- 5.1 Producers’ knowledge and implementation of organic farming practices
- 5.1.1 Learning about organics: Processes and information
- Figure 1 - A process of learning about organic farming
- Figure 2 - Contexts shaping the learning process for organic farming
- Table 1 - Producers’ use of information about organics, December 1996
- Figure 3 - Gender patterns of information use: Source of organic information by relative frequency, December 1996
- 5.1.2 The practice of organic farming
5. Results
5.1 Producers’ knowledge and implementation of organic farming practices
Findings from the first objective are detailed in Liepins et al. (1997), however, the key issues are also outlined here. Producers that are employing organic farming practices in the Canterbury region develop their farming system in a variety of ways. These range from some cases where producers gradually move out of conventional agriculture and into organics through to other cases where producers enter organic farming with no other agricultural background. The discussion below focuses on both how producers learn about organics and how they start using organic farming practices on their properties.
5.1.1 Learning about organics: Processes and information
As other studies have noted (Hassenein and Kloppenburg 1995), producers learn of farming practices through a complex process. This study found that there are at least four dimensions to this learning process (see Figure 1).
- First, producers bring from their background a range of skills, interests and resources which contribute to their interest in organic farming practices.
- Second, key awareness triggers could initiate men’s and women’s interest in organics (such as premium prices for organic products or health and environmental concerns), or they could stimulate increasing involvement in learning for producers that were already producing organic products.
- Third, producers’ acquisition of technical competencies (such as specific farming practices which are needed to meet the standards for organic certification) formalises the learning process.
- Finally, there is the practice of information networking where an exchange of experiences and knowledge through industry associations and informal networks supports farmers’ development of alternative agricultural practices.
Figure 1 - A process of learning about organic farming (Source:
Liepins 1997b)(Click Thumbnail for full picture) 
While these dimensions of the learning process are important in developing producers’ knowledge and practice of organics, such a learning process does not occur in a vacuum. Rather, there are a range of overlapping contexts which shape how producers experience the process (see Figure 2).
In this discussion of knowledge and learning, the most important context involves the Fields of Information that are available to producers. The first objective of this research studied men’s and women’s access to different forms of information about organic agriculture. While the number of the producers studied did not give statistically significant results, several findings are noteworthy.
- Printed texts are the most common source of information for both men and women (Table 1), especially newsletters and magazines from various organic and industry networks.
- The use of oral information was variable. However seminars and field days were the most commonly used source of this type of information (Liepins et al. 1997: 14-19).
- Men were proportionally more often accessing formal industry organisations and consultants, while women were more frequently using apparently ‘informal’ discussion based sources such as discussion groups and informal networks (Figure 3).
The gender differences in these results suggest that information exchange involves social relations and assumptions that influence men’s and women’s access to knowledge and participation in learning. For example, one key informant described the public face of the organics industry and information forums as a male one:
The male is the front person in the partnership ... If we invited growers [to a seminar] we would normally write to the person who signed the contract which is normally the man if they haven’t specified it otherwise, and if the wife thought that she might like to go along [to the meeting] she’d probably think ‘it’s just going to be a whole lot of blokes, I’ll feel a bit stupid’ so they wouldn’t come.
(Industry Interview 4, October 1996)
Figure 2 - Contexts shaping the learning process for organic
farming
(Click Thumbnail for full picture)
Table 1 - Producers’ use of information about organics, December 1996
Numbers of Females = 17; Males = 27
Females |
Males |
|||
| Some Use | Never Used | Some Use | Never Used | |
| 1 Texts | ||||
| Books | 12 | 4 | 22 | 5 |
| Newspapers | 13 | 2 | 21 | 6 |
| Printed materaials | 15 | 0 | 27 | 0 |
| 2 Formalised oral communications |
||||
| Discussion Groups | 11 | 4 | 15 | 12 |
| Seminars or Field Days | 13 | 1 | 24 | 3 |
| Conferences | 10 | 5 | 16 | 11 |
| Consultants | 9 | 6 | 17 | 10 |
| Formail organisations | 11 | 4 | 22 | 4 |
| 3 Informal Networks | 11 | 3 | 20 | 6 |
Figure 3 - Gender patterns of information use: Source of organic information by relative frequency, December 1996 (Click Thumbnail for full picture)
(Source: Liepins et al. 1997)
The influence of these corporate practices (eg. in addressing correspondence) and social beliefs (on the part of the women) reinforce patterns where men are more likely to access formalised and public information arenas while women focus on the informal discussion-based avenues for their learning. These types of results are similar to other studies which have shown that women are frequently marginalised in agricultural activities and decision making processes both on the farm and beyond it (Alston 1995; Anderson 1993; Liepins 1998; Mackenzie 1992; Shortall 1992; Whatmore 1991).
5.1.2 The practice of organic farming
The first objective of this study also sought to describe how producers farm organically. Three issues were analysed: first, the decision to adopt organic practices; second, the arrangement of farm labour; and third the processes of decision making. Six key patterns emerged (Liepins et al. 1997: 20-22).
- Men were more likely to be involved in the decision to take up ‘organic’ farming. Of the 30 units studied, two units involved women’s sole decision; 12 units involved joint decisions and 14 units involved decisions by men only.
- Men were more involved in physical farm labour (97% of men interviewed as opposed to 63% of women).
- Women were always involved in farm-related administrative work (100% of women interviewed as opposed to 74% of men).
- Women were more often involved in other commitments beyond the organic production unit eg. child care and community work (71% of women as opposed to 26% men).
- Decision making in relation to daily or short term organic production practices was mainly the responsibility of the primary operator who did most of the labour and production work needed. As these tasks were usually done by men, they usually made these decisions.
- Women were more involved in decisions which related to medium or long term concerns. For medium term decisions, producers reported more discussion between men and women, however, men were still more likely to make and implement the final decisions. Long term decision making processes were most likely to involve women with only four women registering no involvement in the properties.
Contact for Enquiries
Kay Brown
Sector Performance Policy
MAF Policy
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
PO Box 2526
Wellington
NEW ZEALAND
Phone: +64 4 894 0695
Fax: +64 4 4 894 0746
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