A-7/18 Farmland conversion to fight climate change? Resource hierarchies, discursive power and ulterior motives in land use politics
In December 2013, local politicians celebrated with a champagne toast as the municipality of Trondheim received permission from the Ministry of Local Government and Modernisation to develop 110 ha (272 acres) of high quality farmland for housing and business. The primary reason for this decision was the promotion of a more climate-friendly city. The land in…
Read MoreA-8/18 Gøy på landet? Betydningen av lokale trekk for innvandreres bosetting i rurale kommuner
High concentrations of immigrants in segregated city areas represent a major challenge to integration in Europe and Norway. Segregation and radicalization is typically considered as possible consequences of such a development. In addition, a better geographical diversification of immigrants would also lead to a more favorable development in rural areas. With this as backdrop, the…
Read MoreA-7/18 Making occupational health and safety training relevant for farmers: Evaluation of an introductory course in occupational health and safety in Norway
Agriculture is a hazardous industry, with a high frequency of injuries. As agriculture is an industry mostly consisting of small enterprises, it may be difficult to prevent injuries. In Norway, an OHS course is available for farmers. This study aims to evaluate this course. The evaluation is a prospective exploratory case study evaluation using qualitative…
Read MoreA-6/18 Ageing in Norwegian rural and urban communities
This paper, based on data from two recent national surveys of the residents of municipalities in Norway, compares rural and urban elderly people’s degree of satisfaction with locally available services and their reported involvement with others in the community. It focuses in particular on their living conditions and indicators of well-being, including their access to…
Read MoreA-5/18 Zwischen Überfluss und Mangel: Einblicke in die Reparatur städtischer Infrastrukturen am Beispiel der Wasserversorgung in Dar es Salaam
I Stefan Krebs, Gabriele Schabacher & Heike Weber (red.) Kulturen des Reparierens Dinge – Wissen – Praktiken. Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag, s. 121-140
Read MoreA-4/18 The importance of the advisor’s relational and professional competence and formal power in meetings with farmers
Purpose: The aim of the paper is to explore how advisors’ relational and professional competence influences inter-subjectivity and farmers’ perceptions of farm visits in a setting where advisors have formal power. Methodology: Advisors from the dairy company Tine, which is owned by farmers in collaboration, visit farmers at least once a year. The aim of…
Read MoreA-3/18 The importance of gender roles and relations in rural agricultural technology development: a case study on solar fruit drying in Mozambique
Many agricultural technology interventions that aim to improve farmers’ livelihoods focus on households as the unit of analysis and ignore gender roles that entail different benefits and costs for different household members. Agricultural projects have shown limited success where gender roles and relations were ignored and thus more gender sensitive research is needed in agricultural…
Read MoreA-2/18 Facilitating integrated agricultural technology development through participatory research
Purpose: In this paper, we discuss the role of participatory research in integrated agricultural technology development using the example of a solar fruit drying project in Mozambique. Design/methodology/approach: We engage in seven participatory exercises with groups of farmers from two farmers’ associations in Inharrime district in Mozambique to identify their needs for solar fruit drying…
Read MoreA-18/17 It’s Not Always about Growth! Development Dynamics and Management in Food Businesses and Chains
Growing small and medium-sized food enterprises (SMEs) face specific challenges, especially when they aim to maintain a higher quality of products and processes. While growing, they tend to converge either towards niche markets or mainstream commodity markets, and as a result sacrifice higher quality and value.
Read MoreA-20/17 Introduction Contemporary food practices. Spaces of food production and consumption
International Review of Social Research. Volume 7: Issue 2
Read MoreA-1/18 Traditional Ecological Knowledge from the internet? The case of hay meadows in Europe
Within Europe concerns are rising for the loss of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) as agricultural communities continue to abandon traditional practices. TEK consists of a cumulative body of knowledge, practice and belief concerning environmental management (specifically agricultural management in Europe) that supposedly developed through generations of interaction between local communities and their environment. However, being…
Read MoreA-17/17 The Role of Public Land Use Planning in Facilitating Conservation on Private Land
The provision of landscape-level public goods, such as scenery or adequate wildlife habitat, requires coordination amongst many landowners whose private decisions can, in the aggregate, produce outcomes with which they themselves are unhappy. This has certainly been the case in the US state of Vermont, where a strong public preference for landscape conservation has been…
Read MoreA-16/17 Agricultural modernization and sustainable agriculture: contradictions and complementarities
This paper explores the relations between agricultural modernization and sustainable agriculture. The point of departure is the observable decrease in the sustainability and social–ecological resilience of agricultural and food systems. We ask where, precisely, the notions of agricultural modernization and agricultural sustainability contradict each other. In more concrete terms we ask what forms of modernization…
Read MoreA-15/17 Between aspirations and reality: Making farming, food systems and rural areas more resilient, sustainable and equitable
This paper explores the connections between farm modernisation, rural development and the resilience of agricultural and rural systems. The paper starts by ascertaining why agricultural and food systems need to change systemically. Evidence from case studies in fourteen countries is used to explore the possibilities for, and drivers and limitations of systemic change in four…
Read MoreA-14/17 Gender identities and divorce among farmers in Norway
S. Shortall and B. Bock (red). Gender and rural globalisation: International perspectives on gender and rural development. CAB International
Read MoreA-13/17 Trading Growth – A Study of the Governance of Norwegian Whey Protein Concentrate Exports
In this paper, we explore the global value chain (GVC) for whey protein concentrate (WPC 80) and permeate powder (PP) through a study following the practicalities of the export of WPC 80 and PP from the Norwegian farmer – owned dairy cooperative, Tine SA. We follow processing, packaging, logistics and export administration. The study suggests…
Read MoreA-12/17 The social robot: A study of the social and political aspects of automatic milking systems
We explored social and political aspects of milking robot (automatic milking system; AMS) use and expansion in dairy farming. Over 30 % of dairy farms in Norway have an AMS, and the percentage is rapidly increasing. We interviewed 26 dairy farmers with AMSs in the county of Rogaland, Norway. Primary motives for investing in milking…
Read MoreA-11/17 Embedded competence: A study of farmers’ relation to competence and knowledge
The aim of this paper is to explore the diversity of farmers’ relationship to the networks that make up the knowledge and innovation systems. We approach farmer’s knowledge diversity through the development of a typology based on a principal component analysis (PCA) of Norwegian farmers. The analysis indicates a preliminary typology of farmers where the…
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