APPROACHES TO SUSTAINABLE FARMLAND MANAGEMENT. ESRC TRANSDISCIPLINARY SEMINAR SERIES

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APPROACHES TO SUSTAINABLE FARMLAND
MANAGEMENT.ESRC TRANSDISCIPLINARY SEMINAR SERIES
Ethical Production and Protection for Sustainable
Farmland Management

• Talking soil ethics.
• The conventional, the organic and the biodynamic
  point of view.

Kostas Baginetas Supervisors Prof. Charles
Watkins Dr. Richard Field
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Summary of the presentation

• Brief introduction
• Description of the presentation
• Rationale
• Methodology
• Questions answers
• Farmers views
• Similarities differences
• Discussion
• Emerging themes
• Conclusions
• Farmers ethical stands
• Summary
• Acknowledgements

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Introduction

• Worlds population 6 billion (2025, 8
  billion) (New Scientist, 2002)
• Agriculture is the prime source of food
• Feed a growing population using sustainable
  farming methods
• Growing awareness of the need for sustainability
  in agriculture
• Our Common Future (Brundtland report, 1987)
• 1992 U.N. Conference on Environment and
  Development (Earth Summit)
• Soils are crucial for life on earth
• Medium for plant growth
• Influence water cycle
• Natures recycling system
• Habitat for organisms
• Engineering medium
• Cultural heritage, part of the landscape

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Introduction

• Soil is a major resource of most agricultural
  ecosystems
• Farming is inextricably linked with the existence
  of soils
• Maintaining the quality health of soils should
  be a major goal of a society trying to achieve
  agricultural sustainability
• Little attention paid to the views of the most
  important agricultural stakeholders/actors
  involved directly with the soil
• The farmers
• What are the values they ascribe to soil
• Stewards or Abusers of the soil?
• Production ethic or Stewardship ethic
• Important to understand it in order to achieve a
  more sustainable way of agricultural production
• Farmers ethics
• The moral principles by which a person is guided,
  the rules of conduct (Oxford English Dictionary)

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Multi-dimensional nature of sustainability
Becker, 1997
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Description of the presentation

• Case study
• Three farming systems represented by three
  farmers
• Conventional
• Organic
• Biodynamic
• Compare their views/attitudes regarding soil
• Reach conclusions regarding soil ethics
• Methodology
• Same education
• Same farm land use
• Same age years involved in farming
• Same geographical area
• Different farming practices
• In a way using quantitative methods to do
  qualitative research!

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Interactions of farmers agricultural landscapes
Tress Tress, 2001
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Description of the presentation

• Rationale
• Three farming systems
• Three production ethics
• Three soil ethics

Production ethics
Farming practice
Perceptions, views
Soil ethics
Soil management

• Interviews
• Analyse answers
• Gaine insight in their perceptions views
• Understand their soil ethics and subsequent soil
  management

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Co-adaptation of farmers agro-ecosystems
Marten, 2001
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Characteristics of the farmers

• Same education
• Wye College graduates (BSc Agronomy)
• Organic farmer (NFU representative, his wife Wye
  graduate)
• Similar age/experience
• Involved in farming for 25-30 years
• Similar land use farm management
• Mixed farming
• Arable crops, dairy, beef
• Same geographical area/Spatial proximity
• Their farms are in the same area
• Different way of farming
• Different views, perceptions understandings
• Different attitudes to farming
• Different soil management ethics

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Area of research
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Area of research
150 000
Biodymanic farmer
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Conventional farmer
Organic farmer
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The three farming systems

• Conventional farming
• Mechanisation
• Use of external inputs (pesticides and
  fertilisers)
• Intensive management/increased yields
• Organic farming
• No use of synthetic external inputs (pesticides
  and fertilisers)
• Use of cultural, biological or natural methods of
  pest control and fertility
• Biodynamic farming (Rudolph Steiner, 1924)
• A type of organic farming
• Differs in the use of fermented preparations in
  compost and as field sprays

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Preparations used in biodynamic agriculture
(Steiner, 1974)
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Reason for becoming a farmer

• How come you decided to become a farmer?
• Conventional farmer
• My dad was a farmer and I grew up in a farm
• Organic farmer
• Its a good question. I dont know, something
  Ive always wanted to do I suppose and neither of
  my parents are farming so it just happened
• Biodynamic farmer
• I dont know really, I wanted to work outside
  and we lived in the country and so farming just
  seemed to be a natural way to do that really

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Reason for becoming a farmer
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Importance of soil in farming

• Focusing on soil, how important do you consider
  it to be? Why?
• Conventional farmer
• If the soil is not any good we arent farmers,
  we need the soil, yes the most important
• Organic farmer
• Its the most important thing. Because without
  it, especially when farming organically, without
  your soil being in good condition and full of
  humus and workable basically you might as well
  not bother
• Biodynamic farmer
• Crucial, its absolutely, its the basis of, the
  soil and the heavens are the, thats, thats what
  drives the whole thing in farming

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Importance of soil in farming
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Importance of soil in comparison

• Compared to other resources used in farming, how
  important do you think soil is? Why?
• Conventional farmer
• The most important. If you havent got the soil
  you cant farm, can you? I can farm without
  pesticides but I cant farm without soil, so I
  would say the most important
• Organic farmer
• Probably the most important, we dont use any
  fertiliser, I cant, you know if its knackered I
  cant suddenly go and buy a bag of fertiliser and
  stick it on to make the crops grow, so its
  vitally important when you are farming
• Biodynamic farmer
• Its much more important than everything else. I
  mean the farmer is also important and the
  farmers wife but looking after the soil is, is
  really and the animals you know, those are the
  two most important things on the farm

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Importance of soil in comparison
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The term soil quality

• Scientists use the term soil quality. What does
  it mean to you?
• Conventional farmer
• The ability of the soil to grow crops, the size
  of the crops it can grow, the better quality the
  better yields
• Organic farmer
• Probably the nitrogen content, clay content of
  the soil, loam basis, its micro flora, micro
  fauna content, how easily workable it is, sort of
  humus content and thats about it
• Biodynamic farmer
• Primarily I would say a good quality soil is a
  very lively soil, it got plenty of humus in it,
  plenty of organic matter and everything is, lots
  of worms, everything is moving, its a dynamic,
  its not, its not fixed, its always changing
  and its never going to be, its always going up
  or down, its not, its not stationary

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The term soil quality
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The term soil health

• Scientists use the term soil health. What does
  it mean to you?
• Conventional farmer
• Well, thats not the soils potential but the
  soils, quality is down to its potential, soil
  health is down to the way we treat it, if its
  looked after properly it will be healthy, I
  think, yeah
• Organic farmer
• Soil health would mean sort of how many living
  things are in it, I suppose, yeah, how many
  earthworms etc., what sort of bigger flora and
  fauna is in it
• Biodynamic farmer
• Well I think you can only probably measure it
  from looking at the plants growing there, the
  plants are the indicator of whether the soil is
  healthy or not and they will soon tell you. You
  dont need any fancy laboratory to tell you
  whether the soil is healthy, you just need the
  plants growing there

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The term soil health
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Use of term

• If you wanted to describe a soil what term would
  you use?
• Conventional farmer
• Fertility is one I use, soil fertility yeah,
  but health or quality is all the same thing
• Organic farmer
• Id probably use the soil quality one just cause
  thats the one thats sort of more easily used
  around. But thinking about it soil health is more
  important to me and it would be better
• Biodynamic farmer
• Soil health probably, yeah, because its a bit
  more, it, it probably tells you more at the end
  of the day by looking at the plants you can get a
  broader picture of the soil

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Use of term
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The good soil

• In your opinion, what makes a good soil?
• Conventional farmer
• Free draining, a good loamy soil a good cross
  section of all different types mixed together I
  would think
• Organic farmer
• One that breaks down easily to start with one
  with plenty of humus in it and with good
  structure not too clayey and one that grows
  good crops
• Biodynamic farmer
• Drainage, its very important a whole list of
  things really, livestock, very important, I dont
  think you can have a good soil without animals,
  rotation, a balanced rotation that doesnt always
  take, take, take, you need some legumes and
  then its water holding capacity, humus content,
  organic matter, earthworms, bacteria and fungi

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The good soil
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The bad soil

• In your opinion, what makes a bad soil?
• Conventional farmer
• Wet, cold, poorly drained
• Organic farmer
• A very heavy clay that sits and looks at you
  a difficult soil, also perhaps a very sandy
  one, one that is sort of structureless, no
  microbacteria, yeah dead
• Biodynamic farmer
• No livestock, no worms, artificial fertilisers,
  compaction, poor rotation

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The bad soil
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Assessing a soil

• How can you understand if a soil is good or bad?
• Conventional farmer
• I kick it, pick it up, I mean you can see the
  potential, roll it in your hands
• Organic farmer
• By what the soil grows and how, what happens
  when you plough and cultivate it so yeah its
  sort of practical
• Biodynamic farmer
• By looking at the plants, I think the plants
  tells you pretty much

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Assessing a soil
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Comparing farming practices

• Focusing on soil, do you think that conventional
  farming improves it or deteriorates it?
• Conventional farmer
• Improves it, its got to do it, you feed it for
  what the crop doesnt get and of course it
  does, of course it does
• Organic farmer
• Generally deteriorates it simply because they
  use poor rotations, mostly is cereal based
  there is no grass there, nothing to improve the
  soil structure so when it rains all the soil
  runs down the drains
• Biodynamic farmer
• Well, if its an all arable situation then I
  would say its going to deteriorate it cannot
  go on

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Comparing farming practices
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Comparing farming practices

• Do you think that the soil in organic farms is
  better than the soil in conventional farms?
• Conventional farmer
• No, often not, no reason to think that it is at
  all, if it was better you would grow bigger corps
  wouldn't you, you dont get half the crop, its
  like if you feed an animal well it grows well,
  healthy animal, give it half the food and its
  stunted, whats the difference?
• Organic farmer
• Undoubtedly. Simply because we use rotations
  theres hardly any part of this farm that its
  bare, it all has green manure growing on it we
  are trying to return as much back to the soil to
  meet actually what we take out
• Biodynamic farmer
• Yeah. But it depends on the farmer Im sure
  you can find conventional farms where the soil is
  better than on some organic farms, if they are
  really concerned about the soil its not black
  and white

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Comparing farming practices
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Conclusions

• Possible influence of family and growing up
  environment
• Conventional
• Narrow-minded
• Predetermined future, somebody else decides
• Stressed during interview
• Organic
• Open-minded
• Searching for something
• More relaxed during interview
• Biodynamic
• Open-minded
• Being close to nature
• Very relaxed during interview
• The importance of soil
• All agree
• Soil is farming
• Without soil they wouldnt be farmers

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Conclusions

• Importance of soil in comparison
• All agree
• Soil is the most important resource in a farm
• You cant farm without soil but you can farm
  without fertilisers
• Soil quality
• Conventional
• Unexpected question, confusion
• Equals yields (production oriented)
• Organic
• Slightly confused
• Physical, chemical and biological properties
• Broader view
• Biodynamic
• All properties but a sense of deeper
  understanding (more in depth)
• Its more than just producing (had thought about
  it!)

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Conclusions

• Soil health
• Conventional
• Unexpected question, more confused
• Organic
• Related with the organisms in the soil (more
  consideration of biodiversity)
• Biodynamic
• Related with the health of the plants
• Use of term
• Conventional
• Fertility-Production oriented
• Organic
• Externally influenced, against his views, feeling
  of belonging
• Biodynamic
• Biologically influenced

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Conclusions

• Good soil
• Conventional
• Physical conditions, easy to cultivate
• Organic
• Physical chemical conditions, help grow good
  crops
• Biodynamic
• Chemical biological conditions
• Bad soil
• Conventional
• Physical properties, related to production
• Organic
• Physical biological properties
• Biodynamic
• Chemical biological properties

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Conclusions

• Assessing a soil
• Conventional
• Physical, tangible signs, hands on, in the field
• Organic
• During cultivation, in the field, plant growth,
  yields
• Biodynamic
• State of the plants
• Comparing farming practices
• Conventional
• Improves it, use of fertilisers (what a stupid
  question?!)
• Organic
• Deteriorates it, poor rotations (feeling of
  threat)
• Biodynamic
• It depends (not a polemic view, more thoughtful)

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Conclusions

• Comparing farming practices
• Conventional
• Worse, no use of fertilisers (everybody knows
  this!)
• Organic
• Undoubtedly better, use of rotations (fight back)
• Biodynamic
• It depends on the farmer

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Summary

• Three soil management ethics
• Similarities differences
• Acknowledgment of the importance of soil
• But for production (abusers)
• Or for farmers existence (stewards)
• Based on the physical, tangible that can be seen
  signs in order to understand soil
• Limited insights
• A polemic stance towards the other farming
  practices
• Influences on their perceptions
• Father, education, fellow farmers

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Acknowledgements

• The University of Nottingham Research
  Scholarships, School of Geography
• Supervisors
• Farmers

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