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Knowledge flows: Farmers’ social relations and knowledge sharing practices in ‘Catchment Sensitive Farming’

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  • Thomas, Emma
  • Riley, Mark
  • Spees, Jack

Abstract

The move towards sustainable agriculture requires a more detailed understanding of farmers’ knowledge(s) and knowledge practices. Increasingly, it is important to understand not only what farmers understand, but how their knowledge practices incorporate others – especially given the emerging call for environmentally-orientated policy measures to move beyond an individual farmer focus. This paper considers how farmers engage with, utilise and share knowledge through a focus on the Catchment Sensitive Farming (CSF) initiative in the UK. In exploring the importance of social contexts and social relations to these practices, the paper brings together understandings of knowledge with those from the literature on good farming to consider how different knowledges gain credibility, salience and legitimacy in different contexts. Drawing on qualitative semi-structured interviews with farmers in a ‘priority catchment’ in the North of England, the paper notes a general receptiveness to the knowledge offered by CSF advisors, but highlights the importance of specific contexts and personal relationships within this process and how farmers may hold different knowledge practices in relation to different parts of their farm. Specific places and spatial contexts are important to how knowledge is taken on and reworked and changing regulations and environmental conditions, the paper suggests, may be reshaping what knowledges farmers draw on and trust.

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  • Thomas, Emma & Riley, Mark & Spees, Jack, 2020. "Knowledge flows: Farmers’ social relations and knowledge sharing practices in ‘Catchment Sensitive Farming’," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:lauspo:v:90:y:2020:i:c:s0264837719308749
    DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2019.104254
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Riley, Mark & Sangster, Heather & Smith, Hugh & Chiverrell, Richard & Boyle, John, 2018. "Will farmers work together for conservation? The potential limits of farmers’ cooperation in agri-environment measures," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 635-646.
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    7. Burton, Rob J.F. & Riley, Mark, 2018. "Traditional Ecological Knowledge from the internet? The case of hay meadows in Europe," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 334-346.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Zain, Majdah Muhyiddin & Ibrahim, Helda & Musdalifah, Musdalifah, 2022. "Knowledge sharing behavior among farmers in Indonesia: Does social capital matter?," African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development (AJFAND), African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development (AJFAND), vol. 22(10).
    3. Kerstin Schreiber & Bernard Soubry & Carley Dove-McFalls & Graham K. MacDonald, 2023. "Untangling the role of social relationships for overcoming challenges in local food systems: a case study of farmers in Québec, Canada," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 40(1), pages 141-156, March.
    4. Sarah G. McCarthy & Richard R. Rushforth, 2025. "Identifying Barriers to Implementation of Regenerative Agricultural Solutions Through Convergence Research," Land, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-17, February.
    5. Daniel Kpienbaareh & Rachel Bezner Kerr & Isaac Luginaah & Jinfei Wang & Esther Lupafya & Laifolo Dakishoni & Lizzie Shumba, 2020. "Spatial and Ecological Farmer Knowledge and Decision-Making about Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-24, September.
    6. Miroslav Kopáček, 2021. "Land-Use Planning and the Public: Is There an Optimal Degree of Civic Participation?," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-15, January.
    7. Timothée Petit & Annie Sigwalt & Gilles Martel & Sébastien Couvreur, 2022. "The Place of Grasslands in Cattle Farmers’ Perceptions of Forage Production: Useful Insights of 10 Years of Empirical Research on Grasslands," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-22, September.
    8. Broadmeadow, Samantha & Nisbet, Tom & Palmer, Robert & Webb, Louise & Short, Chris & Chivers, Charlotte-Anne & Hammond, John & Lukac, Martin & Miller, Anne & Gantlett, Richard & Clark, Joanna, 2023. "Incorporating technical and farmer knowledge to improve land use and management for natural flood management in lowland catchments," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    9. Bertolozzi-Caredio, Daniele & Bardají, Isabel & Garrido, Alberto & Berry, Robert & Bijttebier, Jo & Gavrilescu, Camelia & Harizanova, Hristina & Jendrzejewski, Błażej & Meuwissen, Miranda M.P. & Ollen, 2021. "Stakeholder perspectives to improve risk management in European farming systems," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 84, pages 147-161.

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