Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: "Modern Scientific Agriculture" - The Interactive Formation of Knowledge about Soil Nutrients and Fertilizers in Post-Socialist Poland

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Mr. Dong Ju Kim, under the guidance of Professor Gillian Feeley-Harnik, will undertake research on local ideas of modern farming, scientific knowledge, responsible ownership, and sustainable management of land in Wielkopolska, a western province of Poland. The focus of the research is on interactive effects between extra-local scientific knowledge and economic policies, and local knowledge and land management practices. The researcher will employ multiple social scientific research methods, including ethnographic observation and semi-structured interviews with experts, managers, and scientists. Research will be conducted in corporate farms, beet sugar factories, agricultural research stations, and local environmental organizations. Topics to be investigated include long-term agricultural planning and specific practices such as, crop rotation, fallowing, use of fertilizers and natural and chemical pesticides, soil testing and monitoring, and the use of shelter belts.The research is important because it will help social scientists better understand how ordinary people understand and respond to scientific information of all kinds. The research also will contribute to understanding how and to what degree new sustainability policies for agriculture, such as those of the recently reformed European Common Agricultural Policy, are implemented and put into local practice. Supporting the research also contributes to the education of a social scientist.