Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
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a social concern and believe that they should support their local commu-
nities by selling/buying food locally. An update of this type of study would
be particularly relevant today, as organic consumers are a rapidly growing
segment of food shoppers.
In our attempt to gather more complex survey information, rather than
forcing surveyed farmers into narrow simple categories through confining
questionnaires, we run the risk of opening a can of worms. This is healthy
for soil, but not for social research! Organic farmers are a complex and
varied group, so it can be difficult to identify the personal characteristics
that influence the structure of their farms and their perceptions of organic
agriculture (Lockeretz 1997). Forty-three organic growers in Massachusetts
and Vermont were interviewed, and it was found that the growers' personal
characteristics varied considerably and didnot relate to how their operations
followed organic principles or how they perceived problems in organic
agriculture. At least in terms of trying to find statistical significance, it is “a
great oversimplification to lump all organic growers into a single group,”
and we must go beyond seeking only a handful of “personal variables” to a
more intensive approach (Lockeretz 1997, 23).
Focusing on organic farmers in Illinois, I sought to understand the ob-
stacles and opportunities faced by organic farmers (Duram 2000). The only
way to fully describe their reality was for them to tell the story themselves, so
I conducted twenty in-depth interviews with farmers across the state. This
yielded 435 pages of transcribed interviews that were fascinating. I read these
over many times to try and pull out the themes - what were these farmers,
as a group, really saying? And I developed a list of factors that seemed to
influence Illinois organic farmers. Some of this work led to larger questions
of regional variation and influences, which I am now able to address in this
topic.
By interviewing thirty-five farmers who converted to organic methods
and then reverted away fromorganic, researchers discovered key factors that
motivated the initial attempt at organic methods and also the reasons for
quitting (Rigby et al. 2001). There seemed to be two main paths for this
adoption/reversion process: first, farmers motivated mostly by economic
gains reverted because they could not realize adequate sales or prices to
offset the higher costs of organic production; second, farmers who were
motivated by lifestyle or ideals but had little experience or knowledge tended
to quit organic farming because they could not make a living. Overall, the
main reasons why farmers ceased organic production were marketing and
market incentives, cost issues, agronomic problems, and lack of technical
assistance.
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