The term sustainable agriculture may be formulated, but not yet practically integrated in agriculture. This thesis investigates the organic farmers´ ideas and experiences of what they consider sustainable or not sustainable in agriculture. Using unstructured phone interviews and "walk-alongs" with KRAV-farmers in Kristianstad, I have sought to understand their ideas and experiences, inspired by the phenomenological approach. The thesis communicates the experiences of organic farmers of sustainable agriculture based on an explicit role as stewards of the same. How come they express themselves and act the way they do? Why are these issues important and how do they relate to each other? The result, using the three dimensions of economical, ecological and social sustainability, is presented. How farmers experience profitability, eco-awareness and influence in their stewardship are important. The overlapping areas for sustainability describe the need of fair terms in socioeconomic terms. Agroecologically, the stewards need to experience the work to be practically feasible, both financially and ecologically. Socioecologically, their stewardship becomes more acceptable within an eco-aware market, which adds to their individual creation of meaning. Even though there are ideas and experiences of what sustainable agriculture includes, this does not necessarily mean that this is what the farmers find in their work. In the eyes of these farmers, their experiences need to be more just, feasible and acceptable for sustainability. How farmers continue to handle complex choices in agriculture for economic, ecological and social sustainability is interesting; not only for the farmers themselves, but also in a societal perspective for long-term domestic food security. What they see as sustainable depends on the choices of other stakeholders and how the farmers themselves formulate goals and purpose with regard to their own farming. They argue that one thing leads to another, which the thesis gives plenty of practical examples of. The thesis should be seen as a normative contribution to the public debate about what is sustainable, listening to the voices of organic farmers.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-256449 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | Strandberg, Hans |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Kulturgeografiska institutionen, Uppsala : Kulturgeografiska institutionen |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Licentiate thesis, monograph, info:eu-repo/semantics/masterThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | Forskarskolan i Geografi |
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