How could social media support farmers concerned with sustainability issues?

Abstract

Purpose: This article aims to contribute to building an understanding of how social media may support farmers in transition to a more sustainable agriculture.Methodology: we used a questionnaire survey and in-depth interviews with farmers concerned with sustainability issues to characterize the diversity of their social media (SM) uses and user profiles.Findings: we show widespread but also very contrasting uses of SM by farmers concerned with sustainability issues, combining epistemic and socio-emotional dimensions.Practical implications: we propose several implications for facilitators of online and in-person groups dedicated to supporting farmers engaged in sustainability transitions.Theoretical implications: the use that farmers concerned with sustainability issues make of SM supports an integrated view of farmers' transitions to sustainability as processes that are not only technical but also involve many variable dimensions. Our understanding would therefore benefit from further analyzing SM users as virtual communities of practice (COPv).Originality: Rather than focusing on one SM, we start from farmers' uses of various SM, which provides an original perspective on SM in agriculture. It also contributes to filling in the gap in knowledge about digital tools' potential contribution to sustainability.

Conditions for a Convergence between Digital Platforms and Sustainability in Agriculture

“…To address these concerns, a shift toward more sustainable models is required [5,36,[45][46][47]. This transition entails technical, cognitive, socio-economic, organizational, and personal challenges [15]. In this article, we argued that digital platforms are an integral part of the agricultural transformation and are a promising instrument for establishing new constellations of value-creation mechanisms.…”

“…Recent literature reveals a significant gap concerning the nexus between digitalization and sustainability in agriculture. The potential of this convergence is underscored by a limited body of research [5,6,[11][12][13], and to date, only a few studies have been conducted on digital platforms and their potential to drive sustainability in agriculture [3,[14][15][16]. Based on in-depth interviews with an expert panel, this article aimed to explore the conditions for convergence between digital platforms and sustainability and highlight the specific features of the agricultural landscape.…”

Représenter l’activité pour ouvrir l’exploration et l’imaginaire des concepteurs : le cas de la conception d’artefacts pour la transition agroécologique

“…To simplify the reading of this figure, we have removed certain ideas from the tree but have retained the arrows that point to them, to offer an estimation of its richness. Cas 2 Agor@gri 20 Dans le projet Agor@gri, une enquête en ligne et des entretiens semi-directifs ont produit des données sur la façon dont les différents acteurs mobilisent les médias sociaux en lien avec la transition agroécologique (M. Prost et al, 2022), les avantages qu'ils perçoivent à ces outils mais également les freins qui limitent leur usage. La tâche du projet décrite ici prévoyait de stimuler la conception en l'orientant autour : (i) d'une « modélisation » de l'activité appréhendée sous un double angle : la transition à accompagner, l'usage des médias sociaux ; (ii) de l'exploration de la diversité des motifs pour lesquels les agriculteurs s'engagent dans une transition agroécologique et dans l'usage des médias sociaux.…”

The potential of community interactions as inducers of agroecological transition: the case of a digital agricultural community

“…In this paper, we shed light on digitally supported peer-to-peer interactions that facilitate farmers' agroecological transition. Usually the studies focused on peer-to-peer interactions concern face-to-face groups, whereas we know that farmers in AET also rely on online communities (Schnebelin et al, 2021;Prost et al, 2022). Digital communities are thus potential avenues to support farmers' AET, as they can be used to circulate information without spatial or temporal boundaries (Soulignac et al, 2019).…”

“…Digital communities are thus potential avenues to support farmers' AET, as they can be used to circulate information without spatial or temporal boundaries (Soulignac et al, 2019). Agricultural research has increasingly been analyzing the uses and roles of digital technology in the circulation of knowledge and information, particularly through the networking proposed by social media (Phillips et al, 2018;Mills et al, 2019;Nain et al, 2019;Prost et al, 2022). For their part, advisors are also considering the use of digital technology and its effect on their professional activities (Eastwood et al, 2019;Charatsari et al, 2020;Klerkx, 2021).…”