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How farmers “repair” the industrial agricultural system

Author

Listed:
  • Matthew Houser

    (Indiana University)

  • Ryan Gunderson

    (Miami University)

  • Diana Stuart

    (Northern Arizona University)

  • Riva C. H. Denny

    (University of Michigan)

Abstract

Scholars are increasingly calling for the environmental issues of the industrial agricultural system to be addressed via eventual agroecological system-level transformation. It is critical to identify the barriers to this transition. Drawing from Henke’s (Cultivating science, harvesting power: science and industrial agriculture in California, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2008) theory of “repair,” we explore how farmers participate in the reproduction of the industrial system through “discursive repair,” or arguing for the continuation of the industrial agriculture system. Our empirical case relates to water pollution from nitrogen fertilizer and draws data from a sample of over 150 interviews with row-crop farmers in the midwestern United States. We find that farmers defend this system by denying agriculture’s causal role and proposing the potential for within-system solutions. They perform these defenses by drawing on ideological positions (agrarianism, market-fundamentalism and techno-optimism) and may be ultimately led to seek system maintenance because they are unable to envision an alternative to the industrial agriculture system.

Suggested Citation

  • Matthew Houser & Ryan Gunderson & Diana Stuart & Riva C. H. Denny, 2020. "How farmers “repair” the industrial agricultural system," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 37(4), pages 983-997, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:agrhuv:v:37:y:2020:i:4:d:10.1007_s10460-020-10030-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s10460-020-10030-y
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Glenn Sheriff, 2005. "Efficient Waste? Why Farmers Over-Apply Nutrients and the Implications for Policy Design," Review of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 27(4), pages 542-557.
    2. Blank, Steven C., 2018. "The Profit Problem of American Agriculture: What We Have Learned with the Perspective of Time," Choices: The Magazine of Food, Farm, and Resource Issues, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 33(3), September.
    3. Daniel Jaffee & Philip Howard, 2010. "Corporate cooptation of organic and fair trade standards," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 27(4), pages 387-399, December.
    4. Steven Emery, 2015. "Independence and individualism: conflated values in farmer cooperation?," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 32(1), pages 47-61, March.
    5. Stuart, D. & Denny, R.C.H. & Houser, M. & Reimer, A.P. & Marquart-Pyatt, S., 2018. "Farmer selection of sources of information for nitrogen management in the US Midwest: Implications for environmental programs," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 289-297.
    6. Ribaudo, Marc & Delgado, Jorge & Hansen, LeRoy T. & Livingston, Michael J. & Mosheim, Roberto & Williamson, James M., 2011. "Nitrogen in Agricultural Systems: Implications for Conservation Policy," Economic Research Report 118022, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
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    Cited by:

    1. Kilders, Valerie & Caputo, Vincenzina & Liverpool-Tasie, Lenis Saweda O., 2021. "Consumer ethnocentric behavior and food choices in developing countries: The case of Nigeria," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).

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