| dc.description.abstract | Modern agriculture, as a foundational component of contemporary society and major extractive interface with the natural environment, has come to symbolize humanity’s struggle for continued existence. On the one hand, modern farmers feel that they are doing righteous work, providing food and fiber for the rest of the world while maintaining proper and improving stewardship of the land. On the other hand, a host of critics have argued that the industrial agricultural system is socially and environmentally unsustainable, a criticism around which a movement for an alternative agricultural system has arisen. Using interviews with farmers across the agricultural spectrum in Michigan, this study seeks to gain a deeper understanding of how the knowledge, politics, and economics of farmers can constitute both a polarized battle between competing institutional logics and a more nuanced dynamic of shared identity and perspective. These data demonstrate important areas of polarization. Farmers on opposite ends of the agricultural spectrum define themselves in large part through their opposition to their agricultural counterparts. Despite the prevalence of polarization, however, there are significant areas of overlaps between industrial and ecological farmers on issues including the value of farming for society, a general sense of populist politics, and a respect for hard work and economic success. Furthermore, there are significant areas of fragmentation within each pole, particularly regarding the safety of agricultural products, the appropriate political intervention in agriculture, and the best economic practices for farmers. | |
