Doctoral Dissertation Research: Maize Cultivation and the Politics of Agricultural Modernization

博士论文研究：玉米种植与农业现代化的政治

• 批准号: 1234828
• 负责人: Karl Zimmerer
• 金额: $ 1.54万
• 依托单位: Pennsylvania State Univ University Park
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-08-15 至 2014-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1234828&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Maize; Cultivation

This doctoral dissertation research project will focus on the complex relationship between agricultural modernization and tradition by studying the practices and perceptions of three key categories of actors in central Mexico. Agricultural modernization (the process of intensifying agricultural production through mechanization, chemical inputs, and high-yield crop varieties) has been a top priority of governments and development agencies around the world since the Green Revolution. Mexican research organizations dedicated to breeding high-yield maize varieties have become world leaders in the development and dissemination of modernized maize technologies since their founding in the 1940s. These programs have had limited success, however, in stimulating the adoption of such technologies among Mexican farmers. Despite decades of government policies promoting high-yield maize, the overwhelming majority of maize farmers in Mexico continue to cultivate traditional varieties that they have bred themselves. Existing research on the persistence of traditional agricultural systems has concentrated on farmer perspectives, seeking to explain why they do or do not adopt modern maize varieties, to the exclusion of actors working within development institutions who likewise have a livelihood stake in the process of modernization. This project will explore how agricultural modernization is engaged and negotiated by agricultural scientists, extension agents, and small-scale maize farmers in the Central Highland region of Mexico. The doctoral student will seek answers to the following sets of research questions: (1) How do those involved in maize production directly and indirectly conceive of and engage particular development institutions, agricultural technologies and practices, and processes of agricultural change? (2) How do these relationships vary within and across livelihoods? (3) How do these relationships shape existing development institutions, and whose purposes do they serve as a result? Using a combination of oral histories, semi-structured interviews, and participant observation, the student will examine how participants' understandings of and motivations for engaging in particular agricultural practices and partnerships have developed over time. The student will determine whether actors working both inside and outside of development institutions engage in livelihood practices that subvert agricultural modernization in partial yet significant ways.Project findings will provide insight into the overlapping effects of investment in modernizing agricultural systems and adherence to traditional cultivation methods by filling in gaps in basic understanding regarding the network of actors implicated in agricultural change. The project also will provide insights into the contingency of agricultural modernization in Mexico's Central Highlands, a region that hosts some of the world's foremost centers of maize research and is a global center of maize diversity. Greater understanding of the relational process through which development is negotiated will aid in the conservation of agricultural biodiversity and will increase the effectiveness of development policies designed to serve the needs of farmers in a region where maize cultivation is a source of food security, livelihood, and cultural identity. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.

该博士论文研究项目将通过研究墨西哥中部三个关键类别的行为者的做法和看法，重点研究农业现代化与传统之间的复杂关系。 自绿色革命以来，农业现代化（通过机械化、化学投入和高产作物品种强化农业生产的过程）一直是世界各国政府和发展机构的首要任务。 墨西哥致力于培育高产玉米品种的研究组织自1940年代成立以来，已成为开发和传播现代化玉米技术的世界领导者。 然而，这些方案在促进墨西哥农民采用这些技术方面取得的成功有限。 尽管政府数十年来一直在推行高产玉米政策，但墨西哥绝大多数玉米种植者仍在继续种植他们自己培育的传统品种。 现有的关于传统农业系统持续存在的研究集中在农民的角度，试图解释他们为什么采用或不采用现代玉米品种，而将在发展机构内工作的行为者排除在外，这些行为者在现代化进程中同样有生计上的利害关系。 该项目将探讨墨西哥中部高地地区的农业科学家、推广人员和小规模玉米农民如何参与和谈判农业现代化。 博士生将寻求以下几组研究问题的答案：（1）那些直接和间接参与玉米生产的人如何构思和参与特定的发展机构，农业技术和实践，以及农业变革的过程？ (2)这些关系在生计内部和生计之间有何不同？ (3)这些关系如何塑造现有的发展机构，它们最终为谁服务？ 学生将结合口述历史、半结构化访谈和参与者观察，考察参与者对特定农业实践和合作伙伴关系的理解和动机如何随着时间的推移而发展。 学生将确定在发展机构内外工作的行为者是否参与了以部分但重要的方式破坏农业现代化的生计做法。项目调查结果将通过填补对农业变革所涉及的行为者网络的基本理解的空白，深入了解投资于农业系统现代化和坚持传统耕作方法的重叠效应。 该项目还将深入了解墨西哥中部高地农业现代化的偶然性，该地区拥有一些世界上最重要的玉米研究中心，是全球玉米多样性的中心。 更好地理解谈判发展的关系过程将有助于保护农业生物多样性，并将提高旨在满足该地区农民需求的发展政策的效力，因为玉米种植是粮食安全、生计和文化特性的来源。 作为博士论文研究改进奖，该奖项还将提供支持，使有前途的学生建立一个强大的独立的研究生涯。