The potential of community interactions as inducers of agroecological transition: the case of a digital agricultural community

ABSTRACT

Purpose: To study community interactions and thus to highlight potential ways to support farmers’ professional transition toward more sustainable agriculture.

Methodology: Mixed methods with a questionnaire, interviews, peer-to-peer interactions, and a theoretical framework to analyze drivers of indeterminacy that can trigger a break in farmers’ routines. The study took place in a digital agricultural community.

Findings: We highlighted three potential drivers of indeterminacy in a professional transition process like Agroecological Transition (AET), as well as the role of community facilitator.

Practical implications: Integrating into farmers’ training and extension services the issues of valuation to discuss how practices and objects are prised and evaluated. This can open a way for new meanings and values that support AET and support a departure from usual standards.

Theoretical implications: Applying inquiry theory as an epistemic proposition to examine support for farmers’ professional transitions and their training in relation to their real work situation.

Originality: We propose an articulation between the study of a digital platform and the analysis of the drivers of engagement in an agroecological transition process.

KEYWORDS:

• Indeterminacy
• agroecological transition
• farmers
• digital community
• extension
• social media

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

We thank the Agor@gri project for financial support for this research.

Notes on contributors

Celina Slimi

Celina Slimi has a PhD in ‘Agroecology’ from AgroParisTech and INRAE. Her work focuses on the support of farmers’ peer groups in the agroecological transition context. She uses interdisciplinary approaches at the interface of agronomy, ergonomics and education sciences to study the support of farmers and advisers in their professional transition.

Lorène Prost

Lorène Prost is a senior researcher at the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRAE). At the interface between systems agronomy and design sciences (notably ergonomics), she is interested in the activities of farmers who redesign their practices to transition to sustainability and in the activities of researchers and advisors who aim at supporting them.

Marianne Cerf

Marianne Cerf is an ergonomist, research director at INRAE and associate professor at AgroParisTech where she contributes to the development of interdisciplinary teaching between engineers, designers and ergonomists. She is developing research on developmental design approaches in agricultural and food systems in transition.

Magali Prost

Magali Prost is an occupational psychologist/ergonomist, senior lecturer and head of the Master's degree in Adult Education at the UBO. She is interested in peer-to-peer interactions in online communities and their role in the transformation of professional practice with a focus on the socio-emotional aspect of sharing.