UVM Theses and Dissertations
Format:
Print
Author:
Ferguson, Rafter Sass
Dept./Program:
Plant and Soil Science
Year:
2011
Degree:
MS
Abstract:
The impact ofagricultureonthe functionandstructure of the planet'secosystems has received increasing levels of scientific scrutiny over the past several decades, as the dramatic and negative consequences of industrial agriculture are revealed in the declining health of our ecosystems and its inhabitants (including humans). In contrast, the ecological stewardship of agroecosystems has been shown to provide an array of benefits to ecosystem function and human communities.
Farmers are the primary decision makers in agricultural landscapes. If sustainable agriculture is to be supported, farmers are ultimately the agents through which it will be accomplished. Factors affecting farmer involvement in research and development, and barriers to adoption of new technologies, must be identified and accounted for. Key cultural and economic barriers to farmer involvement in the development of sustainable agriculture include lack of working and accessible models, and financial trade-offs between production and ecological functions.
This paper proposes an iterative, participatory, agroecosystem design process, which brings farmers into collaboration with designers, and equips designers to substantively reconcile production and conservation functions in agroecosystems. This design framework accomplishes two goals: 1) foregrounding farmer interests and constraints in a way that facilitates participation; and 2) equipping the designer to creatively reconcile multiple goals and functions, embedded in complex spatial relationships.
The methodology was tested in case studies with three working farms in Vermont. Case study methodologies, while challenging to relate directly to broader applications, are an ideal scale to emmine the detailed process of shifting agricultural practices. The methodology described here is a contribution to the ongoing dialogue on the reconciliation ofproduction and ecological functions in agricultural landscapes, putting farmers and their priorities at the center of the process.
Farmers are the primary decision makers in agricultural landscapes. If sustainable agriculture is to be supported, farmers are ultimately the agents through which it will be accomplished. Factors affecting farmer involvement in research and development, and barriers to adoption of new technologies, must be identified and accounted for. Key cultural and economic barriers to farmer involvement in the development of sustainable agriculture include lack of working and accessible models, and financial trade-offs between production and ecological functions.
This paper proposes an iterative, participatory, agroecosystem design process, which brings farmers into collaboration with designers, and equips designers to substantively reconcile production and conservation functions in agroecosystems. This design framework accomplishes two goals: 1) foregrounding farmer interests and constraints in a way that facilitates participation; and 2) equipping the designer to creatively reconcile multiple goals and functions, embedded in complex spatial relationships.
The methodology was tested in case studies with three working farms in Vermont. Case study methodologies, while challenging to relate directly to broader applications, are an ideal scale to emmine the detailed process of shifting agricultural practices. The methodology described here is a contribution to the ongoing dialogue on the reconciliation ofproduction and ecological functions in agricultural landscapes, putting farmers and their priorities at the center of the process.