Are farmers empowered? The role of empowerment in farmer decision making about weed and invertebrate management

Abstract

This research investigates how Australian broadacre farmers make decisions about weed and invertebrate management in the context of two science-based agronomic strategies, Integrated Weed Management (IWM) and Integrated Pest Management (IPM).

A principle purpose of IWM and IPM is to slow the incidence of and better manage chemical resistance. Research indicates that chemical resistance in weeds and invertebrate pests in broadacre farming continues to escalate. This has the grains industry concerned about the potential effects of resistance on farm productivity, resilience and sustainability, and they perceive that broadacre farmers are not adopting IWM and IPM effectively or in sufficient numbers to avert the identified problems of resistance. This concern about low farmer adoption of IWM and IPM formed the basis of the research problem and prompted the initial broad question that underpinned this research, why are farmers not adopting these strategies?

This research is informed by constructivist grounded theory and used an iterative research process that combined in-depth interviews, observation and document analysis to extract rich data. What began to emerge from the data and focus the research direction was farmer agency and control that appeared to affect the dynamics of their knowledge networks, how they constructed knowledge and ultimately made decisions. Agency and control emerged as defining components of empowerment. The research question of this thesis therefore became, how does empowerment affect farmer decision making about weeds and invertebrate pest management?

Most previous research analysed for this thesis cited as an objective a need to empower farmers, often through acceleration of technology or knowledge transfer. There appeared to be no attempt to understand whether farmers are already empowered or if they seek to be empowered. Indeed, farmers are not empowered in all situations, but this research found that in the context of complex problems such as weed and invertebrate management farmers are typically empowered. Their empowered status affects the dynamics of their power-knowledge relationships; how they interpret information, risk and uncertainty; and how they learn, construct knowledge and make decisions. Farmer behaviours emerged that supported and facilitated their empowerment, and these too became concepts that are examined in this thesis. They are social capital (networking and trust); farmers' long and short-term thinking; and farmers' on-farm trialling.

This research helps fill a knowledge gap about knowledge construction and decision making in complex contexts, especially at the social and cultural level. The findings will inform the engagement process between extension and farmers, not only on weed and invertebrate management, but similar complex agronomic problems.

Extension initiatives therefore will need to consider the potential for the empowered farmer as it affects the engagement process and the nature and dynamics of the relationship constructed with farmers. Extension will need to invest in social capital and build long-term knowledge networks built on trust that enable dialogue, analysis and reflection. Open discussion of uncertainties and the implications should be part of any dialogue involving complex concepts, but apply particularly for the farmers in this study.