Agricultural science in the wild: a social network analysis of farmer knowledge exchange.

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dc.citation.issue8
dc.citation.volume9
dc.contributor.authorWood BA
dc.contributor.authorBlair HT
dc.contributor.authorGray DI
dc.contributor.authorKemp PD
dc.contributor.authorKenyon PR
dc.contributor.authorMorris ST
dc.contributor.authorSewell AM
dc.date.available2014-08-14
dc.date.available2014-07-22
dc.date.issued2014
dc.descriptionThis is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
dc.description.abstractResponding to demands for transformed farming practices requires new forms of knowledge. Given their scale and complexity, agricultural problems can no longer be solved by linear transfers in which technology developed by specialists passes to farmers by way of extension intermediaries. Recent research on alternative approaches has focused on the innovation systems formed by interactions between heterogeneous actors. Rather than linear transfer, systems theory highlights network facilitation as a specialized function. This paper contributes to our understanding of such facilitation by investigating the networks in which farmers discuss science. We report findings based on the study of a pastoral farming experiment collaboratively undertaken by a group of 17 farmers and five scientists. Analysis of prior contact and alter sharing between the group's members indicates strongly tied and decentralized networks. Farmer knowledge exchanges about the experiment have been investigated using a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods. Network surveys identified who the farmers contacted for knowledge before the study began and who they had talked to about the experiment by 18 months later. Open-ended interviews collected farmer statements about their most valuable contacts and these statements have been thematically analysed. The network analysis shows that farmers talked about the experiment with 192 people, most of whom were fellow farmers. Farmers with densely tied and occupationally homogeneous contacts grew their networks more than did farmers with contacts that are loosely tied and diverse. Thematic analysis reveals three general principles: farmers value knowledge delivered by persons rather than roles, privilege farming experience, and develop knowledge with empiricist rather than rationalist techniques. Taken together, these findings suggest that farmers deliberate about science in intensive and durable networks that have significant implications for theorizing agricultural innovation. The paper thus concludes by considering the findings' significance for current efforts to rethink agricultural extension.
dc.description.publication-statusPublished
dc.format.extent? - ? (10)
dc.identifierhttp://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000341017000106&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=c5bb3b2499afac691c2e3c1a83ef6fef
dc.identifierARTN e105203
dc.identifier.citationPLOS ONE, 2014, 9 (8), pp. ? - ? (10)
dc.identifier.doi10.1371/journal.pone.0105203
dc.identifier.elements-id217371
dc.identifier.issn1932-6203
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10179/5668
dc.languageEnglish
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.publisherPUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE
dc.relation.isPartOfPLOS ONE
dc.subjectScience & Technology
dc.subjectMultidisciplinary Sciences
dc.subjectScience & Technology - Other Topics
dc.subjectINNOVATION SYSTEMS
dc.subjectMANAGEMENT
dc.subjectDIFFUSION
dc.titleAgricultural science in the wild: a social network analysis of farmer knowledge exchange.
dc.typeJournal article
pubs.notesNot known
pubs.organisational-group/Massey University
pubs.organisational-group/Massey University/College of Humanities and Social Sciences
pubs.organisational-group/Massey University/College of Humanities and Social Sciences/Institute of Education
pubs.organisational-group/Massey University/College of Sciences
pubs.organisational-group/Massey University/College of Sciences/PVC's Office - College of Sciences
pubs.organisational-group/Massey University/College of Sciences/School of Agriculture & Environment
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