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Transitions to agroecological farming systems in the Mississippi River Basin: toward an integrated socioecological analysis

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  • Jennifer Blesh
  • Steven Wolf

Abstract

Industrial agriculture has extensive environmental and social costs, and efforts to create alternative farming systems are widespread if not yet widely successful. This study explored how a set of grain farmers and rotational graziers in Iowa transitioned to agroecological management practices. Our focus on the resources and strategies that farmers mobilized to develop opportunities for, and overcome barriers to, transitioning to alternative practices allows us to go beyond the existing literature focused on why farmers transition. We attend to both the ecological and socioeconomic context of innovation by comparing processes of technical change in two contrasting regions of Iowa. Farmers cultivated farm-level biodiversity and enterprise diversity, developed new cognitive and psychological competencies, and overcame barriers to innovation by developing external network linkages with peers, knowledge organizations, and federal policies. Our research provides insights into how biophysical, cognitive, structural and market considerations can be integrated into research efforts that aim to make sense of innovation toward sustainable agriculture. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

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  • Jennifer Blesh & Steven Wolf, 2014. "Transitions to agroecological farming systems in the Mississippi River Basin: toward an integrated socioecological analysis," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 31(4), pages 621-635, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:agrhuv:v:31:y:2014:i:4:p:621-635
    DOI: 10.1007/s10460-014-9517-3
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    20. Borremans, L. & Marchand, F. & Visser, M. & Wauters, E., 2018. "Nurturing agroforestry systems in Flanders: Analysis from an agricultural innovation systems perspective," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 205-219.
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