Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Cannell and Brown carried forward the historical tradition of farmers
sharing knowledge with their neighbors that pre-dated the land-grant
university extension system, but they were also inspired by the relatively
new sustainable agriculture movement and its efforts to develop alterna-
tive sources of knowledge. Pioneering intentional rotation graziers
decided to conduct their own research. They began by creating local,
alternative networks of peers to meet their immediate knowledge needs.
Hassanein traces the history of Wisconsin's sustainable agriculture net-
works back to a 1986 workshop in LaCrosse, sponsored by the Rodale
Institute. This workshop described new research into organic and eco-
logically informed production techniques, and inspired several farmers
to start their own local research efforts. They were critical of the UW
agricultural research agenda, but they were not content to simply com-
plain about it. They wanted to develop the alternatives themselves.
The Southwestern Wisconsin Farmers Research Network developed
several novel strategies for facilitating farmers' participation in research
and extension. It consulted farmers to identify the most helpful, needed,
and practical research, the kind that would benefit farmers. The research
would take place on real farms at commercial scales. The network culti-
vated relationships with the few, individual UW researchers open to
working collaboratively with farmers. Network participants knew
they could have greater impact if their research could boast of both
“methodologically valid results” and practical outcomes for farmers.
They organized regional field days to talk about their research. Prompted
by skilled network staff, local newspapers provided good publicity.
Participants in this network began to perceive that they were not merely
exchanging knowledge about alternative farming systems, but that
together they were learning to think in new ways. One grazier said: “For
years, I had fought and borrowed [money] to bring feed to the cow. Then
I figured out that I could bring the cow to the grass.”
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Other dairy farm-
ers who converted to grass production subsequently reported that they
began to question the very need for agrochemicals in their farming sys-
tem, a truly subversive proposition in American agriculture.
Members of the network realized that they had an approach to
helping other farmers develop more sustainable forms of agriculture,
and they wanted to share this approach with others. With the help of
a cluster of allied non-governmental rural organizations (especially
