Professional transitions towards sustainable farming systems: The development of farmers’ professional worlds

Abstract

Abstract. BACKGROUND:While farming in France and generally in Europe is continuing to intensify, at the expense of its environmental sustainability, promising alternatives are emerging. OBJECTIVE: The processes whereby farmers change and transform their own work, to shift from an intensive mode of production to a self-sufficient and autonomous one, need to be formalized if we are to further our understanding of why and how these forms of sustainable farming activity emerge. METHODS:We use the development of professional worlds theory, a systemic representation of workers' activity, whereby their experience is formalized. This can be explained as the praxis 1 , conceptual and axiological underpinnings form a system with the object of the action. The development of a professional world is analyzed according to the evolution of its components and the search for pragmatic coherence within it. We analyzed professional transitions towards self-sufficient and autonomous mixed farming through a case study. RESULTS: Our findings showed that the transition is initiated by the discovery of the unthinkable, awareness of a discrepancy between what the farmers think and what they do, the appearance of problems, and the response to external constraints. Professional transition is a non-teleological and non-incremental process; it corresponds to a comparison with reality, and a resolution of difficulties. This process is stimulated by the use of artifacts instrumented by the farmers. CONCLUSION: New perspectives are opened up by this formalization of transitions, in terms of (i) support towards sustainable farming and (ii) the design of sustainable farming systems.

Why do farmers not convert to organic farming? Modeling conversion to organic farming as a major change

“…Their trajectories will be to continue with conventional farming and intensify more. This type of trajectory is also confirmed elsewhere (Alavoine‐Mornas, & Madelrieux, ; Coquil et al., ; Coquil, Lusson, Beguin, and Dedieu, ; Lamine, Meynard, Perrot, & Bellon, ). Bos, Smit, and Schröder, and Groeneveld, Peerlings, Bakker, and Heijman, also argue that large farms intensify more than small farms.…”

“…As shown by Darré () and the Associatione 2 project interviews, farmers coconstruct their practices, and most of them are now using less pesticides and other chemical inputs. Various studies provide useful insights into the roles of social evaluation (Barbier et al., ; Chantre et al., ; Coquil et al., ). To have a good enough social identity, a farmer in dissonance with his/her social group may change groups by changing strategy, or simply imitate the practice of other in‐group members.…”

“…A farmer's decision on whether to convert can be strongly influenced by his/her experience. In addition, many authors consider learning from experience as an indispensable process of farming‐system evolutions over the long term (Martin‐Clouaire, ; Coquil, Dedieu, and Beguin, , ). In the model, a farmer can have a better self‐evaluation and return to being satisfied with his/her current situation by regularly integrating his/her experience and updating his/her personal attitude.…”

“…A farmer is supposed to approximate how beneficial the conversion is through a simple observation of the “already converted” farmers. This approximation has been shown to be relevant (Alavoine‐Mornas, & Madelrieux, ; Bui, Cardona, Lamine, and Cerf, ; Chantre, Cerf, and Le Bail, ; Coquil, Dedieu, and Beguin, ; Lamine, & Bellon, ), and organic farming practices have also been shown economically neutral or beneficial for a majority of dairy farmers (Dedieu et al., ; Sainte‐Beuve et al., ). To gain more practical perspective, we have also interviewed a number of farming advisors and farmers from a similar region (in the departments of Loire and Haute‐Loire) in France.…”

“…Most of them converted to organic farming without a “rational” or “official” economic impact assessment on the conversion move. Instead of focusing solely on economic issues, farmers told their stories on how they evolved in terms of strategy and practices (Barbier et al., ; Boisdon et al., ; Bui et al., ; Chantre et al., ; Coquil et al., ; Dockès et al., ) .…”