A multidisciplinary research methodology based on the combination of literature review and spatial analysis is presented as a contribution to the historical ecology of olive trees in Sicily (Italy). The thesis crosscuts time and space at different scales for a new epistemological approach to allow the olive trees to “talk”. Structured around the identification of breaking points and nodes of connection, the social and ecological history of the olive trees in the island are explored. While recognising the full agency of trees in the spatial and temporal evolving dynamics of the landscape, the vital importance of their inner connections with other elements of the ecosystems is stressed in the analysis; as also the importance of Traditional Ecological Knowledge. The thesis is concluded with the hypothesis that the olive trees of Sicily could be seen as biocultural refugia, physical places which preserve both agricultural biodiversity and traditional ecological knowledge.

This thesis explores how Swedish farmers, who have chosen to farm with heritage plant varieties, motivate their choices and how they as a result of their choices view themselves as farmers. This is investigated against present and future challenges regarding food security and the loss of agricultural biodiversity and biocultural heritage, which, in order to be faced, will require a wider range of plants in cultivation. To find out why farmers make certain choices is vital if we are to make necessary structural changes within the agricultural sector. The farmers’ motives are broad and they are, based on the concept of hybridity, presented and analysed through the categories memory, identity and reciprocity. These motives are also closely linked to how they view themselves as farmers. The findings are further interpreted through the concept of biocultural refugia, which is a means of studying how certain places can harbour different species while simultaneously being an area for sustainable food production. In this thesis biocultural refugia represents how the respondents are part of creating and maintaining diversity within plant cultivation and its surrounding practices. This diversity will be required in order for agriculture to handle current challenges in a sustainable way.

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