Results
Sciences – Discourses & Elements Agroscope | The future of agriculture in uncertain times. Agroscope Symposium, Zürich, 2018
Introduction
Discourses of Sustainable Agriculture
Janker, Judith
Agroscope, Research Group Socioeconomics, Tänikon 1, CH-8356 Ettenhausen; www.agroscope.ch University Bern, Institute of Geography, Hallerstrasse 12, CH-3012 Bern; www.geography.unibe.ch
Background & methods
Conclusions
References
JÄGER, S., 2015. Kritische Diskursanalyse. Eine Einführung. 7th ed. Münster: UNRAST.
MAYRING, P., 2010. Qualitative Inhaltsanalyse. In: G. MEY& K. MRUCK, Hrsg. Handbuch Qualitative Forschung in der Psychologie. Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien.
UN, 2016. Metadata repository. Goal 2: end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture. New York: United Nations.
Strong interconnections of international political and scientific discourses
Brundtland definition of sustainable development recurring basis of scientific sustainability conceptions
But: Goals and methods of these actors diverge
Critical discourse analysis (JÄGER2015) &
Content analysis (MAYRING2010)
of UN associated organizations & scientific debate
United Nations – Discourses & Elements
Food security
Sustainable Development in Agriculture
> Food security for farmers and rural inhabitants
> Market access
& basic income
> Decent labour
& human rights
Sustainable Agricultural Intensification
> Increased productivity
> Technology transfer
> Environmental protection Sustainable
Agriculture
> Not defined
> Area under
«productive and sustai- nable agriculture»
(UN 2016)
Rural development
Production efficiency
Sustainable Agriculture
Environmental protection
Research Question: How do the United Nations and sciences frame sustainable agriculture?
> Smallholders &
family farming
> Knowledge
& skills
> Labour conditions
> Well-being
> Participation
& rights
> Communities
> Environmental stability
> Best practices
> Resources protection
> Regenerate &
improve the environment
> Intensification
> Productivity
> Resources efficiency
> Profitability
> Market access
> Food sufficiency
> New technology
United Nations Sciences
Goals Food security,
Agricultural intensification
Environmental protection, Production efficiency Gaps Agriculture in developed coun-
tries & social issues beyond human rights
Socio-economic ‘best practice’
What does sustainability mean in agriculture? Several discourses with diverging and sometimes even conflicting ideas exist on how momentary and future generations should be fed. Therefore I identify the central elements of the international scientific and political discourses.
Need to integrate the social dimension of sustainable agriculture
Sciences already address the gap of environmental protection
Need for identification of political & scientific goals
