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Lookup NU author(s): Dagmar Wicklow, Professor Sally Shortall
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© The Author(s) 2024. In this article, we wish to consider relationships internal and external to the farm household, and how these enable and/or mitigate the adoption of better farm practices. We find that internally, members of the farm household (successors or spouses ‘marrying in’), can influence the future direction of agricultural practice in a positive way, that is more profitable and sustainable. It is not a straightforward process though. Interpersonal household relations play a role; status and standing within the family can impact on how decisions about change are made. This relates to both people marrying in and the position of the successor in an inter-generational household. We found that the power of the farming peer group to influence change is underestimated. Our data shows that farming is an occupation subject to strong cultural norms regarding acceptable farming practice. Sometimes farm family decisions to change agricultural practice falter under the weight of sanctions and derision encountered when trying to make adjustments. This paper draws from two data sets in Germany and England. We conclude that understanding internal farm household interactions, and their external relations with farming peer groups is critical to supporting the future of agriculture.
Author(s): Wicklow D, Shortall S
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Agriculture and Human Values
Year: 2024
Pages: ePub ahead of Print
Online publication date: 23/09/2024
Acceptance date: 23/07/2024
Date deposited: 08/10/2024
ISSN (print): 0889-048X
ISSN (electronic): 1572-8366
Publisher: Springer Nature
URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-024-10620-0
DOI: 10.1007/s10460-024-10620-0
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