[Aim]:
Closer analysis of the cause of the disturbed relationship between livestock farmers and society shows a more pronounced interest of the public in the intrinsic value of nature and the individual animal on one hand (Ketelaar-de Lauwere et al., 2000) and a farmers ethics of productionism which conflicts with the intrinsic value view on animals on the other hand (Thompson, 1995; Silvasti, 2002). These farmers ethics are for the most part implicit.Therefore, farmers do not have an adequate (i.e. moral) voice in the pluralistic discussion in the society. This is a major problem in a democratic-pluralistic society in which stakeholders are expected to defend their own position (Brom, 1997). As a result the discussion is not even and farmers may be literally overruled in the end, leading to superimposed legislation and a loss of farmer autonomy. This limited social basis results in a lack of farmers compliance with governmental directives.
[Methods]:
The principal aim of the project is to contribute to the social empowerment of farmers to participate better in the public debate and to create a better basis for society s regulatory system based on values and trust. At first, the focus is on the moral position of farmers by making the implicit farmers ethics explicit by empirical research in different groups of farmers. After validation of the results in an interactive process with farmers, the results will be put into practice by developing tools which facilitate the moral discussion. Both a code of conduct will be developed, which primarily aims at the farmers themselves and expresses their values and responsibilities, and a code of practice which also incorporates the values of the rest of society and describes the farmers social responsibilities for example for animal welfare and the environment. To test the applicability of these tools, the concept of ¿professional autonomy¿ will be evaluated for two practical cases. The hypothesis behind this is that value based (professional) autonomy is a feasible concept for farmers for a robust social role and for restoration of trust.
[Results]:
13.1 Scientific articles in peer reviewed journals
The work program implies publications both as output of the post doc work and of the small staff satellite studies (see 12. work program). Part of the outcome is dependent on project developments based on the results in previous phases (to be optimised during project conduction)
Year 2
- Article about the key values of farmers related to their profession and characteristics like sector (pig farmer or dairy farmers), farming style, gender and way of farming (organic or conventional).
- Article focussing on pluriformity and farming styles
Year 3
- Article about the internal coherence and consistency of the positive morality of the farmers, the positioning in the public debate and its position regarding the critical and public morality
- Article describing the validated farmers ethics (an ethics of animal production )
Year 4
- Article about the developed codes and opportunities of codes en code/concepts
- Article analysing the results in current legislatory structure
13.2 Knowledge dissemination aiming at user adoption
The used interactive methods guarantee that the research is done closely to the farmers practice. During the research the results are brought back to the target group as part of the different validating processes. Close cooperation will be sought with farmers organisations such as LTO. The results will also be presented at the two yearly symposia of EURSAFE. Through the existing contact of the applicants and the advisers of this project, the results will be brought into the European network related to this topic. During the research, policymakers will be consulted and if possible involved in the research, especially concerning validating parts of the codes and professional autonomy. Foreseen physical products are a popular description of the farmers ethics and dilemmas (farmers journal, year 2) and a popular description of the developed codes for use in farming practice Finally, a brochure-like report will be made (year 4) directed at a wide audience. If possible, the public media will be involved. |
