Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
more certain of the appropriateness of a new technique or technology for
their farming place.
This connection between consent, place, and practice continues to this
day, and the growers I talked to were very outspoken about the need for
local research to address their problems. Often, they explicitly stated that
scientists on the university campuses should not expect that research
developed at the university would be accepted in the fi eld. This grower
chastised UC scientists and administrators for paying too much attention
to campus-based, basic research:
Grower:
If I only had one request it's that they understand that, in order
for them to really perform the work that's gonna benefi t the people of
[this] valley, they need to do the work in [this] valley, not at . . . [the uni-
versity]. They can do all the work they want up there and it may be handy
for them [to do the work there]. But it doesn't solve things here. In my
opinion, for the problems that are here, they'll have a hard time selling
the results, if [the research] is done up there.
CRH:
Selling it to people in the [farm] industry?
Grower:
Right.
Other growers made similar complaints about the UC's research pri-
orities. In part, these statements were likely attempts to exert control over
the UC and infl uence the allocation of its resources. But growers' claims
about the importance of place came up too often to dismiss as simple
funding machinations. In the previous excerpt, the grower makes specifi c
reference to his place, the valley where he farms, and he explicitly ties the
importance of place to the ability to “sell” or convince growers of the
utility of the research. What makes place so important for growers, and
why are fi eld trials useful for making new research convincing to them?
In part, because they view their area as having unique soil, water, and cli-
matic characteristics that infl uence the applicability of any innovation. In
addition, growers understand that farming practices already in use are an
integral part of farming success.
In this section I examine the importance of place in more detail, theoriz-
ing the connection between farming practices and farming places. To sell
growers on a new way of farming, advisors must actively construct the
preconditions for a new farming practice or technology to mesh with
the current system of production. This is where fi eld trials come in; fi eld
