Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
generally. CAFF made an early decision to not seek UC's scientific impri-
matur on their work. This freed them from having to “prove” BIOS
practices worked, but exposed them to charges of promoting bad, dan-
gerous or scientifically invalid information. No Farm Advisor wants to
have a reputation compromised by association with “bad science,” and
many saw BIOS as just that.
At a more fundamental level, the organizational culture of UC agricul-
tural science discounts the social and environmental claims of NGOs on
their research and extension practices. Some Farm Advisors saw CAFF
as an interloper, stealing away “their” growers, research grant money,
and scientific legitimacy. To some, Reed was a carpetbagger and Bugg an
ideological scientist. Other Farm Advisors attacked Hendricks's initial
study with the Anderson brothers for being “not real research.” Farm
Advisors pointed to instances in which BIOS promoted environmentally
friendly practices that would harm growers' economics. BIOS demon-
strated that agroecological partnerships could reduce the environmental
impact of agriculture, but not without angering some UC agricultural
scientists.
7
Culturing the Agroecological Partnership Model
BIOS was the first California partnership to explicitly articulate alterna-
tive agricultural practices with an alternative extension model. It was not
the first partnership, but it demonstrated to many others the possibility
of alternatives. The agroecological partnership model became the chief
strategy for extending alternative agricultural knowledge in California
during the decade following 1993. The balance of this chapter describes
the institutions and social circumstances that fostered California's part-
nerships. It analyzes the environmental regulatory agencies and private
foundations that actively supported the agroecological partnership with
funding programs and financial resources. I then define the agroecologi-
cal partnership model in greater detail, and describe its malleability as a
mental model. I conclude by analyzing how partnerships have helped
reduce the use of pesticides by growers of pears, almonds, and wine-
grapes.
I define an agroecological partnership to be “an intentional, multi-year
relationship between at least growers, a grower's organization, and one
