Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Stage two of the methodology consisted of on-farm intensive qualitative/interpretive
interviews, with five geographically linked pairs of organic and conventional farmers
(selected from the sample frame used for the extensive telephone interviews) for up to 3
hours. It is important to note that the reference codes assigned to the ten respondents in
section 4.3 are not (in every case) the same as those used in sections 4.1 and 4.2. The aim was
not to choose a representative sample, but rather an illustrative one of different ages who
farmed holdings of different sizes and systems. An interview guide was designed which
prompted respondents to talk about the following range of topics related to their own farms:
most productive areas, the natural environment, best wildlife areas, favourite parts and less
favoured parts. The interviews were recorded using a Digital Audio MiniDisc-recorder with
stereo microphone and transcribed verbatim for analysis as soon after the interviews as
practicable. The data generated from this 'intensive' phase of the methodology were
analysed using a textual approach relying on words and meanings, rather than statistics.
Another method of analysis was to contrast and compare any interesting or unusual
quotations and paraphrases made by respondents, in order to demonstrate attitudinal
similarities and differences. Each interview produced contextual findings relating to the
'nature' of the respondent, thereby building up in greater depth a background picture of
farmers' perceptions, attitudes and behaviours in central-southern England. The data
collected were maximised to provide the broadest picture possible of farming in central-
southern England. In recent years, environmental issues have become more technical and
removed from everyday sensory experience, thereby posing problems with testing and
analysing respondents' 'self-perceived environmental knowledge', which is further
complicated by the sometimes contradictory nature of the underlying science.
In the next section, the adopted 'extensive' and 'intensive' research methodology will be
used primarily to examine and gain insights into the perceptions, values, opinions and
behaviours of organic and conventional farmers in relation to their awareness and
understandings of agri-environmental aspects of the five key themes related to food
security.
4. Investigating farmers' attitudes and behaviours
The modified behavioural approach is used first, to examine the attitudes, understandings
and behaviours of organic and conventional farmers (situated in central-southern England)
in relation to food security themes; second, to examine respondents' environmental
behaviours; and third, to ascertain if farmers' attitudes are consistent with those expressed
in sections 4.1 and 4.2.
4.1 Extensive organic and conventional farmer telephone interviews
One approach to achieving an environmentally sustainable way of producing food is
organic farming (Morgan & Murdoch, 2000; Hansen et al., 2001; Lotter, 2003; Darnhofer,
2005; Kings & Ilbery, 2010). However, it seems unlikely that organic methods of food
production will be adequate to provide food security in the foreseeable future. This attitude
was typified by a quote from one organic respondent who farms 18 ha of arable crops:
'Absolutely, that is why I am doing it' (OF20). The average size of organic farms in the
survey was 85.4 ha, which contrasted with an average size for conventional farms of 202.3
Search WWH ::
Custom Search