Farmers' approaches to organic farming; motivations, barriers and different strategies

Summary

Conversion to organic agriculture as a process of social adaptation was qualitatively analysed by the sociologists Barbro Vartdal and Arild Blekesaune during 1990-92. Altogether, 33 farmers were analysed, giving the sociologists interviews, written diaries or reports as material. The farmers participated in the "30 farm-project", conducted by the Norwegian Centre for Ecological Agriculture. The sociologists described three categories of eco-farmers, according to whether the farmer was cosmopolitically or locally orientated: The antroposopher,the ecosopher and the reformist. Their motivations of farming, conversion and mastering strategies as well as social barriers for conversion were described. It is argued that conversion is a social process as well as a process of agronomy.