state whose neo liberal policies support commercialisation more than social justice redress. The thesis traces the historical antecedents and the contemporary socio-economic and political factors that have led to white farmers’ conversion into game farming from domestic livestock production. Continuities of practices, from farm ownership to hunting have been processes that maintain the status quo. Yet white farmers have argued that these continuities are ‘tradition’, whether in hunting or game farming, while being silent on the lack of transformation of the industry. Despite the visibility of a few high-profile black personalities, the industry remains overwhelmingly white. I argue that the game farming community has created a ‘structure’ to which high-profile black figures can belong, not only as examples of transformation but primarily to protect vested interests by their token inclusion. Economic and political status has been the criteria upon which the few black figures have been ‘allowed’ into the group. In spite of the racial demographics, game farming is not homogenous as the Groot Marico case studies reveal. There are cleavages around the position of game farmers within the hierarchy of game farming, and these are informed by class. Trophy-hunters, meat producers, and small, marginal farmers all occupy different spheres within the game farming sector. The trophy hunter and game breeder are at the top of the hierarchy as opposed to the small one man game farmer surviving at the margins. The meat producer deals with the economics of supplying a niche market at a different level from the trophy game farmer and the small one man game farmer. Yet these three are bound together in an increasingly besieged farming community where land reform is a constant reminder of what can be lost. Other bonds of solidarity derive from a shared discourse of conservation that ties it to the maxim ‘if it pays it stays’. This economic tenet, describes the game farming community’s approach to wildlife conservation.

碩士
南華大學
環境與藝術研究所
95
The main purpose of this research is to present the transitions of the past, present, and future lifestyles and economics of the Siding Settlement in Gongtian Village of Fan-lu Township in Chia-yi County. Using this settlement as the research target, this paper looks back at their history with a macro view and traces back their daily life with a micro view. 　 　　Through data collection, face-to-face observation, in-depth interviews and the use of information technology in Geography as the means of studying and analyzing the physical shape of the village, the daily route used by the villagers is drawn, and the living environment of the region is studied. Accompanied with Kelvin Lynch’s five elements in Environmental Image, finally, the images of the village is established and created. 　 　　For this study, we interviewed and recorded down the residents’ occupations and the time in which they have been involved with. Then we took the quantitative approach and created a histogram about the Industrial transitions in Siding to demonstrate the rise and decline of the settlement, the correlation between land and the local people and the economic changes there. The result indicates that the market demand is the main drive for the economic changes in Siding; however, during the transition period, Agriculture and Forestry Industries moved in and caused the loss of natural resources. In recent years, the aging of the soil in the tea farmland was the result of the over development of the Tea Industry. Siding is facing with the first Industrial change as the result of the changes in its internal resources. 　 　　The main results are described as follows.(1)The cognition of village territory is shaped by the former experience from daily live and the terrain of the natural environment, so it is different from administrative dividing.(2)Most of the living node of the villages is for a short stay, therefore some public interaction space is need to gather the perception of community.(3)The finding of Capparis micracantha DC in the investigated area demonstrates that the phenomenon of northward movement of the plant caused by global warming, which is also suggested by other study that the ecological borderline in Taiwan had been moved north for fifty to seventy kilometers.(4)The intensive cultivation of tea plantation causes the shortage of soil mineral substances, and results in difficulties of re-cultivation of old tea gardens.(5)It is possible to transfer the tea plantation into recreation agri-tourism that we take advantage of location, culture feature and landscape resources of this area.

The focus of this diploma thesis is organic farming. Its goal is to evaluate the positives and the negatives of organic farming from the sustainable development point of view. Sustainable development is usually divided into three pillars - environmental, economic and social. However, this thesis uses the division into four pillars of sustainability, in which the social pillar is divided into socio-political and human pillar, which is more fitting in this case. This division allows a more detailed evaluation of organic farming. The thesis also deals with the question of sustainability of the researched farm in the future. The method chosen for the thesis is a case study, thanks to which a specific case was researched and answers for the stated questions could be found. Rainton farm in the South of Scotland serves as the case for the practical part of the thesis. Since the early 1990s Rainton has been in the process of conversion from the conventional to the organic way of farming. The business has been diversified and therefore the research could be focused also on the development of the visitor centre, ice-cream or cheese making. Thanks to the data from interviews, participant observation and other documents, a complex picture of the organic farm was created. The research has shown that the...

The objective of the thesis was to ascertain the development speed of extensive organic orchards in the South-Moravian region, evaluate their production's potential, legislative, economic, and environmental aspects. Research was conducted via public surveys and visits of organic orchard owners in the South-Moravian region. Other data was obtained in co-operation with BIOKONT CZ, s.r.o., a regulatory organization, and using the Ministry of Agriculture and Pro-bio association web sites. The results show there are currently 4402 environmental entities registered at the Ministry of Agriculture, including 3894 organic farmers. As of 31st March. 2014 there have been 689 organic orchard owners in the Czech Republic, of which 17% is registered in the South-Moravian region alone. 14 of the 16 interviewees do harvest their orchards' production. One orchard owner established his orchard focusing on blackcurrant enzyme extraction instead of conventional fruit production. There is a concern that one of the respondents converted their orchard to an organic system only due to potential subsidies, since they do not harvest any produce. The reason allegedly is the age of the trees and a lack of pollinators. Other farmers established their orchards convinced that fruits produced in accordance with organic farming rules is better than its conventional counterpart.