Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Societal
integration
Short-term and
intensive use of
resources
Ecological and
sustained use
of resources
Independence and
self-sufficiency
Figure 17.1
A framework and a potential learning tool for reflection in Finnish organic vegetable
farming.
solutions that farmers have for designing their production and marketing operations so they will
fit together efficiently. The main features of five organic vegetable farms were presented: short
histories, acreage and field types, different crops, machinery, crop rotations, marketing channels
and labour force. There were large and small, intensive and extensive farms, some selling to local
markets with a broad repertoire of products and some having only two or three products for
national wholesale markets. Participants were asked to place the five case study farms into appro-
priate quadrants of the model. The farms with intensive crop rotations raised a lot of discussion.
While placing the farm in the model, participants also reinterpreted it and renamed the axes.
The new tool with the five farms placed in the quadrants is shown in Figure 17.2.
What meaning did the participants derive from the model? The resource use dimension
was best understood in terms of land use, which was observable in the crop rotations on each
farm. Intensive rotations extract more in products sold to markets, while extensive crop
rotations favour soil fertility, anticipatory handling of pests, and less nutrient leaching, which
is the main environmental problem of Finnish agriculture. Extensive rotations are less risky
Farmers' cooperation in marketing
Farm 2
Farm 1?
Farm 3
Farm 4,
goal
Farm 4,
now
Intensive
crop
rotation
Extensive
crop
rotation
Farm 5
Farm 1?
Independence, perhaps
even selfishness?
Figure 17.2
The learning tool interpreted and applied by the workshop participants.
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