Edith Cowan University Research Online Theses: Doctorates and Masters Theses 2013 Understanding and disrupting institutional settings : using networks of conversations to re-imagine future farming lives Robert Campbell Edith Cowan University Follow this and additional works at: https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses Part of the Agriculture Commons Recommended Citation Campbell, R. (2013). Understanding and disrupting institutional settings : using networks of conversations to re-imagine future farming lives. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/603 This Thesis is posted at Research Online. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/603 Edith Cowan University      Copyright Warning            You may print or download ONE copy of this document for the purpose  of your own research or study.    The University does not authorize you to copy, communicate or  otherwise make available electronically to any other person any  copyright material contained on this site.    You are reminded of the following:     Copyright owners are entitled to take legal action against persons  who infringe their copyright.     A reproduction of material that is protected by copyright may be a  copyright infringement. Where the reproduction of such material is  done without attribution of authorship, with false attribution of  authorship or the authorship is treated in a derogatory manner,  this may be a breach of the author’s moral rights contained in Part  IX of the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth).     Courts have the power to impose a wide range of civil and criminal  sanctions for infringement of copyright, infringement of moral  rights and other offences under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth).  Higher penalties may apply, and higher damages may be awarded,  for offences and infringements involving the conversion of material  into digital or electronic form. Understanding and disrupting institutional settings: using networks of conversations to re-imagine future farming lives Robert Campbell Submitted in partial fulfilment of the degree of Master of Environmental Management June 2013 Abstract Farmers in Australia and elsewhere face the challenge of remaining profitable whilst dealing with adverse structural arrangements and public expectations to better manage environmental degradation. This thesis draws on arguments that dominant paradigms in agricultural science and environmental management have often been ineffective in addressing these apparently competing demands and appear poorly suited to ‘messy’ situations characterized by uncertainty and complexity, and in which diverse stakeholders are motivated by varying goals and values. Engaging with such situations requires a philosophy and methodology that accepts a multiplicity of perspectives and which seeks to learn about and reflect upon novel ways of thinking and acting. Among the underlying ideas that have shaped this project is the importance of recognising the assumptions and commitments that researchers bring to their practice in order that traditions are not uncritically reproduced and that the products of our thinking are not reified. Regarding farming as less a set of technical practices and more as a human activity taking place within broader economic, social, cultural and ecological contexts, I sought to engage a group of farmers in southern Western Australia in a process of taking action to address an issue of common concern that would help them to live and farm well in their district. My role as both researcher and facilitator of conversations was driven by a commitment to dialogue as a process of meaning making and relationship building. Together we explored some of the broader contexts within which the narrower conceptions of economic and ecological problems are often uncritically placed. Taking concrete action together however proved beyond the scope of my research. The challenge of feeding ourselves while better caring for the land and each other will require imaginative as well as technical resources. To this end I have also sought to sketch out some of the creative possibilities contained within the health metaphor as it is applied to soil, arguing that its use as a proxy for quality or condition fails to utilize its disruptive potential. ii Acknowledgements I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to the eight famers in the Gairdner district in Western Australia’s south who agreed to become my co-researchers. They have shown me considerable hospitality, provided me with a wealth of rich material and have been patient and generous with their time and energy – thank you all. My supervisor Professor Pierre Horwitz has shown similar patience with my haphazard and meandering interests and enthusiasms. He has expressed great faith in my work and my abilities through times when I have seriously doubted them. He has also shared and seemingly appreciated my sense of humour and helped me to deal with the exasperating and the absurd, not to mention shouting me beers and providing me with helpful comments on my writing and thinking – many thanks Pierre. Thanks also to my friends and family, in particular to my blessed mother Diane for her unstinting love and support, and to those who knew not to ask when I would be submitting my thesis. Many other people provided help along the way: in particular I need to thank Ray Ison for the time and interest he took to reply to my many questions. His influence will be clear to any who read further. Thanks also to Rosalind Armson for her comments on a draft chapter; to Professor Matthew Tonts for several helpful conversations and reading recommendations; to Greg Brennan for expressing real interest in my work and pointing me towards some useful ideas; and to Valerie Brown for the experience of attending one of her workshops. My thanks also go the Centre for Ecosystem Management at Edith Cowan University (ECU) and to the South Coast Regional Initiative Planning Team (SCRIPT) who provided funds for my research and travel to conferences in Melbourne and Finland. I would also like to thank the staff and my fellow postgrads at ECU, in particular to Adrianne Kinnear and especially to May Carter for her great help on a trip to Bremer Bay, which she seemed to enjoy. Many other people in and around the Gairdner district provide me with great help: thank you to Nathan McQuoid and to Samantha Rayner and the rest of the staff at the Fitzgerald Biosphere Group (FBG). To any I may have left off this list, my thanks and apologies. iii Declaration I certify that this thesis does not, to the best of my knowledge and belief: (i) incorporate without acknowledgment any material previously submitted for a degree or diploma in any institution of higher degree or diploma in any institution of higher education; (ii) contain any material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the text of this thesis; (iii) contain any defamatory material, or (iv) contain any data that has not been collected in a manner consistent with ethics approval. The Ethics Committee may refer any incidents involving requests for ethics approval after data collection to the relevant Faculty for action. Signed by …………………………………..……………., on this day iv USE OF THESIS The Use of Thesis statement is not included in this version of the thesis. Table of contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................................ ii Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................... iii Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 1 What’s this about? ....................................................................................................................... 3 Writing this thesis ......................................................................................................................... 5 Chapter 1: Getting started................................................................................................................ 9 The researcher as observer or conspirator? .............................................................................. 10 The roots of productionism ........................................................................................................ 13 Positivist science and instrumentalism ...................................................................................... 15 Naive economic utilitarianism .................................................................................................... 16 The co-construction of knowledge ............................................................................................. 17 Language and metaphor............................................................................................................. 19 Thought and language ................................................................................................................ 21 Power and language ................................................................................................................... 23 Chapter 2: A model of research ..................................................................................................... 25 A model of research ................................................................................................................... 25 Area of application ..................................................................................................................... 27 Complex ‘social-ecological’ systems ........................................................................................... 29 Human systems are different ..................................................................................................... 31 First and second order traditions ............................................................................................... 32 Emotioning and affect ................................................................................................................ 34 Appreciative systems .................................................................................................................. 35 Systems traditions ...................................................................................................................... 38 Rhetorical-responsive social constructionism ............................................................................ 41 Agricultural and research ethics ................................................................................................. 43 Chapter 3: Methodological traditions ............................................................................................ 46 Developing a methodology ........................................................................................................ 47 Action research ........................................................................................................................... 49 Critical action research ............................................................................................................... 50 Relationships .............................................................................................................................. 54 Knowledge creation .................................................................................................................... 55 Soft Systems Methodology ......................................................................................................... 57 Learning methodologies in agricultural research; Hawkesbury ................................................ 60 Conversation as praxis ............................................................................................................... 62 Social learning and SLIM ............................................................................................................ 63 Chapter 4: On the road .................................................................................................................. 67 Beginning ................................................................................................................................... 67 Trial interviews ........................................................................................................................... 69 My co-researchers ..................................................................................................................... 71 The trouble with transcripts ...................................................................................................... 76 Analysis and notions of rigour ................................................................................................... 78 Coding and modelling ................................................................................................................ 80 Supporting positive change ....................................................................................................... 85 Barriers to positive change ........................................................................................................ 87 Making use of the models .......................................................................................................... 88 The workshop............................................................................................................................. 92 And then? ................................................................................................................................. 102 On reflection ............................................................................................................................ 107 Chapter 5: Divergent perspectives and institutional relationships ............................................. 110 Neoliberalism as a political rationality ..................................................................................... 111 Independence and powerlessness ........................................................................................... 113 Knowing and learning, ignorance and uncertainty .................................................................. 119 Policy and structural constraints and the role of technology .................................................. 126 Future directions for Australian farming ................................................................................. 132 The ‘good farmer’ .................................................................................................................... 134 Landcare and Natural Resource Management ........................................................................ 137 Co-researchers’ experiences with NRM ................................................................................... 142 Disaffection and frustration ..................................................................................................... 145 Chapter 6: Soil and the health metaphor .................................................................................... 148 Why metaphor? ....................................................................................................................... 150 Why health? ............................................................................................................................. 153 Soil health ................................................................................................................................ 156 Institutional arrangements ...................................................................................................... 161 Sustainability ............................................................................................................................ 163 Ecosystem services................................................................................................................... 166 Health, soil, and soil health ...................................................................................................... 168