IP Publishing Ltd
JUNE 2009 ISSUE (VOL 38, NO 2)
SPECIAL ISSUE: INNOVATIONS IN FARMING SYSTEMS APPROACHES
Guest Editors: B. Dedieu, I. Darnhofer, S. Bellon, K. de Greef, F. Casabianca, L. Madureira, R. Milestad, M. Paine, P. Steyaert, D.J. Stobbelaar and S. Zasser-Bedoya
108 Introduction
127 Livestock farming systems in urban mountain regions: differentiated paths to remain in time
137 Reflexive interactive design and its application in a project on sustainable dairy husbandry systems
167 The Dutch pork chain: a commodity system resisting threats from the market and society
175 Sustainable local food production and consumption: challenges for implementation and research
183 Ecology and culture: the territorial anchorage of Corsican cheese producers’ knowledge
Abstract: This paper analyses the forms and adaptability of the assignment and management of farm territories in mountain areas of the French Massif Central, where permanent grassland and cattle farming predominate. The spatial management of 33 farms, and its links with cattle management and other farming system conditions, were investigated. In-depth analyses of four of those farms are presented. The case studies confirm the role of known factors influencing land use, but also reveal that more complex and interrelated factors, such as equipment, labour and buildings, affect the spatial management of farms. Spatial management emerges as a key element in the fodder security of the system.
Abstract: Since 1996, contractual forest management involving the local population has been proposed as a solution to deforestation and poverty in Madagascar. This article highlights the way in which two contrasting farming systems can be adapted to conservation constraints without threatening sustainability. The authors show that farmers’ adaptation capacities are heterogeneous among local communities and that a knowledge of the factors influencing this variability can help in the design of guidance for farms to enable them to develop sustainably in line with current perceptions of agriculture’s role in land management and forest conservation.
Title: Livestock farming systems in urban mountain regions: differentiated paths to remain in time
Abstract: The objective in this paper is to identify driving forces and favourable factors that ensure the persistence of mountain livestock farms over time. The paths and processes of change are studied in a sample of 14 existing livestock farms near Chambéry in the Savoie, adopting a retrospective approach going back to the 1950s. The authors focus on key factors: workload, dairy restructuring and off-farm job opportunities. The results show that in this area, livestock farms have persisted thanks to the integration of other farming or off-farm activities in the farm–family system during at least one phase of their history.
Title: Reflexive interactive design and its application in a project on sustainable dairy husbandry systems
Abstract: Sustainable development in modern animal husbandry faces a multiplicity of challenges. If addressed separately, the solutions might well contradict one another. To avoid this conflict, there is a need for structural change in production and consumption systems. Such change cannot be attained by technological innovation alone, but demands a reorientation of the existing socio-technical regime. This paper presents reflexive interactive design (RIO in Dutch) as a systematic approach towards that end, and shows the first steps of its application in a project to deliver designs for sustainable dairy production and to contribute to a reformation of the current dairy production system.
Abstract: On-farm biogas production (BP) has many environmental benefits for agricultural systems. The authors describe the evolution of a system as a learning process within BP, the outcome of which is the development of a programme of sustainable swine production. According to cultural–historical activity theory, learning is understood as a transformation of the motivating object of an activity system and its structure. First, the authors present the theoretical concepts of an activity system, including its contradictions and expansion, and then describe the methodology used in the study for data collection and analysis. The historical data and accompanying analysis are then presented in temporal phases, followed by an identification of what triggered learning and expansion during the process, and an explanation of how the nature of the activity changed. Finally, the authors reflect on what such a theoretical analysis of an activity can bring to the notion of social learning.
Abstract: Following their study of how farmers look for and make sense of information to develop their farming projects, the authors argue that more attention should be paid to sense-making and contingency in the knowing process to increase the stakeholder’s capacity to act in an uncertain and complex world. Their analysis shows that sense-making is contingent on the way farmers characterize the here and now as problematic and depends on the purposes and functions they assign to information resources. It also suggests that farmers assign purposes according to the development of their productive activity and of their own identities and capacities.
Title: The Dutch pork chain: a commodity system resisting threats from the market and society
: The Dutch pork sector can be characterized as one massive, homogeneous commodity system, resisting diversification. A closer look at innovation strategies and initiatives leads to the conclusion that efforts are being made to enhance sustainability (including economic viability) through diversification, but the effects on system diversity are small; several initiatives have failed to alter the situation of a uniform commodity system dominating more than 95% of production volume. Explanations for the inertness of the commodity system were found in the lack of vertical integration and the dominance of the existing system (‘regime’ in innovation theory). Constraints include ‘commodity thinking’ and self-enhancing processes such as lock-ins.
Title: Sustainable local food production and consumption: challenges for implementation and research
Abstract: Local food systems (LFS) are considered as alternative approaches to mainstream food systems in industrialized countries. The authors apply the normative concept of sustainable development as an analytical framework within which to critique and summarize common arguments in favour of LFS and to confront them with contradicting evidence from empirical case studies. Most of the expected effects turn out to be bidirectional. For sustainable implementation, trade-offs have to be evaluated. Several path dependencies may also hamper successful implementation. It is clear that scientific evaluation is crucial for sound policy guidance. Therefore, an orientation towards holistic ex ante assessments is suggested.
Title: Ecology and culture: the territorial anchorage of Corsican cheese producers’ knowledge
Abstract: Given that the core concern of any localized agri-food system (LAFS) is its heritage, the know-how historically encapsulated in agri-food products can determine their territorial entrenchment. The authors consider this know-how as a complex resource that can be exploited through interactions among technical, relational, cultural and cognitive components. They analyse the know-how associated with the LAFS of cheese production in Corsica, combining anthropological and systemic approaches to explore the concept of territorially anchored collective know-how. The paper emphasizes that knowledge about interactions between potential collective resources, such as that relating to animal husbandry and cheese production, does not necessarily belong to the same cultural phase or have the same transience as a historical building process.
Abstract: The objective of the study discussed in this paper was to produce knowledge about how the Montado, an agrosilvopastoral system dominant in southern Portugal, supports and can better support ‘new’ rural functions associated with leisure and recreation. The Montado is recognized as a multifunctional landscape, although future management conditions are still to be defined. A qualitative survey was carried out through personal interviews with land users and landowners of this specific system. Results regarding visitor profiles, current activities in the Montado, perceived limitations and improvements suggested by land users, as well as landowners’ attitudes towards ‘new’ functions, are presented and discussed.
Abstract: The monitoring and assessment of agri-environmental (AE) changes and impacts can help to reconcile different land use interests. This paper presents a common methodological framework for assessing changes and, related to that assessment, the effectiveness of AE schemes. The authors use a quantitative farm-level Agri-environmental Footprint Index (AFI), which aggregates the measurement of a range of farm and landscape-level indicators. The involvement of stakeholders is critically important in regionally customizing the index and its actual application. Such involvement raises the awareness of stakeholders about the multifunctionality of landscapes. This research builds on the results of the EU-funded AE-Footprint project.
Abstract: The ecological network concept is an approach to counteract biodiversity loss by connecting core nature conservation areas. This article analyses the role of stakeholder involvement in, the conditions for and approaches to the practical implementation of ecological networks in Germany. The results are based on a literature review compared with results from a survey of experts. A policy model (the ‘policy cycle’) is used for structuring the data. The results show that participatory approaches play different roles in all stages of the policy cycle, and are also necessary at each stage to enable the implementation of a well accepted and ‘functional’ ecological network.