<p>This
dissertation is a policy driven ethnography of smallholder and alternative
farmers in Indiana that centers food justice and utilizes interdisciplinary frameworks
to analyze the adaptive strategies that farmers use to address the specific
challenges they face. Through the implementation of adaptive strategies such as
regenerative growing practices, the cultivation of community, stewardship of
the land, and an emphasis on transparency, the smallholders I worked with over
the course of this study negotiate complex agricultural spaces and build the
resilience of their farmsteads and the communities they serve. Smallholder and
alternative farmers in Indiana are reimagining the agricultural spaces they
occupy and driving transformational change of dominant narratives and local
food systems. Critiques of conventional agriculture and commodity production
are not intended to reify binary perceptions of the agricultural paradigm, but
rather to demonstrate that the critical role of smallholder and alternatives
farmers should be valued as well. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>This
research draws on four years of ethnographic research, archival sources, and
close readings of policy measures and media reports to illuminate the
historical context that has positioned smallholders in juxtaposition to
large-scale conventional agriculture, and the critical role of smallholder
farmers in driving food systems change while centering food justice and
community resiliency. The driving research questions for the following essays
follow: Why have small scale and alternative farmers chosen to farm (and farm
differently)? What specific challenges do they face and how might these
challenges be better addressed by existing support systems and new legislation?
What can be learned from the alternative narratives and
reimagined spaces smallholder farmers engage with? This work joins the growing body
of research that challenges agricultural meta-narratives by presenting a counter-narrative
of smallholder resilience and the <i>a
priori</i> notion that posits agricultural technology as a panacea for
everything from world hunger to economics to environmental concerns. </p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:purdue.edu/oai:figshare.com:article/14199749 |
| Date | 06 April 2021 |
| Creators | Virginia F Pleasant (10290812) |
| Source Sets | Purdue University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis |
| Rights | CC BY 4.0 |
| Relation | https://figshare.com/articles/thesis/There_s_More_Than_Corn_in_Indiana_Smallholder_and_Alternative_Farmers_as_a_Locus_of_Resilience/14199749 |
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