Learning from the South: Mixed Farming in Stressed Environments

Project Status: Completed (See Final Report Summary)
Type of Project: Development Activity
Principal Investigator: Dr Chasca Twyman, University of Sheffield (Email)
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Publications, Data and Other Outputs

 

Objectives

Assumptions of one-way flows of information, aid and learning from developed to less developed areas are now acknowledged as outmoded deterministic concepts. People living in less developed regions or sectors of societies are not simply passive victims of global forces. New and useful insights to process-based issues affecting agriculture and rural development can be gained from these regions.
Learning from the South: mixed farming in stressed environments aims to address these assumptions in a two-day workshop designed to stimulate a dialogue between researchers and practitioners in the UK, Europe and developing areas.
The workshop is being organised by the project team, based at Sheffield University, UK.

It will take place in February 2005 (date to be arranged). The objectives are to:

• Identify common stressors within the socio-political systems that inhibit successful and sustainable farming practices
• Identify common stressors within the biophysical landscape that inhibit successful and sustainable farming practices
• Evaluate transferable components of ‘process-related’ best practice approaches in order to develop a question-setting agenda for mixed farming in stressed environments

Policies in the UK often benefit from consultation, but usually from parallel sectors within western countries. Practices in developing countries should not be ignored and we should recognise the diverse range of experiences from neighbouring European countries.

By focusing on understanding the ‘process-related’, rather than ‘place-based’ dimensions of best practices and experiences, the relevance of experiences from elsewhere can have beneficial results for UK policy, planning and research.

Looking beyond the UK, to experiences from different sectors of societies, and from different areas of the world, could therefore lead to new and creative ways of thinking about rural development issues within the UK.

The workshop will be organised around key presentations and discussion groups to facilitate the two-way learning process. This will stimulate dialogue between researchers and practitioners specialising in rural development research and practice.

A range of researchers and practitioners from a number of institutions will be invited to contribute to the workshop, sharing ways of thinking about common challenges that are faced by small-scale mixed farmers in the UK, Europe and developing areas.

For further information contact Lindsay Stinger L.stringer@sheffield.ac.uk or Dr Chasca Twyman c.twyman@sheffield.ac.uk
Dept of Geography, University of Sheffield, Winter Street, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK (tel: +44 (0) 114 222 7972/7963)