Farming Systems Research - IFSA symposium 2012

Farming Systems Research:
Learning from history
Nadarajah Sriskandarajah
Professor of Environmental Communication
Department of Urban and Rural Development
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Uppsala

Environmental communication situated
at the point of crises
- human-caused threats to both
nature and society
- failure of institutions to engage
adequately with these threats
Cox 2005

Environmental Communication
Society’s
Constructing of
Environmental
Problems
Understanding
our Perception of
the Environment
as a way of working with
Negotiating
Society’s Responses
Instrumental
Reaching out and
Creating Change

Fresh from Rio
“We think the text contains a lot of action, and if
this action is implemented, and if follow‐up
measures are taken, it will indeed make a
tremendous difference in generating positive
global change.”
‐ Sha Zukang
Secretary‐General, Rio+20
20 June 2012

Fresh from Rio
“We think the text contains a lot of action, and if
this action is implemented, and if follow‐up
measures are taken, it will indeed make a
tremendous difference in generating positive
global change.”
‐ Sha Zukang
Secretary‐General, Rio+20
20 June 2012

Insights from early days
Inadequacies of development efforts
Limited adoption of research recommendations by small farmers
Priorities from researcher’s perspective
Contrast between research between research station and
surrounding farms
Difficulties of interdisciplinary research
Problem of social scientists
Low ratios of professionals to farmers
Farming systems as basic unit for agricutlural R & D
Trade-off between coverage and intensity of effort
Qualtitative versus quantitative investigations
Small farmers’ willingness to learn and to change
Value of learning through experience

Failure of development efforts
Farm Farming
Farming as human activity system
FSR-E, FSRE, AFSRE, IFSA
On the systems dimension of Farming Systems
Research (1996)
’Systems’ as objects of study – how things are?
’Systems’ as mental constructs – how we wish
them to be?

Farming Systems Research
-an approach to inquiry
-a way of seeing the world (2012)
Farming Systems Research
-as a diagnostic process (2000)
-a basket of methods for researchers to elicit a
better understanding of farm households and
their decision-making processes

Rich variety Vs Single definition
No unified conceptual framework (theory)
- is it feasible? needed? useful?
Why is FSR not in the mainstream?
-donor fatigue, demands of institutions,
universities

The primary challenge lies not with the
development of
‘agri-food systems out there’

ut
with the development of
‘learning systems’
which then allow us to make sense of,
and take appropriate actions
as participants in the ‘systems out there’

Farming System as a Learning System Farming system as the ‘object’ of inquiry
The farmer as the focus of our inquiry
The farm as the focus of our inquiry

HARD SYSTEMS thinking has not been
successful with soft, ill-structured
problems involving humans
HARD SYSTEMS Problems solutions
means-end rationality
SOFT SYSTEMS Problem situations arise when
people have contrasting views of the same
situation, many view points, therefore many
relevant problems
rejects ‘means-end rationality’, but question the
end itself and then considers ‘what should be
done?

SOFT SYSTEMS THINKING
‘a form of systemic thinking that understands
reality as the creative construction of human
beings’
It therefore generates and works with an evolving
appreciation of people’s points of view and
intentions
Systems concepts are employed in the process of
meaning construction, reflecting an intuitive
assumption that the world is indeed systemic
‘authentic’ understanding of any action context requires
participation of all ‘stakeholders’

Checkland’s
Soft Systems Methodology
(SSM)
most thoroughly documented and discussed
methodological example fo soft systems thinking
typically introduced as a seven‐stage process

Methodological
Personal
Institutional
Three entry points for change

Reflexivity
-solid grasp of assumptions underlying various
theories and methods used, their strengths and
weaknesses
-aware of the relationship between production of
knowledge, the producer, and the contexts of
those knowledge production processes
-clarify the taken-for-granted assumptions and
blind spots arising from preferences of the past
-aware of all the influences we bring into shaping
the research and interpreting the findings

Knowing ’what we do, when we do what
we do’ (Ison)
Making conscious choices, aware of
inevitable weaknesses, able to defend the
critiques
It is not the methods but the ontology and
epistemology which determine good
science
’Good research’ but also ’right research’

For me, not only ’what we do when we
do what we do’
but also the questions:
Where?
Which spaces?
With whom? Why so?

One challenge of Sustainability
– Public institutions experience increased pressure on their
legitimacy
– One response: ‘Involving’ various citizen groups
– Many seem just fulfilling the role as ‘suppliers’ of legitimacy
for pre‐determined institutions
– We scrutinize the ability of such institutions to serve as
democratic agoras activating the responsibility of local
communities and addressing common concerns and visions
Agora = Public space or a market place for
discussing issues of common interest in ancient
Greece