OOS 31-4 - When Cultural Models Don't Align: Some Perils and Possibilities for Collaborative Knowledge-with-Action Research

The many crises facing our food systems—from climate change and biodiversity loss to diet related disease and malnutrition—result from institutions and conditions that exist within the very structures of our societies. Rising consumption, diminishing democracy, collective demand for cheap food and fuel, and the reliance of our capitalist food systems on synthetic chemicals, cheap labor, and fossil fuels all threaten our environment and health. These problems are collectively created and require transformation through collective action. Yet society disproportionately places the burdens of transforming our food systems on individuals, particularly eaters and growers. Ecologists can exacerbate this problem by calling for changes without situating individual behaviors within their social, political, and economic contexts. This presentation discusses findings from a study of Maine lowbush blueberry growers’ on-farm pollination management practices to elucidate the mismatch between growers’ and researchers’ perceptions of pollinator declines. It shows that the recommendations about pollinator conservation put forth by agricultural agencies are, at times, dissonant with farmers’ cultural model of pollination management leading to uncertainty, disbelief, distrust, and ultimately inaction. The presentation offers a case study of an alternative approach to transformation. We highlight the Sustainable Food Systems Research Collaborative (SFSRC), a partnership between farmers, educators, and researchers to train undergraduate students in transdisciplinary, knowledge-with-action, stakeholder-driven research. We examine the efficacy of programs such as this and the barriers that remain to building collective, trusting, transformative partnerships to protect pollinators and the vast spectrum of biodiversity within agroecosystems.