The challenge of management of multidimensional enterprises analysed from a logo-poietic perspective

The challenge to multidimensional farm management is analysed and discussed from the perspective of the farm enterprise, explored within a logo-poietic framework as a self-organising system/network. In conclusion, development of management of multidimensional farming takes: a reconstruction of the values, ideas, and meaning around which the farm enterprises are organised, a new way of increase of nonredundant complexity, shifting from dimension reduction to contextualisation, and a development of interactive relationships that facilitate network building of multidimensional farming

Combining Luhmann and Actor-Network Theory to see Farm Enterprises as Self-organizing Systems

From a rural, sociological point of view no social theories have so far been able to grasp the ontological complexity and special character of a farm enterprise as an entity in a really satisfying way. The contention of this paper is that a combination of Luhmann’s theory of social systems and the actor-network theory (ANT) of Latour, Callon, and Law offers a new and radical framework for understanding a farm as a self-organizing, heterogeneous system. Luhmann’s theory offers an approach to understand a farm as a self-organizing system (operating in meaning) that must produce and reproduce itself through demarcation from the surrounding world by selection of meaning. The meaning of the system is expressed through the goals, values, and logic of the farming processes. This theory is, however, less useful when studying the heterogeneous character of a farm as a mixture of biology, sociology, technology, and economy. ANT offers an approach to focus on the heterogeneous network of interactions of human and non-human actors, such as knowledge, technology, money, farmland, animals, plants, etc., and how these interactions depend on both the quality of the actors and the network context of interaction. But the theory is weak when it comes to explaining the self-organizing character of a farm enterprise. Using Peirce’s general semiotics as a platform, the two theories in combination open a new and radical framework for multidisciplinary studies of farm enterprises that may serve as a platform for communication between the different disciplines and approaches

Farm enterprises as self-organizing systems: A new transdisciplinary framework for studying farm enterprises?

The growing attention to sustainable food production and multifunctional agriculture calls for a multidisciplinary or transdisciplinary research and development perspective on farming, which is able to grasp the environmental, social, technical, and financial aspects of a farm and the dynamic relationship between the farm enterprises and the surrounding world. Our thesis is that a transdisciplinary approach needs to build on a working ontology that goes beyond the epistemology of each discipline and that is not just pieced together of the ontologies connected to these different epistemologies. Based on a review of three prevailing theoretical frameworks within the field of agro-sociology: The farming styles approach, the Bawden approach, and Conway’s agroecosystem approach, we argue that these existing theories do not offer such a theoretical framework. The claim of this paper is that a new concept of a farm enterprise as a self-organizing social system, which combines ideas from Actor-Network theory (ANT) and Luhmann’s theory of social systems, can serve as a useful ontological platform for understanding a farm-enterprise as an entity independent of a scientific observer. In this framework, each farm is understood as a self-organizing node in a complex of heterogeneous socio-technical networks of food, supply, knowledge, technology, etc. This implies that a farm has to be understood as the way in which these network relationships are organised by the farm as a self-organizing social system. Among all the different possible ways in which to interact with the surrounding world, the system has to select a coherent strategy in order to make the farming processes possible at all. It will be discussed how this framework may add to the understanding of the continuous development of a heterogeneity of farm strategies and contribute to a more comprehensive view of the fields of regulation and extension

A cross-disciplinary approach to multicriteria assessment and communication of the effects of organic food systems

This paper describes a cross- and transdisciplinary approach to develop a multicriteria assessment framework that aims to help organic actors and stakeholders conduct, document and communicate balanced overall assessments of the effects of organic food systems on society and nature. The framework will be based on extensive analyses of existing methods for multicriteria assessment and communication, and the adaptation and development of selected methods to suit organic food systems and the principles organic agriculture. The validity and utility of the framework is secured through involvement of actors and participatory testing of prototypes in practice. The goal is to help sustain an integrated development of the organic production, contribute to open and credible communication, and thereby support long term growth

Observing Environments

> Context • Society is faced with “wicked” problems of environmental sustainability, which are inherently multiperspectival, and there is a need for explicitly constructivist and perspectivist theories to address them. > Problem • However, different constructivist theories construe the environment in different ways. The aim of this paper is to clarify the conceptions of environment in constructivist approaches, and thereby to assist the sciences of complex systems and complex environmental problems. > Method • We describe the terms used for “the environment” in von Uexküll, Maturana & Varela, and Luhmann, and analyse how their conceptions of environment are connected to differences of perspective and observation. > Results • We show the need to distinguish between inside and outside perspectives on the environment, and identify two very different and complementary logics of observation, the logic of distinction and the logic of representation, in the three constructivist theories. > Implications • Luhmann’s theory of social systems can be a helpful perspective on the wicked environmental problems of society if we consider carefully the theory’s own blind spots: that it confines itself to systems of communication, and that it is based fully on the conception of observation as indication by means of distinction

Sustainability assessment and complementarity

Sustainability assessments bring together different perspectives that pertain to sustainability in order to produce overall assessments and a wealth of approaches and tools have been developed in the past decades. But two major problematics remain. The problem of integration concerns the surplus of possibilities for integration; different tools produce different assessments. The problem of implementation concerns the barrier between assessment and transformation; assessments do not lead to the expected changes in practice. This paper aims to analyze issues of complementarity in sustainability assessment and transformation as a key to better handling the problems of integration and implementation. Based on a generalization of Niels Bohr’s complementarity from quantum mechanics, we have identified two forms of complementarity in sustainability assessment, observer stance complementarity and value complementarity. Unlike many other problems of sustainability assessment, complementarity is of a fundamental character connected to the very conditions for observation. Therefore complementarity cannot be overcome methodologically; only handled better or worse. Science is essential to the societal goal of sustainability, but these issues of complementarity impede the constructive role of science in the transition to more sustainable structures and practices in food systems. The agencies of sustainability assessment and transformation need to be acutely aware of the importance of different perspectives and values and the complementarities that may be connected to these differences. An improved understanding of complementarity can help to better recognize and handle issues of complementarity. These deliberations have relevance not only for sustainability assessment, but more generally for transdisciplinary research on wicked problems

Robuste og højtydende økologiske sædskifter i praksis

I det økologiske forskningsprojekt, HighCrop, under GUDP - går økologiske planteavlere, konsulenter og forskere sammen om at finde ud af, hvordan planteavlen på de økologiske planteavlsbedrifter kan udvikles til at være mere robuste og bæredygtige. Et af indsatsområderne er, via interviewbesøg med 10 økologiske planteavlere, at afdække, hvordan den faglige viden når ud til landmændene, og hvilke rådgivningstiltag og redskaber der bedst muligt kan understøtte denne vidensdeling

Growth of values-based organic food chains

In HealthyGrowth, eighteen mid-scale and four regional value chains for organic food are investigated in order to learn how they are able to combine values and increasing volumes. • Managing specific challenges related to growth • Understanding success factors • Fostering cooperation and partnership in values-based food chain

Øget afsætning af økologiske kyllinger - hvad skal der til?

Kyllingekød er et af de produkter, hvor der er størst forskel mellem den økologiske og den konventionelle produktionsform, når det gælder dyrevelfærd og kvalitet. Alligevel er under 1 pct. af kyllingerne på de danske spiseborde økologiske, og halvdelen af dem er importeret fra udlandet. Set i forhold til andelen af økologi i andre varegrupper er der således et kæmpe potentiale for at øge salget af økologisk kyllingekød – også selv om de økologiske kyllinger er dyrere end konventionelle. Erfaringer fra alternative afsætningsnetværk, som f.eks. Gothenborg Frilandsfjerkræ viser, at det godt kan lade sig gøre at producere, forarbejde og afsætte kyllinger i forskellige størrelser og til en meget højere pris, end vi normalt ser i supermarkedet. Men det kræver, at merværdien af de økologiske kyllinger bliver understreget og formidlet langt bedre til forbrugerne. Dette forudsætter nytænkning og koordinering mellem alle led i værdikæden for at finde nye udviklingsveje, der ikke udelukkende fokuserer på standardisering og effektivisering, men også på kvalitet og differentiering. Vi inviterer dig derfor til at være med til at tænke de nye tanker sammen med andre centrale interessenter fra hele fødevarekæden. Formålet med workshoppen er at afsøge og diskutere mulighederne for nye udviklingsveje for økologiske fødevarekæder for slagtekyllinger. Arrangøren er Organic RDD-projektet ”Diversitet og Integritet i Økologisk Slagtefjerkræproduktion” (MultiChick), som finansieres af Grønt Udviklings- og Demonstrationsprogram

Agriculture and bio based economy a driver of rural transformation and livelihood?

The structures of rural communities are formed by the past development of agriculture. Industrialized agriculture does not need rural communities anymore, and are some cases even in conflict with the rural communities. The profits made by of agricultural activities have increasingly been mowed from rural to urban areas. Some sees rural development completely decoupled form agriculture; other sees bio economy as a potential revitalization of rural livelihood. This paper addresses the question under which condition agriculture and bio based economy can be a driver for revitalization for rural livelihood. This analysis is drawing on a range of different case studies of agricultural activities that have made a difference to the mainstream development. The main findings from these analyses are that these cases focus on: transparency and non‐generic products that links producers and consumers; synergies between different economic activities, rooted on the local social, cultural, natural and economical context; organizational forms and partnership between local stakeholders that supports long‐term development, as precondition for breaking with the industrial production logic. In conclusion bio based economy will only contribute to revitalization of rural livelihood if embedded in these activities