Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 6.5
Almond growers at a Pest Management Alliance field day in Escalon, California.
vidual processors to turn over names and addresses of “their” almond
growers. This was a historic step for the almond industry, and processors
turned names over with the proviso that the information would be kept
confidential by the ABC, and away from CAFF. 9
The ABC has captured several unanticipated network-strengthening
benefits from undertaking the almond PMA, its chief being enhanced
credibility in the eyes of the growers who fund it through processing fees.
By leading a concrete project that has practical value for growers, the
ABC has enhanced its standing among its constituents. The ABC also
uses the progress the industry has made in organophosphate reduction in
its negotiations with the DPR. In contrast to BIOS, the almond PMA has
not raised questions about the character and purpose of UC science, nor
about the power dynamics in relationships between growers and exten-
sionists. It has remained focused on helping Farm Advisors develop and
extend environmentally responsible practices, and helping growers to
deploy these with appeals to economic rationality.
Networks can fall apart. Tensions between CAFF and the ABC have
always been present, but during the late 1990s they found that it was to
their mutual advantage to collaborate. They cooperated in activities in
the space where their objectives overlapped. CAFF was able to achieve
its organizational goals by engaging and influencing the ABC, and the
Almond Board found it was advantageous in negotiating with regulatory
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