Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Small-Scale Farmers in Local Markets: Production Strategies and Community Connections in the Palouse Agro-Industrial Region

博士论文改进补助金：当地市场的小规模农民：帕卢斯农业工业区的生产策略和社区联系

• 批准号: 0852618
• 负责人: John Bodley
• 金额: $ 0.95万
• 依托单位: Washington State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-03-01 至 2010-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0852618&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Improvement; Grant; Small

Under the supervision of Dr. John H. Bodley, Washington State University anthropology graduate student, Troy M. Wilson, will undertake an ethnographic and social network analysis of the civic agriculture movement in the Palouse, a major grain-producing region in the Pacific Northwest. He will use social network analysis to understand the movement's place in the modern food system, along with the structures that support its growth and which might impede development. Despite this region's historical focus on large-scale grain production for the global market, growing consumer concerns with food quality and rising energy costs have contributed to a surge of interest in smaller-scale production methods, farmers' markets, and community gardens, collectively referred to as "civic agriculture." However, relatively little is known about how farmers engage with and are affected by this new food production trend, and how it relates to community development and sustainability. Wilson will focus specifically on how small-scale farmers who participate in local farmers' markets in the Palouse region connect with the civic agriculture movement. He will employ a variety of social scientific research methods. He will map the social networks around civic agriculture in the Palouse through archival research and interviews with participants, including farmers, non-profit organizations, commercial businesses, and land-grant institutions. He will explore document production and distribution strategies by mapping farms and distances to market with GIS, interviewing farmers and farm workers, and undertaking participant observation on farms, in food transport, and at markets. He also will analyze the personal networks that connect farmers to civic agriculture and knowledge flows (e.g., between farmers and extension agencies). The research will contribute to social scientific understanding of inter-scalar network structures, generally, as well as their role in the contemporary development of civic agriculture. Furthermore, by examining the unique ecological relationships, practices, and social-political connections underlying the civic agriculture movement, the research will help to better understand the potential of smaller-scale practicies for national food security. The research also will contribute to the education of a graduate student.

在约翰·h·博德利博士的指导下，华盛顿州立大学人类学研究生特洛伊·m·威尔逊将对太平洋西北部主要粮食产区帕卢斯的民间农业运动进行人种学和社会网络分析。他将使用社会网络分析来了解该运动在现代食品体系中的地位，以及支持其增长和可能阻碍其发展的结构。尽管该地区历来专注于面向全球市场的大规模粮食生产，但消费者对食品质量的日益关注和能源成本的不断上涨，促使人们对小规模生产方法、农贸市场和社区花园（统称为“市民农业”）的兴趣激增。然而，对于农民如何参与这种新的粮食生产趋势并受其影响，以及它与社区发展和可持续性的关系，人们所知相对较少。威尔逊将特别关注帕卢斯地区参与当地农贸市场的小农如何与公民农业运动联系起来。他将运用多种社会科学研究方法。他将通过档案研究和对参与者（包括农民、非营利组织、商业企业和土地授予机构）的采访，绘制Palouse围绕公民农业的社会网络。他将通过使用地理信息系统绘制农场和到市场的距离，采访农民和农场工人，并在农场、食品运输和市场进行参与性观察，探索文件生产和分发策略。他还将分析连接农民与民间农业和知识流动的个人网络（例如农民与推广机构之间的网络）。该研究将有助于从社会科学的角度理解标量间网络结构，以及它们在当代公民农业发展中的作用。此外，通过研究民间农业运动背后独特的生态关系、实践和社会政治联系，该研究将有助于更好地理解小规模实践对国家粮食安全的潜力。这项研究也将有助于研究生的教育。