Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
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theory that reflects human values in terms other than people as consumers
or as producers of goods for consumption. Society, the environment, and
even preferences for non-consumption goods are considered as external to
the economic decision making process.” Clearly, economic research must
draw from new ideas, and “the study of 'sustainability' will require a new,
more inclusive theory of economics” (Ikerd 1997).
Likewise, researchers cannot assume they are the only experts in deter-
mining what topics of research to undertake; rather, we can learn a great
deal by listening to farmers describe their on-farm management decisions,
personalmotivations, problems, goals, and experiences. This is a key concept
of pragmatic approach, by which we seek to understand a complex situation
through people's experience-based viewpoints. In the future, we must tailor
research to specifically address farmers' needs for information about on-
farmproduction, ecology, andmarketing. The key issues in organic farming
today, according to a 2002 workshop held by the Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development, are sustainability (economic and environ-
mental), markets (supply and demand), and policies (OECD 2002). These
key topics should be melded into organic farmers' information demands
and become the basis for active fieldwork, data collection, research analysis,
and dissemination of results.
There is divergence between the topics of most agricultural research un-
dertaken and the factors that organic farmers themselves indicate to be most
influential in their farm operations. Even research that specifically focuses
on organic farming has not always been on the most relevant topics. For
example, some researchers theorize about the commodification of organic
products within the agro-food complex, but they don't provide any real
suggestions for how to slow these trends. Other research is on abstract
economic modeling of consumer behavior, when in fact farmers seek spe-
cific information on marketing channels for selling their crops. Yet another
example is seen in the technical field plot comparisons of conventional
and organic crops for one crop season - organic farmers know that their
methods work, but they really want long-term studies on the intricacies of
soil fertility and pest management.
Farmers commonly note that research and information sources are not
adequate, and much of the information available is not relevant to their
farms. Since the typical sources of agricultural information (government
and universities) have not been taking responsibility for this component
of agriculture, other means have become more important. First, farmers
conduct their own on-farm experiments to determine what organic meth-
ods work best in their local geographies. Programs to provide grant funds
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